Travelling showmen have a long and noble history that stretches back to mediaeval times. They were those who "showed off" their skills or their wares in the local market place and so attracted the epithet ‘showman’. Over the years, they have survived both through their creative ability and through their adaptability as they have continued to provide for the recreational needs of the public. Visitors to the fair are re-created as they draw on the creativity of show people. Some of the accepted features of contemporary life in this century were first brought to public attention on the fairground. Two notable examples are those of electricity and the cinema — first featured on the fairground as the "bioscope".

Today, more than ever, the fairground is a large-scale, kinetic art form, engaging multi-media techniques and technology. Show people must possess many skills as they give expression to their own artistic creativity. This might be through work on the large scale and servicing costly machinery, or it might be in making a fairground attraction, or through the decoration of their own ‘shows’, whether stalls or the large machines providing the thrills of high speed rides. In conversation with them, a way was sought for a potentially creative collaboration between, on the one hand, show people and visitors to the fair and, on the other, a professional artist with wide ranging skills, creative imagination and the ability to communicate and get on with people. The chosen artist, Boris Howarth, had access to a new setting in a new relationship.

The aim of the residency was not only to improve understanding between show people and artists. It was also hoped that it might lead to new commissions as new opportunities were grasped for employing artists in this exciting provision for human recreation. This has proved to be the case. A design for a large-scale sculpture has been produced, for which funding is being sought.

Europe’s major fair, on Newcastle-upon-Tyne’s Town Moor each June, was chosen as the venue for the residency. Occasional days of preparation, including meetings with leading show people engaged in the north east, were followed by concentrated periods ‘in residency’ in Newcastle. The product of the artist could not, of course, be identified at that stage. The dialogue, which took place with the show people, was the essential prerequisite to the realisation of the final product.

Boris Howarth himself has a long track-record of working with different communities and associations of individuals. Using his vision and practical skills, he has presented afresh particular aspects of those communities, both to themselves and to wider audiences. In this instance, the artist sees his role as that of a "Secular Celebrant". As he stated it in his proposal for the residency, he aimed to be:

"a catalyst through which all the individual aspects of the Showman’s Art, which make up the corporate image of the Fair, are focused, distilled and synthesised into a new but temporary restatement of their meaning and function. This ephemeral experience will work on three levels: in the first it will be pure Nostalgic essence; in the second, a contemporary definition of Joy; and, finally, a recognition of the many ways in which the Fair, and the showmen who make it, celebrate the continuity of Art, Invention and unfettered Play.

In practical terms, the product of the residency may take any number of forms: a walkabout, an installation, a live broadcast, a series of accidents, a manufacturing process designed as a spectator sport, a motorcade or perhaps an old-fashioned ceremonial. Whatever form it takes, it will always be a part of and a summation of the Fair itself."

The residency has been made possible through the strong links of friendship created between the show people and Bill Hall, who for more than thirty years has been officially elected each year as their chaplain. He initiated the project, having provided the design brief with its emphasis on play and re-creation. An essential part of the residency were the meetings between the artist and leading show people engaged in and in some cases responsible for the management of various fairs in the north east of England. Some of them are or have been national officers of the Showmen’s Guild of Great Britain, their professional organisation.

The Chaplaincy to the Arts and Recreation gratefully acknowledges funding for this project from the Arts Council of England's YOTA project, the Regional Arts Lottery Programme and Newcastle City Council.

For further information contact Bill Hall