Belladrum wins award in record year for festival

[bryanb]

One of the organisers of a small Inverness-shire festival that is proud of its family-friendly atmosphere last night criticised bigger festivals for using their commercial muscle to try to choke them out of business.

Following its most successful year yet, Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival – the Highlands’ all-ages festival of music and performing arts – won the Grassroots Festival Award at the Virtual Festivals UK Festivals Awards 2008.

The five-year-old festival was nominated for a record six awards this year, the most for any Scottish festival, and triumphed in the Grassroots category. The result was announced at a ceremony in London’s O2 Centre.

Receiving the award at a glittering ceremony in London’s O2 Centre, festival co-director Joe Gibbs said: “This was the one to win for us. Bella has grown organically from small beginnings into a festival that retains its intimacy and its deep-rooted community links, while offering an incredible range of quality music and performing arts and great value-for-money to an audience of all ages and from near and far.

“We have retained the loyalty of our audience because we care deeply about what we offer them and because the absence of in-your-face commercialism which leaves people with the impression that they are being fleeced.

“Bella has also triumphed in a very competitive and over-supplied market, in which some of its largest rivals have not hesitated to use their commercial muscle to try to choke off smaller events by placing punitive exclusivity contracts on artists right across the scale. This practice helps neither artists nor audiences.”

Advance weekend ticket prices for the 13,000 capacity 2009 festival have been held at this year’s level of £80 (and free for children aged 12 & under). And Bella has introduced a new ‘On-TICKet’ scheme which allows buyers to pay a deposit to secure their tickets and then the balance by May 1. This year’s Belladrum Festival featured Scouting For Girls and The Waterboys as headliners plus over 100 artists.

[Da_J_Doc-~]

One of the organisers of a small Inverness-shire festival that is proud of its family-friendly atmosphere last night criticised bigger festivals for using their commercial muscle to try to choke them out of business.

Following its most successful year yet, Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival – the Highlands’ all-ages festival of music and performing arts – won the Grassroots Festival Award at the Virtual Festivals UK Festivals Awards 2008.

The five-year-old festival was nominated for a record six awards this year, the most for any Scottish festival, and triumphed in the Grassroots category. The result was announced at a ceremony in London’s O2 Centre.

Receiving the award at a glittering ceremony in London’s O2 Centre, festival co-director Joe Gibbs said: “This was the one to win for us. Bella has grown organically from small beginnings into a festival that retains its intimacy and its deep-rooted community links, while offering an incredible range of quality music and performing arts and great value-for-money to an audience of all ages and from near and far.

“We have retained the loyalty of our audience because we care deeply about what we offer them and because the absence of in-your-face commercialism which leaves people with the impression that they are being fleeced.

“Bella has also triumphed in a very competitive and over-supplied market, in which some of its largest rivals have not hesitated to use their commercial muscle to try to choke off smaller events by placing punitive exclusivity contracts on artists right across the scale. This practice helps neither artists nor audiences.”

Advance weekend ticket prices for the 13,000 capacity 2009 festival have been held at this year’s level of £80 (and free for children aged 12 & under). And Bella has introduced a new ‘On-TICKet’ scheme which allows buyers to pay a deposit to secure their tickets and then the balance by May 1. This year’s Belladrum Festival featured Scouting For Girls and The Waterboys as headliners plus over 100 artists.

[stevieg72]

Well deserved award for bella, great wee festival.

[Paul ™]

Absolutely excellent news, well deserved as the best grassroots festival

[somerled]

Bella won this: "Grassroots Festival award. Which celebration should be crowned king of anti-commercialism?"

Nonsense, Bella is very commercial. It's a good festival, but anti-commercial it ain't.

Compare Bella to Loopallu.

Loopallu is much more anti-commercial eg free band running order, excellent facilities if you take a campervan/caravan ie electric hookup, showers, proper toilets.

Bella, you have to pay for a band running order, campervan/caravan facilites are totally inadequate ie no water or dedicated toilets, plus we all end up paying for kids facilities even if we have none, and the bairns make up about one third of the festival goers so that is a fair amount of our cash spent to keep them entertained.

[redstar]

I think its only commercial in the way same way that wicker man is or maybe even solfest. a necessary evil.

its not commercial like t in the park.

[Paul ™]

Bella is far from anti-commercial, but not as bad as Wickerman where they seem to have sold out more each year...

VIP Area, paying a small fortune for cleaner loos/showers, bars sponsored by all kinds of drinks companies with in your face branding, expensive crap laminate programmes, banning of booze into the arena so the bars make more money... etc

Belladrum has small elements of commercialism, but agree with Somerled that Loopallu would have been a far more worthy winner of the category or even Bearded Theory where there was no commercialism at all... but then these awards are all about petty marketing and mean nothing really.

Back to Wickerman, I must have had 6 or 7 emails ffrom them begging for my votes for these worthless awards.. stunk of desperation and in a way am glad Bella got it instead of Wickerman

[redstar]

bit heavy with the hatred for wicker man there paul considering its a bella thread - not criticising your freedom of speech.

[saraha]

Bella won this: "Grassroots Festival award. Which celebration should be crowned king of anti-commercialism?"

Nonsense, Bella is very commercial. It's a good festival, but anti-commercial it ain't.

Compare Bella to Loopallu.

Loopallu is much more anti-commercial eg free band running order, excellent facilities if you take a campervan/caravan ie electric hookup, showers, proper toilets.

Bella, you have to pay for a band running order, campervan/caravan facilites are totally inadequate ie no water or dedicated toilets, plus we all end up paying for kids facilities even if we have none, and the bairns make up about one third of the festival goers so that is a fair amount of our cash spent to keep them entertained.

[somerled]

If i was lucky enough to still have a campervan surely the advantage of taking it is it comes with toilet & washing facilities on board and you don't need access to showers or have to use the communal festival toilets etc.