Editing Buxton (section)

== Culture ==
[[File:BuxtonOperaHouse.jpg|right|thumb|[[Buxton Opera House]]]]
Cultural events include the annual [[Buxton Festival]], festivals and performances at the Buxton Opera House, and shows running at other venues alongside them. [[Buxton Museum and Art Gallery]] offers year-round exhibitions.

=== Buxton Festival ===
Buxton Festival, founded in 1979, is an opera and arts event held in July at the Opera House and other venues.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.buxtonfestival.co.uk/diary.html  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100913013033/http://www.buxtonfestival.co.uk/diary.html |archive-date=13 September 2010 |title=Diary |publisher=Buxton Festival |date=September 2010 |access-date=18 October 2024}}</ref> It includes some literary events in the mornings, concerts and recitals in the afternoon, and operas, many rarely performed, in the evenings.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.buxtonoperahouse.org.uk/festivals/buxton-festival |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100417230047/http://www.buxtonoperahouse.org.uk/festivals/buxton-festival/ |title=Buxton Festival |publisher=Buxton Opera House |archive-date=17 April 2010 |access-date=18 October 2024}}</ref> The quality of the opera programme has improved in recent years, after decades when, according to critic [[Rupert Christiansen]], the festival featured "work of such mediocre quality that I just longed for someone to put it out of its misery."<ref>{{cite news |authorlink=Rupert Christiansen |first=Rupert |last=Christiansen |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/opera/7873055/The-Buxton-Festival-aiming-for-peak-performance.html |title=The Buxton Festival: aiming for peak performance |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170301023900/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/opera/7873055/The-Buxton-Festival-aiming-for-peak-performance.html |archive-date=1 March 2017 |newspaper=Daily Telegraph  |date=July 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Hugh |last=Canning |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/opera/article4352380.ece |title=Buxton Festival |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615160746/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/opera/article4352380.ece |archive-date=15 June 2011 |newspaper=The Times |date=July 2008}}</ref> Running alongside is the Buxton Festival Fringe, known as a warm-up for the [[Edinburgh Festival Fringe|Edinburgh Fringe]]. The Buxton Fringe features drama, music, dance, comedy, poetry, art exhibitions and films around the town.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.buxtonfringe.org.uk/aboutus.html |title=About Us |publisher=Buxton Festival Fringe |access-date=25 June 2018}}</ref> In 2018, 181 entrants signed up and comedy and theatre categories were at their largest.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.buxtonfringe.org.uk/press201805b.html |title=Party to celebrate bumper Buxton Festival Fringe! |publisher=Buxton Festival Fringe|date=17 May 2018 |access-date=25 June 2018}}</ref>

=== Other festivals ===
The week-long ''Four Four Time'' music festival in February brings a variety of rock, pop, folk, blues, jazz and [[world music]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.buxtonoperahouse.org.uk/festivals/four-four-time |title=Four-Four Time |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100821135946/http://www.buxtonoperahouse.org.uk/festivals/four-four-time |archive-date=21 August 2010 |publisher=Buxton Opera House |date=September 2010 |access-date=18 October 2024}}</ref> The [[International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival]], a three-week theatre event from the end of July through the first half of August, was held in Buxton from 1994 to 2013; it moved to [[Harrogate]] in 2014<ref>{{cite news |first=Graham |last=Chalmers |url=http://www.wetherbynews.co.uk/what-s-on/out-about/harrogate-wins-topsy-turvy-battle-over-g-s-festival-1-6657154 |title=Harrogate wins topsy-turvy battle over G&S Festival |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714154621/http://www.wetherbynews.co.uk/what-s-on/out-about/harrogate-wins-topsy-turvy-battle-over-g-s-festival-1-6657154 |archive-date=14 July 2014 |newspaper=Wetherby News |date=5 June 2014}}</ref> but returned to Buxton in 2023.<ref name=Return>{{cite web |last=Orme |first=Steve |url=https://www.britishtheatreguide.info/news/gilbert-and-sullivan-festival-15273 |title=Gilbert and Sullivan Festival returns to Buxton |website=British Theatre Guide |date=19 January 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Cooper |first=Louise |url=https://www.buxtonadvertiser.co.uk/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/gilbert-and-sullivan-festival-returning-exclusively-to-buxton-from-next-year-3873394 |title=Gilbert and Sullivan Festival returning exclusively to Buxton from next year |newspaper=Buxton Advertiser |date=10 October 2022}}</ref>

The Opera House offers a year-long programme of drama, concerts, comedy and other events.<ref>[http://www.buxtonoperahouse.org.uk/whats-on/ Whats On] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100921210540/http://www.buxtonoperahouse.org.uk/whats-on/ |date=21 September 2010}}. ''Buxton Opera House'', September 2010.</ref> In September 2010, the Paxton Suite in the Pavilion Gardens reopened as the Pavilion Arts Centre after a £2.5 million reconstruction. Located behind the Opera House, it includes a 369-seat auditorium. The stage area can be converted into a separate 93-seat studio theatre.<ref>[http://www.paviliongardens.co.uk/artscentre/ "The Pavilion Arts Centre"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101115224515/http://www.paviliongardens.co.uk/artscentre/ |date=15 November 2010}}. Pavilion Gardens website, September 2010.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |first=Natalie |last=Woolman |url=http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/29520/buxton-opera-house-to-open-new-pavilion-arts |title=Buxton Opera House to open new Pavilion arts venue|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611144332/http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/29520/buxton-opera-house-to-open-new-pavilion-arts |archive-date=11 June 2011 |magazine=The Stage |date=7 September 2010}}</ref>

[[Buxton Museum and Art Gallery]] holds local artefacts, [[Geology|geological]] and [[Archaeology|archaeological]] samples (including the [[William Boyd Dawkins]] collection) and 19th and 20th-century paintings, with work by [[Frank Brangwyn|Brangwyn]], [[Marc Chagall|Chagall]], Chahine and their contemporaries. There are also displays by local and regional artists and other events.<ref>[http://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/leisure/buxton_museum/default.asp "Buxton Museum and Art Gallery"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100920095945/http://derbyshire.gov.uk/leisure/buxton_museum/default.asp |date=20 September 2010}}. ''Derbyshire County Council''</ref> The Pavilion Gardens hold regular arts, crafts, [[antique]]s and [[jewellery]] fairs.<ref>[http://www.paviliongardens.co.uk/fairsevents/ "Fairs & Events"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100909052939/http://www.paviliongardens.co.uk/fairsevents/ |date=9 September 2010}}. Pavilion Gardens website.</ref>

Buxton's Well Dressing Festival in the week up to the second Saturday in July has been running in its current form since 1840, to mark the provision of fresh water to the high point of the town's marketplace. As well as the dressing of the wells, it includes a carnival procession and a funfair on the marketplace.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.buxtonwelldressing.co.uk |title=Buxton Well Dressing Festival |publisher=Buxton Well Dressing Festival website |access-date=15 May 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170515134703/http://buxtonwelldressing.co.uk/ |archive-date=15 May 2017}}</ref> [[Well dressing]] is an ancient custom unique to the Peak District and Derbyshire and thought to date back to Roman and Celtic times, when communities would dress wells to give thanks for supplies of fresh water.