Velvet Coalmine, the Blackwood festival of writing, rock & roll and coal has announced that Into The Ark’s headline gig will now take place on Friday 1 September, with 80 more tickets available to fans.
The headline event will remain at Blackwood Methodist Church with expanded capacity to allow more fans to see their hometown heroes. An extra 80 tickets will go on sale at 9am on Friday 18 August.
Dane from Into The Ark said: “We’re very sorry to have to reschedule our gig at Velvet Coalmine, however we are delighted that we can now expand the capacity at the venue and allow more of our amazing fans to come and see us in our hometown. Velvet Coalmine is a great initiative for Blackwood and we wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Iain Richards, founder of Velvet Coalmine, said: “Velvet Coalmine is all about giving locals the opportunity to explore their talent potential. We hope seeing local lads Into The Ark achieving such great things is an inspiration for other young people in Blackwood.
“We understand the change of date might leave some people disappointed. For those who have a ticket but are unable to make the new date, we’d like to apologise and will look to refund tickets wherever we can.”
With literature at the heart of the festival, there will be appearances from Young People’s Laureate Wales, Sophie McKeand and National Poet of Wales, Ifor ap Glyn. Africa Writes, the annual celebration of African contemporary literature in London will bring poetry performances, workshops for teachers, book club discussions and creative writing sessions for their first ever visit to Wales.
Plus, the Children’s Literature Festival will return for a second year, created by Velvet Coalmine with backing from Blackwood Town Council to inspire, stimulate and engage school children through creative workshops with some of the best writers in Wales.
Velvet Coalmine takes place from 7 to 16 September in multiple venues across Blackwood. For the full festival programme and to get your tickets, visit: velvetcoalmine.com