Critical Animals :: This is Not Art

TOMORROW!! Critical Animals and This Is Not Art launch TOMORROW.

We’re madly printing, stamping, shopping, arranging, despatching and the phone’s running off the hook! Most of all we’re excited to get the festival underway, meet you all and to bring to fruition the last twelve month’s work.

Don’t forget to join us at The Royal Exchange, Bolton Street, at 4pm tomorrow (Thursday the 28th of September) for our Critical Animals meet and greet. After that, we will all head across to the This Is Not Art festival launch, 6pm at the Great Northern Hotel.

If you’re a newcomer to This Is Not Art, or just need some refreshing, there are some great lists of how-tos and hints on the Octapod Arts & Culture blog, as well as on the This Is Not Art site. You can also follow both Critical Animals and This Is Not Art on Twitter for to-the-minute updates and recommendations.

Time to get out your highlighters, peruse the Critical Animals program, and formulate your plan of attack.

We are so proud, so pleased as bloody punch, to be able to introduce you to the 2011 Animals, AKA our participants for this year’s festival. Head to our 2011 program page to read their bios and peruse our complete program of events. When ever has such an amazingly talented and diversely experienced bunch of folk been gathered together?! Okay well it’s possibly happened in the past…but we’re biased.

…And it is amazing! Head on over to the This Is Not Art site to download the full program of this year’s events.

NEWS JUST IN

You’ve been anxiously waiting and we’ve been dying to share. Here it is, the complete program of Critical Animals events for 2011! Click on a day to find out what’s in store…

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 30

SATURDAY OCTOBER 1

SUNDAY OCTOBER 2

If you’re going to be in town on Thursday September 29th (the first official day of This Is Not Art) you’re warmly invited to our Critical Animals meet and greet, 4pm at The Royal Exchange, our incredible hub for 2011, before TINA is officially launched at 6pm.

Rest up kids, it’s going to be HUGE.

Do you have a generous spirit? Want to plump up your CV? Generate some good karma? Or do you just have too much time on your hands? Why, it sounds like you should volunteer to help out at Critical Animals 2011!

It takes (at least) two to run a festival

We’re looking for folk who are coming along to this year’s festival (September 29 – October 3) and are able to donate a few hours of time to help with our Critical Animals events. No special skills needed, just friendliness and enthusiasm. You won’t miss out on any of the action, rather you’ll be right amongst it! Not only that, the CA events are mostly held during the day, leaving you free to party all night! It’s a great chance to be an integral part of the beast that is This Is Not Art festival, to make new connections, gain new experience and feel all warm and fuzzy.

To get involved please drop us a line at criticalanimals@gmail.com and introduce yourself – we’d love to have you on board!

As it rolls ever nearer to Critical Animals 2011 and your trip to Newcastle you’re probably wondering where to stay. Luckily there are options a’plenty, and if you get in now you should still be able to find a good deal!

There are plenty of affordable hotels and hostels in the vicinity of the festival, with something for every taste – check out the accommodation information page at the This Is Not Art site. If this is out of your price range, or you just yearn for a more authentic experience, then maybe This Is Not Art’s legendary Tent City is for you! Hundreds of punters camp out at TINA every year, and many even regard it to be as much of an unmissable ‘event’ as the festival proper.

This Is Not Art has set up a temporary campground to provide festival goers with the cheapest accommodation option for the festival.

Open on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

The Campground is for those in tents, swags, vans and trucks, or those who wanted to sleep under the stars. So if you were unsure whether you could afford to stay for the whole five days of the festival – we’ve just answered your question!

It’s lo-fi and BYO everything, but Aunty Jenny and her team of lovely volunteers will do their best to make it feel like your home away from home – hot showers, cups of tea, and happy campers all around!

Click on over to the Tent City page on the TINA site for full information, pricing and directions on how to register.

We encourage all our Critical Animals attendees to get in touch with us if you have any questions while planning your trip, or require a little local knowledge. One early warning though: Newcastle is a city all too easily fallen in love with!