Community Festival to showcase our core values

Our Community Festival returns to Whiteknights campus on Saturday 18 May, hosted by the University and Reading Students’ Union.

The Festival is an opportunity for staff and their families to join other community members in enjoying free indoor and outdoor activities and entertainment for all ages, including live music, theatre, research talks and interactive workshops, sports and a range of street food.

All this takes place from 11:00-17:00 on the Meadow next to Park House and the playing fields next to the SportsPark.

As well as being a fun day, the Festival will showcase Reading’s strengths and strategic principles.

The Community Festival is the biggest date in the University’s calendar in terms of community engagement. Welcoming local people onto campus and working with community organisations to highlight their work in the area as part of the Festival supports our strategic principle of being an Engaged University.

Central to this engagement and the Festival’s success is our University Community. We are incredible grateful to everyone volunteering at the Community Festival for allowing this important event to go ahead and showcase the diversity and talents of our people.

The interactive workshops and presentations by our academics will demonstrate the breadth of cutting edge research that goes on at Reading, allowing visitors to see Reading’s teaching and research Excellence in action.

Our work to reduce the carbon footprint of our campuses and be leaders on environmental Sustainability will be exhibited as part of the activities, presenting Reading as a responsible and innovative University in this area and hopefully inspiring green action among visitors.

Festival highlights

The full Festival programme, more information and a map, including about free bus travel on offer for visitors, is available on the Community Festival website.

Highlights include:

• A main stage on the Meadow, featuring local music artists, an alumni Morris dancing group, a Ukrainian choir, the University’s Big Band, and more.
• Workshops throughout the day, such as family yoga, painting, improvisation, dance, meditation and African drumming. All workshops have limited spaces so must be booked online in advance of the day. See event programme for booking details.
• Sports taster sessions and demonstrations on the Sports Field, including football, netball, volleyball, badminton, rowing, rugby, martial arts, bubble football and a family-friendly campus bike ride starting at midday.
• Research talks and activities for both children and adults covering a range of topics and hands-on science experiments.
• New for this year is the Community Zone, run in partnership with local organisations and offering puzzle games, block paint printing, henna tattoos, face painting and market stalls.

Molli Cleaver, Community Engagement Manager at the University, said: “We are excited to bring back the Community Festival for a second year. It’s a great opportunity for the local community to come to our beautiful campus and find out more about the University and the world-changing research that takes place here.

“It’s also a chance to showcase some of the incredible talent we have here in Reading, from local dancers and musicians to artists, craft-makers and street food vendors. We can’t wait to welcome everyone to campus for what promises to be a fun-filled day.”