HushFest 2026: thank you for being part of it
A few weeks have passed since HushFest, and one of the things I keep thinking about is the look on people’s faces when they opened the Quiet Hearts wardrobes.
They would see an ordinary wardrobe, open the door, and then pause as hundreds of colourful handmade hearts came into view. There were smiles, laughter, quiet moments taking it all in, and even a few tears. I noticed the surprise and delight straight away and loved it so much that I decided to start recording some of those first reactions. It became one of my favourite parts of HushFest.
From Saturday 4th to Friday 10th July, Cornwall’s first Festival of Quietness brought exhibitions, live music and creative workshops to St Cubert’s Church near Newquay and Create CIC in Camborne.
Hundreds of people visited the exhibitions, attended workshops, listened to music and joined Meet Ups. Others performed, facilitated activities, or volunteered to help with the preparation and practical work. And over 70 people contributed creative work for the HushFest exhibitions, through individual artwork, photography, textiles, zines and collaborative pieces developed in workshops and Meet Ups. Many more people also helped create the nearly 2,000 hearts and hundreds of metres of ribbon brought together in the shared installations.
Some people wandered in for a few minutes, some people stayed for an afternoon, and others visited on multiple days for different events.
HushFest began long before July
Although the public festival lasted for one week, HushFest had been growing through our quiet community since January.
Quieteers took part in lino printing in Penzance, sustainable photography in Redruth, creative spaces in Hayle, heart-making in Camborne, zine-making in Helston, and music and monologue sessions in Liskeard. Our online Ideas Labs and Silent Art Clubs offered ways to create alongside others and help shape the festival from home too.
People shared paintings, photographs, ceramics, textiles, poetry and other work for the exhibitions. It might have been a single heart or a basketful created over many months; a butterfly symbolising a positive aspect of quiet; a carefully chosen ribbon added to represent themselves in the community harmony scarf; or photo capturing a moment of quiet connection with nature.
The Opening Celebration
The opening celebration at St Cubert’s Church brought together original songs, familiar pieces and music ranging from acoustic and folk to bluegrass and pop-punk.
Eleven performers prepared and rehearsed for the afternoon, which ended with the first performance of A Little Bit of Hush – the song that grew from words and reflections shared by people within the Quiet Connections community, then brought together and developed into something that could be performed collectively thanks to our Zoe Zalick from Liskeard.
Watching the performers was another of the parts of HushFest that really touched me.
Some had never performed publicly before. Some had not performed on their own, while others were trying something different from anything they had shared in the past. I found it quite moving that they trusted us, and the people sitting in that church, enough to show those parts of themselves. I am grateful that Quiet Connections can be somewhere people feel comfortable sharing something that may usually remain unseen.
Zoe reflected afterwards: “I would say all 11 of us that performed in the HushFest concert stepped outside our comfort zone. But we felt good for doing it!”
Another quieteer highlighted that getting through the church door can be it’s own comfort zone stretch: “Despite my inner dialogue saying don’t go because it’ll be too busy, I made it to the Hush festival yesterday, even though I arrived later than I planned. I’m really pleased I did. I really enjoyed seeing everyone playing their instruments and singing their songs, I thought it was fantastic! The ribbon scarf was amazing and the church looked lovely.”
Inside HushFest
The exhibitions exploring quiet in nature, in ourselves, in relationships and in creativity spread throughout St Cubert’s Church and Create CIC, with workshops and Meet Ups taking place at both venues and elsewhere.
At St Cubert’s, there was facilitated creative activity every day of festival week. People made butterflies, explored song lyrics through art, created mini zines and Quiet Hearts, added to the Community Harmony Scarf, and spent time collaging together.
Create CIC hosted the Camborne exhibition, workshops in stained glass and clay, and an evening Meet Up, while Creative Fieldnotes led our quiet writing workshop in Falmouth, where people spent an evening writing and creating quietly together. Our regular Meet Ups continued around Cornwall throughout the week as well, offering familiar local gatherings alongside the wider festival activity.
One quieteer described their delight “getting my first proper look at the exhibits, resonating and feeling understood by looking at the artwork from other quieteers, and the juxtaposition of the ordinary-looking wardrobe on the outside but overflowing with colourful life and wonderful imagination on the inside.”
Elsewhere in the church, the Community Harmony Scarf ran between the pillars, carrying hundreds of metres of ribbons and personal stories. The butterflies made through workshops and Meet Ups came together in a colourful arch, creating a stained-glass effect that members of the St Cubert’s community told us they would miss when it was gone.
The Community Gallery brought together drawings, paintings, photographs, collage, textiles, and poetry from people across Cornwall. One visitor shared how they appreciated the recognition that we are not all the same, and that other valid ways of being are often overlooked.
A small response written during the opening celebration found its way into another part of the week too. Someone wrote “quiet does not mean silent” on one of the leaves offered to visitors, and the vicar later used those words as the basis for the Sunday service at St Cubert’s.
The workshops brought their own moments. One person became so absorbed in making a zine that he could not believe three hours had passed. Someone left the Falmouth writing workshop with interesting imagery and an unexpected poem about oranges. Another person said the lack of expectations during the Art from Song Lyrics workshop helped them relax and enjoy creating.
A new quieteer who joined the stained-glass workshop wrote:
“I noticed what a relief it is to be with people where the shared understanding is that we may be quiet or shy and that’s ok. It removes so much pressure to perform and to just be as you are.”
The photographs taken at HushFest show people absorbed in what they were making, quietly sitting alongside one another and joining conversations as they created. They also show a lot of laughter, often with clay, paper, thread or a half-finished piece still in someone’s hands. Some facilitators were trying something new themselves. HushFest also brought together quieteers and Volunteer Connectors from different Meet Ups across Cornwall, which does not happen very often across such a large county.
Emily shared: “I’ve really enjoyed meeting different people from different Quiet Connections groups.”
We heard from visitors who were thinking about joining Quiet Connections too. Someone who had previously attended our Newquay Meet Up said they would love to see it return, while another person wondered whether something similar could begin where they lived (our answer is here).
You can see and revisit some of the creative work and perspectives shared through the festival in our HushFest Community Collection.
What happens next?
We’re grateful to Pete Zalick who is now bringing together the visuals and audio that he and Alex Hart recorded during the opening celebration. Each performer will have a separate video of their performance to keep and share, and there will also be a video of the first performance of A Little Bit of Hush at St Cubert’s.
Zoe and Pete are leading work on a separate audio recording of the song for release too. It would be wonderful to get many quieteers voices on this, so let us know if you’d like to be a part of this recording in Falmouth or Liskeard by emailing hushfest@quietconnections.co.uk.
People are already asking whether HushFest will happen again. We had quite an enthusiastic chat about it at ParkLive last week, separate suggestions for HushFest “on-the-road”, and we know that we have learnt a lot from this first HushFest that could make the next one even better.
Quiet Connections turns ten in May 2027, so we are considering a bringing HushFest back in some form as part of our anniversary year in new locations around Cornwall and perhaps including a celebration event in some places.
We would love to hear from venues with a little character that could host an exhibition and possibly a performance or creative gathering. Affordable, discounted or supported use would make a real difference to how far HushFest can go.
To offer a venue or start a conversation about bringing HushFest to your area, please email hushfest@quietconnections.co.uk.
Help us shape what comes next
Before we make decisions about where HushFest goes from here, we would really value hearing from the people who were part of this one.
Whether you visited, performed, facilitated, volunteered, shared creative work from home or helped behind the scenes, we welcome your honest reflections.
We would like to know what you enjoyed, what did not work as well for you, and anything you would like us to consider in future. Your feedback will help us understand the different experiences people had, improve future activity and decide how HushFest might develop. It will also help us report responsibly to the organisations that supported the work.
Complete the HushFest survey: www.quietconnections.co.uk/hushfest-feedback
Thank YOU
HushFest happened because so many people offered something different. Music and voices; artwork, photography and writing; ribbons, hearts, butterflies, zines and other creations. Alongside all of this came the rehearsals, performances, workshops and venues that helped bring everything together. There were warm welcomes and cups of tea, photography and publicity, transport and fundraising, planning and administration, installation and the considerable job of taking everything down again. Some of you were there throughout the week. Some joined one activity, visited an exhibition or came along to a Meet Up. Others contributed from home, shared their work with us, or helped before the doors opened and after visitors had gone.
St Cubert’s Church welcomed our first HushFest generously, hosting the exhibition, opening celebration and daily creative workshops throughout the week. We are very grateful to Wendy and everyone within the church community who helped us settle in, welcomed visitors and worked alongside us.
Create CIC was involved from the early development of HushFest onwards. Angela helped to secure funding, plan and install the exhibitions across both venues, while she, Zanna and Sally facilitated activities before and during festival week, supported guest facilitators from our Quiet Connections community, and hosted the Camborne exhibition, workshops and Meet Up. We are so grateful for the time, care and practical help they gave throughout.
Zoe and Pete Zalick, from the band Zalick, did an incredible job of bringing the performances at our opening celebration to life. They supported quieteers as they prepared and performed, managed the sound and running order, and helped everything flow smoothly. Alex Hart also recorded the performances alongside Pete, giving us the footage that is now being brought together for each performer.
We are grateful to photographer Eve McCartney, who documented HushFest through photographs, video recordings and interviews, helping us preserve many of the people, conversations and moments that shaped the festival.
Mia Edwin created the HushFest logo that gave the festival its own visual identity, as well as contributing creatively to the wider programme.
Thank you to everyone who facilitated a workshop or creative session during the development of HushFest and festival week: Michael Mules -who also did a wonderful job curating the exhibition, Mia Edwin, Owen Skerritt, Sue Rowe, Sue Pearce, Angela Hatherell, Zanna Pill, Sally Caslake, Lorna Bode, Emily Newman, Jo Buckingham, Tim Norman, Clare Lawrence-Simms, and Ceda Parkinson and Millie Burdett of Creative Fieldnotes. We are also grateful to MITBER CIC for the sustainable photography sessions run with young quieteers, to Zoe Zalick for leading the songwriting and music sessions, and to Michael Mules and Ellen Duffy-Martin for the online Ideas Labs and Silent Art Clubs.
Thank you as well to all of our volunteers and Volunteer Connectors, and to everyone who continued welcoming quieteers through Meet Ups around Cornwall during festival week.
HushFest was supported by FEAST. Investment for FEAST comes from Arts Council England and Cornwall Council, and the programme is managed by Creative Kernow. We’re grateful for the support and encouragement of Ellie Allen throughout our unsuccessful and successful attempts at obtaining funding to pilot HushFest this year.
There are too many other individual contributions to name. Thank you for trusting us with your work, music, ideas and time, and for helping us create the first HushFest together.
