EEA is excited about the potential of being part of a FestivalUK* 2022 partnership bid, which was announced this week. The bid is led by The Institute for Global Food Security (IGFS) at Queen’s University Belfast and includes Great British Bake Off star Andrew Smyth and Jamie Oliver’s team which will be a massive showcase of arts and science creativity to take place across the UK in 2022. Please see website here for further details, and a message from Daniel Bernstein about his views as to why EEA has got involved. Then on the website:

The Institute for Global Food Security led consortium has been shortlisted for the next stage of the competition, being one of just 30 successful bids, whittled down from almost 300! As well as Daniel and Amaya (working freelance) from EEA, the team comprises Food Scientist Professor Chris Elliott OBE, Behavioural Psychologist Professor Moira Dean and International Events Co-ordinator Tomas Bamford from IGFS; Jamie Oliver’s team including Producer Greg Burke and Chief Content Officer Zoe Collins; Northern Ireland-born aerospace engineer, TV presenter and baker, Andrew Smyth; TV producer and marketing CEO Martin Lowde, who has worked on The X Factor, American Idol and Spice Girls tours; Dr Jane Ali-Knight, Professor in Festival and Event Management at Edinburgh Napier University.

Getting through to the Research and Development stage now gives the team the opportunity to develop concepts and ideas that could manifest in a celebration of food, food sustainability and all things culinary. Together, the 30 shortlisted teams are made up of 22 UK-wide collaborations, with two each from Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. They bring together more than 500 organisations and individuals, from both private and public sector, including freelancers and emerging talent, with many working together for the first time. Teams are drawn from the worlds of science, technology, engineering, arts and maths (‘STEAM’) – including artists; scientists; technologists; engineers; mathematicians; choreographers; coders; gamers; musicians; theatre-makers; and writers. Independently run and led by Chief Creative Officer Martin Green, Festival UK* 2022 is backed by the four governments of the UK with £120 million of investment. It’s been designed to stimulate hard-hit economies and the arts sector with a series of 10 exciting public-engagement projects running throughout 2022. They may be live, or digital, but probably both, as the project as a whole seeks to reach 66 million people world-wide. The final 10 pitches will be selected after each Creative Team presents to a panel in February 2021 with the full festival programme announced later next year. In the meantime, all 30 shortlisted groups have been awarded £100,000 each to develop their bids.