Freedom Festival Arts Trust, creators of one of the UK’s leading international arts festival, Freedom Festival, with support from the Welcome Back Fund, England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020, the Arts Council and the Global Streets network are delighted to be working in partnership with Hull City Council to bring a new event to Hull city centre, The Awakening.

Celebrating the movement from winter to spring, our great city’s maritime identity, heritage, folklore and mythology, our relationship to the environment, and as we move from the pandemic into more normal times, we welcome everyone to join us back on the streets of Hull.

We invite you to experience a magical and entertaining experience as you explore the city centre and Old Town into the evening. The Awakening is totally free and takes place between 18.00-22.00 on Friday 18 and Saturday 19 March 2022.

Bespoke mask designers Wintercroft have created a mask especially for you to wear as you experience The Awakening. Workshops will take place before and during the weekend or, if you prefer, you can download your own digital pack to make the masks at home. Create, colour and jazz them up as you like and wear them as we take you around the city centre.

For the first time, Ferens Arts Gallery will remain open into the evening to look around their galleries and exhibits. Then stroll through a fire trail in Queen’s Gardens before stopping at the Rose Bowl to marvel at Borealis, a mesmerising installation bringing the experience of the Northern Lights to Hull.

Head down towards Whitefriargate where windows will be lit up by projections of artefacts from Hull’s Maritime Museum. Not forgetting to stop off at Zebedee’s Yard for a dynamic, interactive, fun, multi-sensory, music making installation, Halo.

In the city centre join Deblozay (‘chaos’ in Haitian Creole) to be taken on a journey to an unknown destination in the heart of the night alongside Hull’s Freedom Chorus, and meet Totems, giant silhouettes sneaking without a noise through the street until they come to life and begin to dance.

Throughout the Old Town you will meet NYX writing Joanna Walsh’s Maritime Riddles in light emitting powder on the ground or Projector Bikes, 2 mobile electric tricycles ridden by 2 DJ projectionists. Moving onto High Street, Museum Gardens hosts Ship of the Gods and the area's staithes will be home to footage screening from the Yorkshire Film Archives accompanied by The Broken Orchestra curated soundscapes from local musicians including Low Hummer, Wai Wan, Katie Spencer and The Broken Orchestra.

The full programme and event details can be seen at www.theawakeninghull.co.uk

Mikey Martins: Artistic Director and CEO of Freedom Festival Arts Trust, said: “We are excited to be partnering with Hull City Council on this new event, creating, producing and delivering The Awakening for the people of Hull.

“We can’t wait to welcome thousands of people back to the streets of the city centre to celebrate as we leave the pandemic behind and mark the movement from Winter into Spring. There are special moments around many corners from Queen Victoria Square to High Street so we encourage you, as we do with Freedom Festival, to join us, be curious and try something new.

“We’d like to thank Hull City Council, Hull’s Maritime project, who have contributed some fantastic elements to the programme, Welcome Back Funding, the Arts Council and the Global Streets network. Working in collaboration is at the heart of everything we do and we could not have brought this brand new event to life without these partners.”

Councillor Daren Hale, Leader of Hull City Council, said: “Hull City Council is delighted to be collaborating with the Freedom Festival Arts Trust to deliver ‘The Awakening’ for the city. This is an exciting programme of outdoor installations, with light, fire and music to celebrate the change of seasons and our city’s fascinating maritime heritage, folklore and mythology.

“Following on from the success of The Kraken last summer, The Awakening is the next major event to shine a light on our ambitious Hull Maritime project.

“This will be a great event for everyone to visit the city centre and experience our spaces, museums and collections in a new light.”