Hundreds of people of all ages will be given the chance to demonstrate their creative talents at a new arts festival.
Berkshire Music and Arts Festival will be open to everyone who has talent in music, drama and creative writing.
The festival will culminate on Sunday, November 2, at Ufton Court in Sulhamstead when performers will show off their skills.
The festival was thought up by piano teacher Michelle Cane.
She gathered a team of four with Stageability Berkshire principal, Jackie Stuart, violin teacher Simone Schieber and Tiziana Matricardi, who will run the creative writing competition.
They hope as many as 800 artists and performers could enter and have begun organising fundraising events and school visits to gain support.
She said: “The thing is to give children, amateur musicians, actors and creative writers the chance to perform in front of a supportive audience.”
Organisers say money raised from the festival will be ploughed back into tuition for talented children who may lack the funds to make the most of their skills.
Mrs Stuart said: “It will be where schools have identified children with talent who would not otherwise be able to access more tuition and we would support them on an ongoing basis, not just a one off.”
There will be four age groups: Infants (seven and under); Juniors (eight-11); Seniors (12-16) and Adults. Mrs Cane has ambitions to grow the festival to become the biggest of its kind in the South of England and says she has had huge support already from people who have been approached to help.
She added: “One thing that’s kept us so enthusiastic is that so far it has been fairly effortless in that everyone we have come across, no-one has been negative.
“There has been so much support from people locally, it has been heartwarming.”
Visit www.berksmusicandarts.org.uk.
