Kalihari Bushmen
at Sunrise Solstice Celebration

The Sunrise Summer Solstice Celebration is to be held on a 1000 acre estate in South Somerset. It runs from June 16th-21st, and the festival culminates in the summer solstice sunrise. Offering a new dawn for UK festival culture, the organisers say, “Sunrise is the first of a new wave of harmonically-designed events where ecological awareness meets high production values”.

Organised by Family Gathering Ltd, a Glastonbury-based, ethical events company, the festival features a range of familiar Green Field faces alongside a great diversity of fresh and innovative contributors. The event is considered by the organisers to be one of the first globally-marketed UK events of its kind. The Sunrise Festival is bringing together participants from as far afield as Africa, Israel, Australia, Canada and the USA amongst others.

The event has many unique features including a site-wide organic policy (including the alcohol!), all composting toilets, a sacred geometrical site design and a specially laid Solstice wood-henge. There will be an outdoor main stage with headline acts including Dreadzone, The Incredible String Band, System 7 and Eat Static. Different days will feature different styles moving through world music, electronica, folk and eclectic plugged-in acts.

Spread across 13 autonomous areas, the event has 6 programmed stages, workshops and talks by leading experts, childrens activities, arts and crafts, healing area and health spa, multimedia presentations, spectacular performance pieces, gardens, installations, a central fire and more. The various areas cover a diverse range of interests and subjects – from the Esoterica - orientated Avalon Rising Area, to the sustainable living of the Tipi and Horsedrawn Camps. The Global Tribal Village explores the wisdom, knowledge, arts and skills of ancient living peoples through ceremony, talks, music, displays and information sharing. Participants include leading authors and experts Graham Hancock, Anthony Henman and Hattie Wells; and traditional trance-dances from the Kalihari Bushmen, visiting the UK for a special educational tour.

The Visionary Arts and Culture Area will feature unique contributions to the UK festival circuit, including a visionary arts gallery with work from world famous West Coast American Artists and a series of installations from The Nectar Temple – last seen at the Burning Man Festival in the Nevada Desert. Canadian theatre group, The Mythmakers, also look set to commence their European tour at the event. Based upon the Temple of the New Jerusalem, all 12 areas are positioned around the central hearth, the shared heart of the festival.

Tickets for this event are on sale via the website, www.sunrisecelebration.com, and will be retailing at £65 + a parking charge of £15. With only 5000 adult tickets available, organisers are confident that they will sell out prior to the event.