On the 19th June, a group of Lower Sixth Art & Photography students visited Glastonbury Festival for a behind-the-scenes tour as everyone was preparing for the much-anticipated weekend festivities. To witness a world-renowned music festival from backstage, and see all that goes into ensuring the success of such a huge event was fascinating and put an entirely new perspective on The Festival. We were generously hosted by the production company, Arcadia, in their field to witness their phenomenal work designed to create extraordinary collective experiences through radical, progressive mediums. 

For those not familiar, Arcadia is most well-known for their iconic Spider – a performance installation made from recycled materials that tours the world and was conceived at Glastonbury by their Creative Director, and Old Scholar, Pip Rush. Pip has recently given a talk about his work and his time as a student at Sidcot, so it was a great pleasure to see his most famous creation in situ.

As well as seeing the Spider when it was undergoing its final installation testing, the group was given a presentation on the work of Arcadia and workshops in welding and aerial dance. All of these activities really helped to inspire our students creatively, provided a new perspective on Glastonbury, and developed skills and knowledge for our students to take into their final year at Sidcot.

"The overarching themes that inform Arcadia’s philosophy are sustainability and community engagement. It was extremely interesting to hear how these concepts are brought to life in the work that the group does, both at Glastonbury and around the world. We are most grateful to Pip and his colleagues at Arcadia for giving us so much of their time as well as a unique insight into their work." Iain Kilpatrick, Headmaster