A HUNTINGDONSHIRE Schools Arts Festival will involve 400 children in performances and workshops and include two events open to the general public. The event begins with a film festival of students films, open to all, at St Neots Priory Centre on Monday,

A HUNTINGDONSHIRE Schools Arts Festival will involve 400 children in performances and workshops and include two events open to the general public.

The event begins with a film festival of students' films, open to all, at St Neots Priory Centre on Monday, July 9 and ends with two open-air performances of A Midsummer Night's Dream by school pupils at St Neots Community College on Friday and Saturday, July 13 and 14.

The festival has been organised by the college, inspired by the success of its one-day film festival last year.

A spokesman for the school said the event had taken six months to plan and involved pupils from schools across Huntingdonshire. The films being shown this year are short films made by school pupils.

There will also be classes on the filming and writing of advertisements, and an exhibition of sculpture created by two Huntingdon artists - Emma Paterson who makes jewellery from recycled materials including plastic bags and ring pulls, and Ben Crean who works with animation flip boxes.

Last month, St Neots Community College was awarded the Artsmark Gold Award for performing and visual arts.

INFORMATION: The film festival is at The Priory Centre, St Neots on Monday, July 9 at 7.30pm. Tickets, £3, concessions £2 from 01480 388922. A Midsummer Night's Dream is in the grounds of St Neots Community College on July 13 and 14 at 7pm. Tickets, £2.50 from 01480 374748.