First performers announced for Freedom Festival

The first performers have been announced for this year's Hull Freedom Festival.

The annual weekend arts event takes place in September in various locations across the city.

Highlights include acrobatic troupe Gravity and Other Myths performing a show called 10,000 Hours at Hull Truck Theatre.

Quingo Starlequinn will feature a giant drumming puppet with a built-in DJ booth leading a street dance party through the streets, and Babel, by French group Arrangement Provisoire, will see a 40ft (12m) high tower built in Trinity Square.

Festival director Phil Hargreaves said the theme for this year's festival was peace, and "encouraging audiences to consider what peace means in a world that often feels anything but calm".

The festival began in 2007 as part of the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire, campaigned for by Hull MP William Wilberforce.

Last year, more than 60,000 spectators watched 148 performances over the three days, organisers said.

"The Festival continues to stand out as one of the most distinctive arts festivals in the north of England, transforming Hull into a city-wide stage with free outdoor spectacle, international performance and community-led creativity," Hargreaves said.

It runs from Friday 4 September and features free outdoor programmes alongside ticketed performances.

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