Interview with Curious Arts Festival Founder Clare Conville

Clare has created Curious Arts with Patrick Keogh, course director at Guardian creative writing masterclasses, who she's previously designed the Voewood Festival with. The festival, which takes place this weekend, is held at the Pylewell Park estate which is 26 acres of gardens and lakes and rarely open to the public. Clare said: "We needed a free-er space than Voewood, with more room for camping and parking, and a mutual friend put us in touch with the Pylewell Park estate in the Forest of Dean which we thought was fantastic, a kingdom within a kingdom, and it went from there." 

The concept of the curious arts began with Patrick, with the aim of the festival being to: "Combine an eclectic group of writers, artists and musicians to provide a curious weekend", Clare elaborated: "There are all sorts of journeys through the festival, there are serious literary events, life drawing, breathing lessons and even a Jabberwocky hunt." As well as the aforementioned Jabberwocky hunt, there is plenty on offer for children such as a film tent with a cartoon club, storytelling at bedtimes and a "pestival" walk hunting for insects. 

Clare would like to see the festival grow over the next few years although it's not intended to ever become a huge festival, with 4, 000 people being the maximum they'd like to see attend. Clare hopes that the festival provides something for everyone: "It's not extreme in the way Glastonbury is. You can sit down and have a gin and tonic, walk around the gardens, do some life drawing. You don't even have to be a keen reader - you can go and have a lovely day in the beautiful gardens and have a picnic and listen to some music."

The programme has been together using Clare's literary agent instinct: "You always go for people who's work interests you, who have an unusual view on the world. We have everyone from Antonia Fraser to Nathan Filer to John Niven to Rachel Joyce." The festival also features cricket from the Authors' XI, DJs, live music, and poetry trails as well as the more traditional tented literary events.

The Curious Arts Festival is on this weekend. More information, and tickets, here.