This Thursday sees the gates open to the inaugural Houghton festival, an intimately curated event put together by fabric‘s long-standing resident Craig Richards and produced by the team behind Gottwood Festival. This year’s Gottwood proved once more the Welsh festival’s logistical clout, and combined with an exploratory lineup that includes Ricardo Villalobos, Cobblestone Jazz, Convextion, Move D and Tony Allen, Houghton looks set to be the summer’s most highly anticipated ticket.

Aside from the extensive programme of live and DJ sets, Houghton last week announced there will be a range of extra curricular activities on offer and creative partners represented across the weekend. On the music front, Dalston speakeasy Brilliant Corners will bring their audiophile hi-fi sound system to one of the site’s wooden yurts for a presentation of GIANT STEPS in collaboration with The Analogue Foundation, while Trojan Sound System will offer up their world renowned reggae bass weight.

From the visual arts, there will be a series of feature and short film screenings from Future Shorts, curated by Parisian producer Ivan Smagghe, LYF Drawing will offer up nude sketching sessions, while art tours of Houghton’s sculpture park featuring artefacts from James Turrell, Richard Long and Zhan Wang will take place throughout the weekend. Perhaps the most intriguing installation is that of Compliments & Flattery, where participants will be showered with praise by sentimental specialists to help them leave feeling loved and confident in their own self worth – surely a sign that not all’s right in our world.

It’s an unexpected and welcome undertaking for a dance music festival to branch out beyond the beats and showcase creativity in its many forms; one that underlines Houghton’s desire to position itself closer to the likes of Glastonbury. As if we needed further proof of the care and imagination that’s been injected by Craig Richards, he’s also put together a book of drawings of every artist on the lineup that will be available for sale exclusively on site.

Houghton festival is sold out, but some resale tickets are still availabla via Resident Advisor.

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