2010 marks the 6th Anniversary of West End LIVE, Westminster City Council’s annual entertainment festival held in the heart of London in Leicester Square.

The event is free for all the family, and visitors can witness a spectacular event including showcase performances from top West End shows and musical acts and experience a wonderful array of interactive exhibits from many of London’s top museums, galleries and cultural institutions.

The event takes place this Saturday and Sunday (19-20 June) from 11:00 to 18:00.

The Spark Children’s Arts Festival is calling for families of genies to join the ever-popular New Walk trail. This year’s trail is a day of family fun with a ‘Genie and the Magic Lamp theme’. Starting with some ‘genial’ musical fun, followed by the chance to show your creative ‘genie-us’ with The City Gallery’s team of artists.

Feel free to bring a packed lunch or you can enjoy a little something from De Montfort Hall’s foyer. After eating you’ll trail down to the Belmont Hotel for ‘genie-rus’ amounts of ice-cream, then return to De Montfort to watch Disney’s Aladdin.

Don’t wear your best clothes but do dress as a genie if you can (especially adults!) as there is a prize for the best boy and girl genie. The trail will take approximately five hours in total, beginning at 11am. Genies from seven plus can join in and tickets cost £5 each – baby genies in arms go free.

For more information please visit www.sparkfestival.co.uk, call 0116 261 6893 or email admin@sparkfestival.co.uk

11 June

Take your partner by the hand for a unique musical experience as Boka Halat presents their Afro Ceilidh at The Y Theatre as part of The Spark Children’s Arts Festival. Families can enjoy the fantastic fusion of European, Asian and African beats as Boka Halat lead us on a merry dance.

Boka Halat means ‘mutual inspiration’ and their approach is all about bringing together musical traditions to create new songs, new beats and new music. Five musicians come together to play their original songs and then lead the audience in a ceilidh with a difference. Square dancing, line dancing, whatever shape your dancing is – the Afro Ceilidh will make you get up and move your feet.

A great fun event that children and adults will love with wonderful live music, Boka Halat’s Afro Ceilidh is suitable for children aged 8 plus and will be at The Y Theatre on Friday 11th June at 19:00. Tickets cost £4 for children and £6 for adults. To book please call 0116 255 7066.

For more information please visit www.sparkfestival.co.uk, call 0116 261 6893 or email admin@sparkfestival.co.uk

12 June

Join The Spark for an evening of hip-hop dance, poetry, lyricism and theatre for children at Curve. Igniting Hip Hop features leading artists taking kids on a journey deep into the heart of hip-hop culture and its African Roots.

On Saturday 12th June Curve will host an exciting event which will showcase the work of students who have worked with inspiring artists to put together their own performance piece. Young people from Leicester and the region are working with acclaimed choreographers Donald Edwards and Miguel Pereira and performance poets Charlie Dark and Dreadlockalien.

Moat Community College in Leicester is working with Olivier Award nominee Donald Edwards and Charlie Dark to produce Igniting Hip Hop. An internationally-acclaimed dancer and choreographer, Donald now lives in Leicester. Charlie Dark is a leading performance poet who travels the globe experimenting with lyrics and music. The project has been led by 2Funky Arts, in partnership with The Spark.

The line-up also includes Dance4 and their International Young People’s Commission from leading Portuguese choreographer Miguel Pereira. The artists and students have been working to the brief to create a narrative through hip-hop dance. There will also be a performance from 2FunkyArts’ ILUVLYRICS youth group, featuring poetry and MCing.

Igniting Hip Hop at Curve will be an exciting adventure into the world of hip-hop dance and lyricism, and a wonderful opportunity to see the work of some of the best artists in the business. The performance begins at 19.30pm. Tickets are just £5 each -to book call Curve on 0116 242 3595.

For more information please visit www.sparkfestival.co.uk, call 0116 261 6893 or email admin@sparkfestival.co.uk

2 – 4 July 2010 at 12:00

We Built This City places children in the role of architect, empowering them to construct their ideal city, and during the performance they will make buildings go up, pull them down, redesign them, extend, walk through, jump on, and reconstruct them. We Built This City is not a play… it is play. Polyglot Theatre bring their tour to Waterloo Terrace at the National Theatre for LIFT 2010.

Forget playing ‘Sim City’ at home alone, now children can realise their urban dreams in three dimensions with scores of other budding young architects in We Built This City.

Presented by one of Australia’s leading children’s theatre companies Polyglot Theatre, We Built This City invites children and families to construct a city from thousands of cardboard boxes.

Under the watchful eyes of professional building experts and accompanied by a live DJ, the only city limits here are in the mind, as participants are encouraged to let their imaginations run wild and create edifices as tall, wide and outlandish as they can. But whilst We Built This City is pure fun on one level, its interactive and collaborative nature also points out how the urban environment contains many interconnected lives, finally emphasising the impermanence of everything around us when the installation is eventually crushed flat by its creators.

The Spark Children’s Arts Festival is celebrating National Family Week, a national initiative championing family life. The Spark brings children’s arts events to the region, encouraging families to play and spend time together in fun, creative and interactive ways.

The first week of The Spark coincides with National Family Week 31st May – 6th June. The average family spends just 45 minutes a day together according to a poll commissioned by National Family Week last year. National Family Week encourages families to take part in events such as The Spark Children’s Arts Festival to spend more time together.

The Spark Children’s Arts Festival offers families so many opportunities to have fun together during its first week throughout half term and plenty of ways to get stuck in and try something different. From Babyfest at De Montfort Hall on 31st May to Olga Volt the Electric Fairy at Curve on 2nd and 3rd, Drum by Oily Cart at Embrace Arts at the RA Centre from 2nd – 4th June there are wonderful events for everyone to enjoy and each is interactive in its own way. There will be free events at The Spark’s Open Minded Play Spaces in Leicester’s parks ranging from storytelling, to playtime picnics and sculpture and art activities and plus a special visit from the Queen of the Fairies herself at Aylestone Meadows on Wednesday 2nd at 14:30.

During the Spark Festival the Belmont Hotel is offering special deals to families planning to attending one of the events. A family room is available to book at the price of just £99 per room per night for two adults and two children sharing. To take advantage of this great deal for Festival Friends, contact Steve Burton at The Belmont Hotel on 0116 254 4773.

For more information please visit www.sparkfestival.co.uk, call 0116 261 6893 or email admin@sparkfestival.co.uk

Today the Royal Court Theatre has announced that it will be producing its first ever family Christmas show. The show, Get Santa! will run from December 1 2010 to January 15 2011 and will be appropriate for audiences aged seven and up. The plot follows a ten year-old girl’s mission to find the perfect family and will be directed by Anthony Neilson with music by Nick Powell.

Dominic Cooke, artistic director of the Royal Court, said: “One of the most exciting theatrical developments in recent years has been the explosion of quality work for children and families. I’m delighted that the Royal Court will be bringing its bold and contemporary sensibility to a family Christmas show this year.”

The Maharajah and the Kohinoor Diamond will come to TARA Arts on Friday 7th and Saturday 8th of May suitable for 7 and 8 year olds.

A Anglo Sikh Heritage Trail production, The Maharajah and the Kohinoor Diamond tells the story of a Sikh King and the famous Kohinoor Diamond, which now sits atop the crown worn by the Queen at the State Opening of Parliament and major Royal occasions.

This thought-provoking stage dramatisation is based on the life of Duleep Singh, the last Maharajah of Lahore and King of the Sikh Empire.

At age 11, when the British took over India, Duleep Singh was deposed and sent to live in England. He was separated from his mother and The Kohinoor, the world’s largest diamond which was taken away from him to be included in the Crown Jewels.

Whilst in England, he was granted Scottish Estates by Queen Victoria. Adopted by high society, he was Christianised and educated in Scotland, but Singh continued to dream of a triumphant return to the Punjab at the head of the Sikh army. He formed alliances with Irish revolutionaries and the Russian government to no avail because Duleep Singh, the last Maharajah of the Sikh empire was left isolated and died penniless and alone in 1893.

The Maharajah and The Kohinoor Diamond tells the story of thwarted love, political intrigue and the machinations of The Empire and is suitable for schools performances and family audiences.

The company is a tight ensemble of actors, using physical and character led theatre piece, who story tell their way through playing many characters, taking voyages from the Victorian present to its past history relating to the unknown story of the Maharajah and the Kohinoor.

Fri 7th & Sat 8th May at 7:30pm
Tickets:£9.50 / £6.50 concessions
10:30am & 1:30pm, 50 mins
Address: TARA Studio, 356 Garratt Lane, London SW18 4ES
Website: http://www.tara-arts.com
Booking: 020 8333 4457