A new multi-venue music and comedy festival will take place across Cambridge in April.
More than 60 music and comedy acts are coming to the university city for the Sound + Vision Cambridge festival over three days from Thursday, April 21 to Saturday, April 23, 2022.
The festival will take place on eight stages across six venues in Cambridge including the Junction, The Portland Arms, The Blue Moon, the Storey’s Field Centre, The Boathouse and Thirsty.
The line-up offers dozens of opportunities to catch fantastic established acts, such as Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess or Kristin Hersch or newer favourites like Pom Poko or Penelope Isles.
The festival hosts the 25th anniversary party of the Bella Union record label on the Saturday night featuring Tim Burgess, Penelope Isles, Ren Harvieu and fast-rising Norwegian quartet Pom Poko, with more acts to be announced.
There will also be showcases from local and new bands including the students of Access Creative College.
Sound + Vision Cambridge is run by the founder and director of Norwich Sound and Vision, Adrian Cooke, and uses the same successful model that ran for eight years and saw the discovery and signing of bands such as Let's Eat Grandma and Mercury Prize nominees Royal Blood.
Adrian Cooke said: "We’re really excited to be relaunching Sound + Vision in Cambridge.
"The event is very much inspired by South by Southwest in Austin, Texas – which is the largest of these kind of festival and conference events in the world.
"Given Cambridge’s strong creative community and industries it is the perfect place to bring together international, national and local artists and performers for a fascinating weekend of discovery, inspiration and entertainment.”
After a two-year gap, the Cambridge Fringe Comedy Festival returns in partnership with Sound + Vision with headliners Rosie Jones, Felicity Ward and Nick Helm in the Junction’s brilliant J2 space.
Other acts familiar from Taskmaster, Live at the Apollo and 8 out of 10 Cats such as Mike Wozniak, Peep Show star Isy Suttie and Olga Koch will be presenting their work-in-progress shows.
Saturday, April 23 sees a full day of comedy on the Fringe’s home turf of Mitcham’s Corner from noon to 10pm.
Matt Burman, artistic director at Cambridge Junction, said: “We’re really excited to be working with partners across the city on this fantastic new programme of music and comedy.
"We’ve got brilliant independent venues in the city who are working hard to recover from the ongoing impact of the pandemic and welcoming audiences and amazing artists to the city for a weekend of new music and laughter will be a collective celebration of all we can achieve together.”
Sound + Vision aims to do more than just put on a fantastic show.
On Thursday, April 21 and Friday, April 22 there will be two days of industry conference, offering up-and-coming creative professionals the opportunity to learn more about establishing themselves in sustainable careers in the arts.
Networking events and Q&As will maximise opportunities to learn from industry big-hitters.
Wristbands are available for full access to all festival shows, or all conference sessions, or both. Alternatively, limited numbers of individual tickets are available to each show.
Full line-up and ticket details can be found at www.soundandvisionconvention.co.uk and on Instagram @soundandvisionconvention
Sound + Vision Cambridge is supported by funding from National Lottery Project Grants from Arts Council England and the PRS Foundation Open Fund.
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