Kate Abbey is a Festival Director, Arts Consultant and a Trustee at Bath City FC Charity Foundation. She is co-founder of Bath Arts Collective who launched the city festival Curious Minds: a festival to ignite ideas in 2024.
Where were you born and brought up?
I was brought up in the beautiful Devon countryside with my parents, sister, an assortment of animals and a lot of books!
What brought you to Bath?
My husband and I moved here in 2006 with our son who was 18 months old. We’d left London to try out life in a small Oxfordshire village but missed the culture, buzz and work that a city provides so decided to settle in Bath. It also brought us closer to my parents who live in Freshford.
How do you find Bath as a city to live in?
Bath has been full of positives. It’s been a wonderful place to bring up our two children, now both teenagers and embarking on their own adventures – I couldn’t have done without the green spaces, numerous coffee shops and places like The Egg, Little Theatre, The Holburne and Bath City Football Club.
Professionally Bath has supported me as I’ve forged a whole new career post children as an Artistic Director and Festival Programmer. I’ve met my tribe – those who care deeply about the impact of their work on the communities they represent and are generous with their time and expertise.
A current frustration that is shared by most of us working in this space is inequality across our city, specifically in terms of the cultural opportunities (or lack of). Cities belong to everyone who lives in them and ours can sometimes be in danger of only listening and responding to a privileged minority.
Name a favourite place in Bath.
I love the upstairs room at my favourite pub, The Grapes. It’s called Pocock’s Living Room and is a Jacobean space with a lime plaster ceiling dating from around 1812. It’s regularly used now for brilliant events like Babel Book Club, music performances and art drawing classes.
How does Bath balance its history and its role as a contemporary city?
Hmmm, honestly, if I was writing a school report, I’d probably say ‘could do better’. Preservation is hugely important and clearly crucial in terms of our tourism industry – but we must also celebrate innovation and experimentation and stop ourselves from constantly referencing former glories.
How and when did you get involved in organising festival events?
I met my Bath Arts Collective work partner-in-crime, Kate Hall, at the school gates about 10 years ago and she spotted that I was in need of a fresh challenge and brought me into the instantly addictive books and music festival world. I’m a programmer, so my role is to find the writers, thinkers, comedians, musicians and performers to build interesting and eclectic lineups. She’s a producer so turns my thoughts and ideas into reality. We then have Jasmine Barker, who drives all the marketing and audience development elements.
I’m a magpie – drawn to shiny new things, so I love the thrill of creating events, collaborating with others, meeting fascinating people and seeing them connect with audiences. When we fail (live events are hard to always get right), we come together, dust ourselves off, and get out and do it again! When you get it right, it’s the best feeling in the world.
What have been some of your most precious moments in the city?
This is a very personal one but my daughter (now 16) was born on our kitchen floor. She came sooner than we thought she would and despite only being 10 minutes from the RUH it became clear that wasn’t going to be an option. My husband always reminds me that he dragged a mattress up from the basement – and so once again I’d like to thank him for his contribution!
And professionally there have been so many amazing pinch-me moments, I’ve been so lucky. March 2024 however saw us take a big gamble and launch Curious Minds: a festival to ignite ideas – 30 book talks, film screenings, live performances, writing workshops and walks held in over 13 venues across Bath. Jeremy Bowen, Bryony Gordon and Robin Ince were headliners, we brought award-winning LGBTQ+ Polari Salon to Komedia, held the Big Bath Pop Culture Quiz, showcased local writers and partnered with both universities.
We brought the whole thing to life, from original conception to delivery in just under 20 weeks, starting with an idea and some generous support from a few venues and our festival bookseller, Mr B’s. To have our own festival that contributes to the cultural ecosystem in Bath (we’re back for more in March 2025) feels very special.
What would be your choice of Desert Island Discs book to take to your island? And what would be your luxury?
Please don’t make me choose! If forced to make a decision I think it would be Station Eleven by Emily St.John Mandel, a gripping read that asks the question if civilization was lost, what would you save and how far would you go to preserve that?
And a luxury… A very large gin and tonic in a very heavy tall glass please. With crisps.
Curious Minds: a festival to ignite ideas runs from 10-31 March. Visit batharts.co.uk for the programme line-up.