By Renee Bailey

A festival is an event, in which celebrates the unique aspects of a community or a worldwide affair.

A festival can be celebrating multiple things. Some festivals celebrate the creative and media work from all types of artists.

For example, the Glastonbury festival is a music-based festival which embraces all different types of music.

Also, there are other festivals which celebrate cultural beliefs, music dance and crafts.

• The big chill festival is an annual festival which consists of dance, comedy, art, films, poetry, cabaret, circus and a wide-range of music. It is held in the grounds of Eastnor Castle during early August.

• The festival was founded by Pete Lawrence and Katrina Larkin in 1994. It started off as a series of parties held in Islington and then in 1995 developed into an outdoor festival.

• In 2009, the festival brand was bought by ‘Festival Republic’ and they fund the festival.

• In past festivals, they have had a line-up of people from Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, Plan B, Mr Hudson, M.I.A, Jazzie B to Tinie Tempah. Just by seeing this shows the variety of genre’s available.

• As a result of hosting a wide variety of arts and music, they also have a wide target audience. This is someone that enjoys the arts and is any age.

Holi is a colourful festival which is celebrated on Phalgun Purnima which comes in either the end of February or the beginning of March. It is a celebration of the triumph of ‘good’ over ‘bad’. It bridges the social gap and renews sweet relationships. On this day, people hug and wish each other ‘Happy Holi’. This festival is for people of all ages, from the young to the old.

The celebrations begin with the lighting of a bonfire on the eve of Holi. This is to ward off evil spirits around the place.Then on the Holi day, people cover themselves with coloured powders and throw balloons filled with water and colour at one another and passers by. The festival consists of traditional music, dancing and singing. This is an example of a small festival.

• The V festival is an annual music festival held in the UK during the penultimate weekend in August. It is a predominately rock music festival but other genres of music are welcomed into it. It’s located in two places over two days, one at Hylands Park in Chelmsford and the other in South Staffordshire. The “V” represents the Virgin Group as the event is sponsored by Virgin Media.

They target a wide audience from teens to OAP’s. However, their most popular crowds are those between their 20’s-30’s. The idea of the V festival started in 1996 when the band ‘Pulps’ front man, Jarvis Cocker announced that he would love to play two outdoor venues in two days. Pulps promoters took up this idea and did a gig in the north and the south. Eventually they started adding other bands to the bill, forming the V Festival.

The Baishakhi Mela takes place across the area of Banglatown in the borough of Tower Hamlets in east London through Brick Lane to weavers field and Allen Gardens in Bethnal Green. It is the biggest Bengali festival outside Bangladesh. It is a celebration of the Bengali new year which falls on the 14/15 April but is celebrated in the second week of May on a Sunday to prevent the period of rainfall in April. This is an example of a local festival.

At the end of each year, many people go out and celebrate the previous year and the year commencing. This happens all over the world and could be considered as an international festival.

There are many different festivals that celebrate different things whether that be cultural, religion or for just plain fun. Some are small, others are bigger and some are even international.They all have a particular programme content to fit there target audience and this is done in various ways.