Festival ponderings

This morning I attended a planning meeting for the Hailsham Arts Festival. This year will see the 6th annual Hailsham Arts Festival and the committee has grown to a whopping 13. Art exhibitions and and Art Trail are of course major parts of the festival as are numerous music events, art talks, poety readings, dance and drama. This is all planned for 7th - 17th September - just 6 months away. That seems like loads of time but when you count back to take into account advertising, press releases to quarterly publications, advance bookings for artists/es and the search for the all elusive funding, 6 months is no time at all.

Arts Festivals seem to be pretty popular events - at any time of the year there is an arts festival going on somewhere. Eastbourne Festival starts next weekend, Brighton Festival starts 5th May, Uckfield Festival begins on 8th July, there is Artwave in Lewes from 25th august, Coastal Currents from 8th September. All of these festivals include many events and attracts lots of visiotrs to the area. But how on earth do events like this survive economic downturns and can they benefit anyone? Should they continue when funds are tight and needed elsewhere?

Have a look at the report http://www.artsfestivals.co.uk/festivals-mean-business on the Arts Festivals website. One of the first points it raises is that these festivals are funded from a wide range of sources, they do not rely on a single stream of income - yes, box office sales generate the vast majority of income as you would expect, but noone relies solely on this. Revenue is sought from not just arts funding sources but more importantly from local businesses, sponsors, individual donations, fund raising events, advertising. Not only can Arts Festivals find ways to generate the funds to be able to put on a huge variety of events, but they can attract vast numbers of visitors, promote local venues, businesses, artists and performers, educate, inspire and of course, entertain!

Hailsham Arts Festival had a pot of £7000 funding for its first year, since then there has not been any major funding input, the festival has relied on  local business and council support, fund raising activities and self-funding events and has managed to cover costs while providing a host of entertainment for the town and attracting visitors into the area. The local papers have shown a lack of interest which is very frustrating and the  committee year on year had been made up of the same few people. With new faces on the committee comes new enthusiasm and new ideas. It's already shaping up to be an exciting week but so much more help is needed - the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, Town Council and other local bodies and organisations should all get involved to make this Festival spectacular for the whole town. Thinking that the Arts have little to contribute economically to the town would be a huge mistake. Just look at all of the bids for the Portas Pilot schemes - arts and creativity are at the forefront.