Margate NOW 2019

28 September 2019 – 12 January 2020

Margate Festival celebrates the best contemporary culture from Margate’s world-class creative community. Art, music, performance, written and spoken word, collective action and visual culture form a dynamic programme featuring co-commissions in the public realm and local, national and international artists. The theme NOW brings urgency and relevance.

– Dan Chilcott, Jo Murray, Claire Orme and Jenny Duff, Margate Festival Delivery Team

Guest curator for Margate NOW 2019, Russell Tovey, is best known for his roles on screen in BBC productions and on stage at the National Theatre. However, his illustrious performance career shouldn’t overshadow his passion for the arts. He co-hosts a popular weekly podcast, Talk Art, with Carl Freedman Gallery’s Robert Diament, and collects works fanatically. He speaks eloquently and perceptively on subjects from art history to modern British culture, as seen in his interviews, published both nationally and internationally. In his own words: ‘Art is for everyone. It will change you, it will outlive you.’

In 2019, in response to Turner Prize 2019 at Turner Contemporary the programme ran from 28 September 2019 – 12 January 2020. It was developed by Margate Festival, Turner Contemporary, Open School East, 1927, Resort, Crate, LIMBO, Dreamland Margate, Kent County Council and Kent Libraries, Thanet District Council, Southeastern and locally based artists. It was supported by Arts Council England through National Lottery funding, as well as contributions from Kent County Council, Thanet District Council and Dreamland Margate. Turner Prize 2019 was organised in collaboration with Tate.