For a small town, Holmfirth has a remarkably large presence in the arts.

This month thousands of people of all ages will flock to the Holmfirth Arts Festival, a ten-day extravaganza of art, music, workshops, storytelling and theatre performance.

The event comes hot on the heels of the recently-staged Holmfirth Festival of Folk and Holmfirth Film Festival. In just a few weeks time Holmfirth Art Week will showcase the visual arts, and later in the year the town will resound to the Holmfirth Music Festival. In addition to all this cultural activity, Holmfirth also hosts Art Markets in summer and winter.

But June 11 sees the launch of the eighth Holmfirth Arts Festival with an eclectic programme that covers everything from classical music to stand-up comedy, art inspired by gargoyles to jazz from one of Europe’s leading saxophonists.

“We have tried to make the festival as broad as possible,” says Gail Cooke, marketing and PR manager for the festival.

“Every year we are aiming to make the festival bigger and better and reach out to different audiences. We try to cover all the categories and include workshops for families and children.”

The festival has certainly grown in stature and complexity since its inception in 2008.

In 2010 it cost just £21,000 to run the festival, which receives Arts Council funding as well as support from Kirklees and the Holme Valley Parish Council, but last year expenditure rose to nearly £75,000.

Escher String Quartet, to appear at Holmfirth Arts Festival

Festival director Fiona Goh, who took over in 2013, says this is because the appointment of a professional director (Jonathan Best was the first) in 2011 allowed the festival to raise its artistic ambitions to greater heights.

This year the festival has attracted a number of high-profile world-class musicians and performers, including leading European saxophonist Andy Sheppard with his Hotel Bristol quartet; Eminence Brass, a highly-regarded ensemble of outstanding brass players; and the Escher String Quartet, a critically-acclaimed group of young musicians from New York.

It is also hosting a night of comedy with Paul Chowdhry, host of Channel 4’s Stand Up for the Week, and an evening with cabaret performer Mat Ricardo, aka The Gentleman Juggler.

For 2015 the festival has taken local myths and legends as its theme and commissioned work from Holmfirth artist Fabric Lenny, who is creating a Totemic Gargoyle Trail around Holmfirth as well as a collection of limited edition work for an exhibition, Totems, Tales and Talismans.

Local schoolchildren have been involved in a project to design their own versions of the Holmfirth boggart, and will be able to join themed workshops during the festival.

There’s also children’s theatre with a performance by Holme Valley company Tell Tale Hearts, who specialise in puppetry and stage shows for the very young.

For those who want more low key entertainment, this year’s festival is boasting four donated story sofas, which will be seated around the town and occupied from time to time by storytellers.

The Eminence Brass quartet, to appear at Holmfirth Arts Festival

The end of the festival, which has Holme Valley business Longley Farm as its community engagement sponsor, will be celebrated at the summer solstice with a night of fire, sound and the burning of the festival’s gargoyles – in ritual style.

The event features home-grown fire artists paBOOM and musician Jason Singh, who is a member of the Rubber Duck Beatbox Orchestra – also performing at the festival, which ends on Sunday, June 21, Midsummer’s Day.

Last year more than 2,000 people attended ticketed events during the festival, while free events attracted 5,500.

Nearly 800 people of all ages took part in workshops and while 85% of those who were at the festival came from the Holme Valley or nearby, it always attracts a substantial number of visitors from further afield, further securing Holmfirth’s position on the North’s cultural map.

For details of all events visit www.holmfirthartsfestival.co.uk or call at the Tourist Information Offices in Holmfirth or Huddersfield.