Creative Royston

11/03/2026

********* CALLING ALL CREATIVES *******
Hertfordshire Libraries are currently seeking to appoint two creative practitioners for exciting new creative opportunities. Please contact Lizzy Hardingham-Pierce in the first instance using the email address [email protected] by the closing date of 27th March at 5pm

Creative Practitioner:

Hertfordshire Libraries celebrated 100 years of public library service from February 2025 – February 2026. To mark this milestone, we are commissioning an artist to create a piece of work that captures, interprets, and celebrates the library service’s centenary through the voices, memories, creativity, and experiences of our communities and staff.

The role will entail:
An artist at any stage of their career working in any discipline including (but not limited to): illustration, graphic design, animation, video, photography, creative writing, digital art, mixed media, sound, or socially engaged practice.
Producing a piece of work inspired by quotations and memories from community members, photographs and archival images, and material and content created by library staff during our centenary year. Fee of up to £1,800 (depending on experience according to AUE rates) including materials.

Voice Work:

We are seeking a professional and engaging voice actor to help capture the essence of our Centenary year and the celebrations held across Hertfordshire Libraries. The selected voice actor will narrate content from our Centenary exhibition, and the recordings will be uploaded to Herts Memories for the public to enjoy.

The role will entail:
No more than 2 hours of work
Home recording and balancing
Files to be sent in AIFF, WAV or MP3 formats
Paid at Equity rates for voice acting roles

01/03/2026

Come along and talk to us later today at the Welcome To Royston event that we are co-hosting with Royston Town Council at the Town Hall from 11.00am to 3pm. There will be around 30 different groups involved in arts, crafts, sports or leisure activities which you might be interested in.
On the Creative Royston Stall we will be running 2 competitions - Guess The Arts Festival Years (from montage photos) for adults + a Kids Drawing Competition (drawing the Spiderman or Princess characters at the event), both with prizes.
See the poster for all details or the creativeroyston.org website for a full list of groups attending.

18/02/2026

Royston Arts Festival 2026 will take place from Thursday 24th to Sunday 27th September. If you are thinking of organising an event that’s excellent news and please consult the Organise An Event page on our website for more details on how to do so and also an explanation behind the choice of our 2026 festival theme which is Above and Beyond. The deadline for submitting events is Sunday 31st May. https://www.creativeroyston.org/organise-an-event/

Come and talk to us about getting involved at the Welcome To Royston event which Royston Town Council are hosting at Royston Town Hall on Sunday 1st March in association with Creative Royston. That will involve around 30 local groups involved in arts, crafts, sports and leisure activities and more details about that can be found on our website.

18/11/2025

We are looking for new volunteer members for the Creative Royston Management Committee (CRMC) for next year's arts festival.
Meetings take place once a month with more activity around festival time in September.
We are looking for people with good organisational and communication skills as well as, for example, experience of marketing, procurement and IT. You do not need to have any great interest in the arts, though of course that would help.
We think being a member of CRMC would be a 'fun' and interesting way of 'putting back in' to the community for someone newly retired and a chance to perhaps keep up some skills or learn new ones.
We would also like to lower the age profile of the committee and would welcome any interest from young people, perhaps just graduated from University and/or in between jobs. Voluntary work can look good on a CV and there may also be opportunities to learn how to stage music events or get involved as a volunteer with the Unicorn Folk not-for-profit operation which promotes contemporary and traditional folk music including 'crossover' styles such as 'Indie' folk. https://www.unicornfolk.uk/
If you have any interest and wish to find out more please email Carl Filby using the [email protected] address and PLEASE SHARE this post with your friends and groups. Thank you! https://www.creativeroyston.org

Find lots of information about 'Folk' music events, clubs, festivals & musicians in the UK with added CD reviews and lots of related links.

03/10/2025

More of a postscript to the arts festival now, but the promised podcast 'Ten Years Of Royston MusicFest' is now available on the Royston MusicFest website https://roystonmusicfest.uk It features several artists who have achieved some fame if not a fortune and makes pleasant listening whilst you are filling in your feedback form (please - see previous post), doing the cooking, ironing etc.. or just relaxing. Enjoy!

02/10/2025

Thank you so much everyone! 🌟

10 days, 50 events, 20 venues - this year's Festival did not disappoint, and with many sell-out events this year, we were delighted with the support and attendance from you all! 🌟🌟

Please let us know what you thought: your feedback helps us to shape future Festivals.

You can complete our short feedback form here:
https://www.creativeroyston.org/2025-feedback

28/09/2025

Apologies for the non-appearance of the 'Ten Years Of Royston MusicFest' podcast on https://www.roystonmusicfest.uk owing to too many other priorities. Hopefully it will be published in the next 24 hours.
For those attending the Finale Concert tonight (5pm Start, Doors Open 4.30pm) for environmental and to some extent economical reasons there will only be a limited number of printed concert programmes available tonight but you can view or download the programme fromhttps://www.creativeroyston.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/A4-Finale-Concert-programme-2025.pdf and any lyrics for community singing will be displayed on screen.

27/09/2025

There's butter making and the Royston Book Fair going on in Royston Church today - a fabulous mix of history and literature for Royston Arts Festival 2025 🌟

27/09/2025

⭐⭐TODAY IN ROYSTON 12 NOON⭐⭐
Royston Book Fair 📚✒️
Saturday 27 September, 12noon to 4pm
Royston Parish Church, Melbourn Street, Royston, SG8 9LG
⭐Come and meet your next favourite author! ⭐30 local writers will be gathering to showcase their books, with book signings, talks and readings covering fiction, non fiction and poetry. From the very young to the young-at-heart, we guarantee that there will be something for everyone as Royston Arts Festival celebrates the literary talent that surrounds us.
Suitable for: all ages
Free to attend no booking required
See the full programme of events for Royston Arts Festival 2025 at: www.creativeroyston.org

27/09/2025

The Marquess of Winchester's Regiment has arrived at the Museum!

James VI & I died 400 years ago in 1625 and was succeeded by his son, Charles I, whose disagreements with Parliament were the cause of the English Civil War.

You can meet the Civil War re-enactors across Royston today as part of Royston Arts Festival including:
11.45am - St John's Parish Church, Royston, Herts
1pm - Royston Library
2.15pm - The Old Bull Inn

27/09/2025

27/09/2025

🎭TODAY!! Civil War re-enactors in 17th century costume come to Royston! 🎭
For one day only meet the Marquess of Winchester's Regiment around Royston town centre! ⭐
Saturday 27 September, 10.30am - 3.15pm approximately.
Civil War re-enactors in 17th century costume will interact with Royston Arts Festival visitors at various festival venues across Royston including: Royston Museum 10.30am, Royston Parish Church 11.45am, Royston Library 1pm and the The Old Bull Inn Inn at 2.15pm (timings approximate). James I 👑had a secondary court in Royston, died exactly 400 years ago in 1625 and was succeeded by his son Charles I whose disagreements with Parliament were the cause of the English Civil War. Come and see the historical costumes and talk to the people in them; maybe take a ‘selfie’ 🤳or two, and possibly witness a march from one venue to another, numbers and traffic permitting.
Suitable for: all ages Free event.