Husband and wife organise festival of science, magic and beatboxing

Sunday 08 January 2023

A husband-and-wife duo have organised a spectacular one-day festival of science, magic and beatboxing next month in the hope of inspiring the astronauts, researchers and creators of the future.

The Glimmer Fusion Festival is being organised by Carl and Michelle McConnell.

Since January 2020, the pair have been trying to bring engaging, educational events over to Jersey.

They began their work as they felt that many opportunities offered to children in the UK to learn in a fun and entertaining way are simply not available to children in Jersey.

"As parents, we often take our kids over to the UK to places like the Science Museum or the Natural History Museum to give them a fun, educational experience... We want to try and bring that kind of thing over to Jersey," Carl said.

Pictured: Carl and Michelle McConnell, the organisers of the upcoming Glimmer Fusion Festival.

As a result, they set out to make a change and have tried to encourage touring educational spectacles to come over to Jersey.

The pair were responsible for bringing the 'Jurassic Live' show to the Royal Jersey Showground in 2022. Featured lifelike animatronic dinosaurs, it was attended by more than 2,000 people.

Pictured: Carl and Michelle McConnell are looking to bring fun, educational experiences like those available at the Science Museum in the UK, to Jersey. 

Their culmination of all the pair's work so far, the Glimmer Fusion Festival will feature three award-winning acts from the UK. 

Brianiac Live, the live version of the hit TV show originally hosted by Richard Hammond, which featured on the West End just this summer, will take top billing and will feature a packed show exploring the mysteries of science and "all of the naughty experiments you probably shouldn't try at home".

Attendees should expect wacky science, explosions and combusting dustbins in a show that the Guardian has described as "the Science Museum meets Top Gear."

Carl and Michelle will also be running an 'Astronaut Academy workshop', which will see children challenged to build their own spacecraft. 

Are you mad about science? ????????Strap on your safety goggles boys and girls!

Brainiac Live! explodes on stage at Homeground on Mon 9 Aug and will take you on a breathless ride through the wild world of weird and wonderful.

Tickets £15 ????https://t.co/PFfkuUVbZi@BrainiacLive pic.twitter.com/U7tHABtTpX

— HOME (@HOME_mcr) July 2, 2021

Fresh from sell-out shows at the Edinburgh Fringe and the Southbank Centre in London, the day will also feature performances from the Mighty Kids Beatbox Comedy Show, a duo made up of a world champion beatboxer and award-winning comedian Jarred Christmas, who has featured on UK panel shows like Mock the Week and 8 Out of 10 Cats.

Finally, Troy the Magician, one of the UK's most successful magicians, who previously had a show on E4 and has performed for celebrities like Harry Styles and Prince Harry, will be performing a magic show.

Supporting all of this will be live music from Jersey artists, an interactive educational show featuring live animals run by 'Jungle Jane' and even a silent disco.

Carl said: "We're holding it when the weather is rubbish and when you're struggling with things to do, so we want people to come out and have fun. Of course, we've tried our best to curate all the acts so that the parents enjoy it as much as the kids."

Michelle added: "Our whole ethos is to make sure that families enjoy themselves together."

The pair hope that the show will not only be a fun day out for kids and families, but will also inspire younger people to take an interest in science and learning.

Carl said: "We want to plant the seed in the minds of the next generation and help nurture future talent."

Tickets for the Glimmer Fusion Festival, which takes place on 11 February from 10:00 to 19:00, are available from the Glimmer.je website.