Immersive arts & music. Wellbeing. Collective experience.
About And Gather
Immersive art. Wellbeing. Collective experience.
And Gather is a Folkestone-based Community Interest Company creating imaginative cultural experiences that bring people together through music, art, movement and place.
Our work sits at the intersection of live performance, wellbeing and community. We create events that invite people to do more than simply watch: to listen deeply, move, participate, encounter unusual spaces and connect with one another.
Our programme brings together three principal strands - Sound Emergence, Ecstatic Dance and FolkeFest - alongside interdisciplinary performances, workshops and artist-led gatherings.
Our story
And Gather was founded in 2025 by artists and practitioners André Braga-Verissimo and Sasha Maye Bruce, building on their established work together through Sound Emergence.
André is an interdisciplinary artist, sound therapist, DJ and facilitator who also works under the name Local Foreigner. He is founder of Folkestone Puppet Theatre & Festival. Sasha is an artist, sound practitioner, psychotherapist and body-based Pesso Boyden therapist who runs Sasha Maye Psychotherapy. Together, they explore the relationships between people, body, place, heritage and identity - and the potential of shared creative experiences to support reflection, connection and wellbeing.
Producer and arts practitioner Didier Rochard subsequently joined And Gather as a Director, following his producing roles on André and Sasha’s Arts Council England-funded projects Church & Coast and This Place Meant. As the founder and original Artistic Director of Folkestone Contemporary Folk Festival (FolkeFest), Didier brought this successful small festival into the And Gather fold, expanding the organisation’s work across contemporary folk arts, live music and artist development while building directly on the themes, partnerships and networks developed through Church & Coast and This Place Meant.
Through his work as co-founder, artistic director and producer of London Contemporary Voices, Didier brings wide-ranging music-industry connections and more than 15 years’ experience of producing ambitious performances, festivals and collaborative projects involving established and emerging artists. As the former Cultural Heritage Officer for the National Lottery Heritage Fund-supported Fifth Continent Landscape Partnership Scheme (Kent Wildlife Trust), and through his continuing work with the Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust, he also brings extensive experience of developing projects rooted in landscape, heritage and community.
The wider team includes a wide variety of advisers and producers with complementary expertise.
Sound Emergence
Sound Emergence creates contemplative, immersive and site-responsive sound experiences.
Its Arts Council England-funded Church & Coast project brought soundbath performances to nine historic churches along the Kent and Sussex coast. Each event brought André and Sasha together with a different guest musician, combining ancient and contemporary instruments with wellbeing, local history, folklore and community participation.
The project encouraged hundreds of people to experience these atmospheric buildings in a new way and led André and Sasha to establish And Gather CIC as an umbrella for their expanding collaborative work.
This approach continued through This Place Meant, an ambitious Kentish soundbath pilgrimage exploring historic routes, sacred places, ports and landscapes, alongside stories of pilgrimage, migration, identity and belonging.
Together these projects have informed the re-launch of FolkeFest as a distributed coastal festival.
Ecstatic Dance
Our Ecstatic Dance events offer a different route into collective experience, bringing people together to move freely, explore music and reconnect with their bodies in welcoming, alcohol-free spaces.
Drawing on André’s work as a DJ, sound therapist and facilitator and Sasha’s experience in therapeutic and body-based practice, these events combine carefully curated music with an emphasis on freedom, presence and connection.
No dance experience is needed and there are no prescribed steps. Participants are invited to engage and move in whatever way feels right for them.
FolkeFest
And Gather is relaunching FolkeFest, Folkestone’s contemporary folk festival, as part of the organisation’s growing creative and community-led programme.
Founded and originally directed by Didier Rochard, the first pilot FolkeFest took place in 2022 as an independently produced, town-wide festival. It brought together more than 100 artists and performers across 14 Folkestone venues and welcomed over 1,000 people. Its programme combined nationally recognised artists such as Sam Lee, with local musicians, workshops, talks and participatory events.
Bringing FolkeFest into And Gather allows us to build on the festival’s original success while connecting it more closely with the organisation’s wider values, partnerships and artistic approach developed in the years since.
We see folk culture not as something fixed in the past, but as a living and evolving expression of people, communities and place. The relaunched festival will celebrate traditional and contemporary folk music while creating space for cross-cultural influences, emerging artists, new collaborations and broader interpretations of what folk culture can be.
View the 2022 line-up, exhibitions, programme and venues here.
Read more about our re-launched 2027 festival and new approach here.
Why we gather
Across all our work, we collaborate with musicians, artists, venues, heritage organisations and community partners. We are particularly interested in creating opportunities for emerging and underrepresented artists, reaching people who may feel excluded from conventional cultural spaces, and presenting high-quality work in welcoming and unexpected settings.
Whether gathering in an ancient church, an independent venue, a coastal landscape or on a dancefloor, our aim is the same: to create meaningful shared experiences that leave people feeling more connected - to themselves, to one another and to the places around them.
Community Interest Statement
And Gather is a Community Interest Company (C.I.C.), which is a form of social enterprise. C.I.C.s are different to other businesses because their primary purpose is to provide benefits to the community, rather than to the individuals who own, run or work in them. Rather than thinking in terms of CICs being non-profit making, they could be thought of as making profits for their community purposes.
Below is our community Interest Declaration which is publicly available via the C.I.C. Regulator. The statement is presented here in the spirit of openness for all our stakeholders. This statement and the activities list below will inform the development and direction of the company, to ensure public benefit.
Community to be benefited
The company’s activities will benefit individuals and groups in and around Folkestone, through projects involving collective experiences, the company aims to foster community engagement, support personal growth, and promote well-being for all. The company has a particular focus on people who are isolated or lonely, those struggling with mental health challenges, and those who wish to stay active and express themselves creatively.
Sound Baths Meditations
The community will benefit by participating in sound bath meditations that can help reduce stress, enhance relaxation, and promote emotional balance. These sessions use therapeutic sound to create a calming collective experience. We seek to offer these in usual and unusual settings, including churches and historic buildings.
Unlike commercial offerings, our meditations prioritise accessibility, ensuring they are inclusive for all via a sliding scale paying system and collaborations with charitable organisations.
Ecstatic Dance
The community will benefit by engaging in Ecstatic Dance, a guided movement practice that promotes physical activity, emotional release, and self-expression. These non-judgmental, therapeutic spaces encourage connection and reduce isolation. Unlike commercial dance events, our focus is on well-being and community-building rather than entertainment. These are alcohol and drug free events.
Other Immersive Art & Music Experiences and Events
The community will benefit from affordable, diverse immersive events that include collaborations with artists and innovative projects with sound, art and performance. These experiences aim to inspire creativity, bring the community together for collaboration and tell their stories, ensuring the events reflect and respond to local needs and interests.
Pesso Boyden Therapy Groups
The community will benefit by gaining access to Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor (PBSP) therapy groups, a powerful group method which supports emotional healing, personal growth, and mental well-being. These affordable groups foster deep personal work, offering a space for individuals to explore their experiences and create new ones.
Use of surplus
If the company makes any surplus, it will be used for additional free places at the events we host and invest in the creation of future events.