Corsham's revamped arts festival has kicked off with a new look, a new name and all its events on offer for free.

The Corsham Summer Festival is running for four days, with events including exhibitions, street art and performances by aspiring musical acts in the town.

This year, Michael Cainen, of The Pound Arts Centre, has taken over from town councillor Nicholas Keyworth as programme manager for the festival, which has been changed to the Corsham Summer Festival and cut to four days.

The most visible event so far as been a campaign of yarn bombing street art, created by Knit Corsham, with street furniture and buildings covered with knitted and crocheted items.

Mr Cainen said: “We’ve slightly altered the name this year, as we already run a film festival and are launching a contemporary arts and music festival in the autumn, so we wanted to give each of them their own identity.”

“The festival is taking place over a shorter period, to create an intensity in the town, with the feeling that there’s always something going on.

“We are also delighted to be able to offer everything for free, so that the whole community can get involved. We have a few ticket events, which are also free, and the demand has been great so far.”

Friday has a treasure hunt and window displays in shops as part of a project led by Corsham School’s resident artist, Mazy Bartlett.

The Pound, in Pound Pill, will host the play Cyrano De Bergerac at 2pm, with a screening of Planeat by Transition Community Corsham at 7pm and soul duo Amadou Diagne and Griselda Sanderson at 8.30pm.

On Saturday, Corsham High Street will be taken over by mime artist Jason Maverick and drama group Bootworks Theatre, as well as Transcoco’s second food and drink festival from 9am to 3pm.

The festival comes to a conclusion on Sunday, with a family fun day at the Pound from 11am to 2.30pm, including a screening of A Cat in Paris, music performances, face painting and dancing workshops.

The festival programme can be seen at www.poundarts.org.uk.