THE date of Village Green 2019 has been announced.

Arts organisation Metal, which hosts the event, has said this tenth anniversary edition will take place on July 13 2019 from 11am until 9pm.

Alongside the usual quality and cutting edge music that festival-goers have come to associate with Village Green, “even more family-friendly activities” are promised. These will include a theatre tent, story emporium, silent disco and family cabaret stage. There will also be more alternative art for adults ranging from visual artists, to queer zines, alternative fashion, plus an arts and craft market with 100 local artisans, and a pop-up museum.

Usual music stages will remain, such as the popular Village Green Stage and the Global Village stage curated by Indi Sandhu, but 2019 will include more genres and feature more jazz, more pop, steampunk and bluegrass.

Metal said it brought in the additional touches, following community research carried out over the summer about what people want from Village Green 2019.

Feedback also led to a decision to introduce a greater number of bars to reduce queues.

A monthly payment scheme is also available for those who want to spread the cost of tickets over the year, and an Early Bird tiered ticket system, plus a 20 per cent special Christmas discount offer.

Sean McLoughlin, the festival director, said: ‘’It’s going to be absolutely chock full this year to celebrate the fact it’s our tenth festival. And we’ve put a lot of time into planning it. The research undertaken this year has proven really interesting and we’re reflecting the results in our programming. It was also heartening to learn that over 94 per cent of those surveyed affirmed that festivals like Village Green were important for the cultural life of towns like Southend. These are amazing statistics that demonstrate increasing awareness amongst the local people that cultural investment brings with it a great sense of civic pride and wellbeing. Or as one respondent put it, ‘Where artists go, places flourish’.’’

For those on low incomes, Metal will continue to offer a limited number of free adult and teen tickets through the Southend Borough Council Advantage Card C.

Metal has also revealed that Village Green: Next Generation will take place on the July 12 2019, the day before Village Green. This is a free one-day arts festival for all local school age children, offering creative workshops, opportunities to perform onstage and arts training to every school pupil in the borough.

2019 acts are yet to be announced.

When Village Green first started ten years ago, it attracted 8,000 visitors. Now, it regularly attracts over 20,000 festival goers.

Previous years have seen artists such as Kate Nash, Nothing But Thieves, Rag N Bone Man, Nitin Sawhney, The Selecter, Beth Orton, Dan le Sac v Scroobius Pip, Eddi Reader, Roland Gift, Wilko Johnson, Shlomo, Sam Duckworth, Billy Bragg, James Taylor Quartet, Boy with Tape on his Face, Tom Wrigglesworth, Francesca Martinez, Camera Obscura, Carleen BBC Blast, Hip Hop Shakespeare Company, John Hegley, Phill Jupitus, The Blockheads and many more perform.

Tickets are on sale now via villagegreenfestival.com

Prices are: Christmas Promo – a 20 per cent discount until midnight on December 24 - adults £12 / 11-17yrs £8 / 0-10yrs FREE; Early Bird – until 31 May 2019 - adults £15 / 11-17yrs £10 / 0-10yrs FREE; Full Price - adults £20 / 11-17yrs £15/ 0-10yrs FREE.