Tickets are now on sale for a series of thrifty superskills sessions at this year’s tenth anniversary Festival of Thrift where people can have fun trying new things and get hands-on, learning life-enhancing tips, tricks, and techniques.
From beginners’ ukulele to wooden duck painting, making beeswax wraps to spoon carving, and crafting a bubble bee blower to having a go on a potters’ wheel, there is plenty to choose from for all ages, abilities and budgets at the festival’s tenth anniversary event at Kirkleatham on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 September.
Sustainably minded festival goers can book to discover how to make organic beauty balms and scrubs using kitchen ingredients, use household staples to create toxin free alternatives to costly commercial detergents.
A host of free drop in workshops and activities will also be available on the weekend and include biodiversity explorations, drawing from nature, and a kick against the throwaway society learning the art of mending in a workshop that embraces slow fashion and the skills of repairing, patching or fix broken stuff with Fix It Café.
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For those of us trying to deal with cost of living increases architects from RIBA will be on hand to show how to keep costs down and be sustainable with insulation and energy solutions in our homes.
Stella Hall, Creative Director of the award-winning annual celebration of sustainable living, said: “Our workshops offer the ideal opportunity for people to enjoy finding out things they never knew they needed to know.
“Having fun doesn’t have to cost the earth so, not only are there opportunities to learn sustainable skills, we have made sure that taking part in the workshops has been kept very affordable or, in many cases, free.”
The workshops take place against the backdrop of a packed free programme of eye-catching and engaging artists to celebrate Festival of Thrift’s decade of delivering its nationally recognised sustainable living event.
Special highlights for the 2022 event include a large-scale work by acclaimed artist duo Ackroyd and Harvey featuring words from poet, novelist and activist Ben Okri, Jham! an upbeat innovative classical Indian dance production with live music including a beatboxer, a saxophonist and a traditional Karnatik vocalist, from Srishti  presented in partnership with Gem Arts, and a new participatory performance, The Answers by Lizzie Klotz and Luca Rutherford, in a co-commission between Festival of Thrift and Dance City which celebrates the power of protest .
To find out more and book onto Festival of Thrift’s 2022 workshops and for further information about the programme for the weekend visit www.festivalofthrift.co.uk or follow @festivalofthrift on Facebook or Instagram.
Festival of Thrift takes place on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 September at Kirkleatham near Redcar. Entry is free. Parking costs ÂŁ6 per car (which includes a ÂŁ1 carbon offset contribution).
Festival of Thrift is funded thanks to generous support from Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, the Arts Council of England and Tees Valley Mayor and Combined Authority.
Take a look at some of the workshop skills being offered in the gallery of images below.