Smaller festivals being cancelled

[grumpyhack]

Try Wychwood Grumpyhack. It's family friendly, great atmosphere and is on the outskirts of Cheltenham 3, 4, 5 June

www.wychwoodfestival.com

[Guest Flip]

Try Wychwood Grumpyhack. It's family friendly, great atmosphere and is on the outskirts of Cheltenham 3, 4, 5 June

www.wychwoodfestival.com

[elfweirdigan]

£115 a ticket tho...

I have given up on several festivals due to price, I feel festivals should be about creating a community vibe and therefore everything should be as affordable as possible..

[Guest Flip]

More affordable ones (around £70-£80) include Knockengorroch, Solfest, Beatherder & Bearded Theory.

Even they're not cheap but I believe a lot of that is to do with costs of licencing / security / essential infrastructure etc - costs which are more-or-less fixed by the licensing council and service providers.

None of the festivals above is an earner for the people running them. Knock is a Community-Interest-Company, Solfest is a Social Enterprise and Beatherder / Bearded are Not-For-Profit. They don't deal in sponsorship or crass advertising either. These are the kind of festivals that the festival community should be really taking care of - by buying tickets in advance and encouraging friends to go to these rather than the big commercial ones. Don't let's risk losing the good 'uns...

[5co77ie]

Saddleworth Folk Festival has also bitten the dust - seems it's folk festivals that are getting hit worst - weird as there's such a popular folk revival going on at the moment.

Although I guess that means popular folk acts are now priced out of the reach of small folk festivals - and that can't help.

[elfweirdigan]

Saddleworth Folk Festival has also bitten the dust - seems it's folk festivals that are getting hit worst - weird as there's such a popular folk revival going on at the moment.

Although I guess that means popular folk acts are now priced out of the reach of small folk festivals - and that can't help.

[rabid]

More affordable ones (around £70-£80) include Knockengorroch, Solfest, Beatherder & Bearded Theory.

[Summerbreeze]

I think that the majority of small festivals are unable to make a profit because of the amount of money the headline artist can command. It takes a lot of dedication and a whole years spare time planning to run a decent festival with little or no profit. So for the smaller festivals its about enthusiasm, and that can dwindle away after a few years. There is no quick money to be made but i wouldn't want it any other way

[elfweirdigan]

I think Summerbreeze is right - this is definitely one factor.

Similar with festival cafes - expenses are so high that it's a constant worry whether you're going to break even; you have to be in it for love not profit (not talking about big fast-food wagons here). Lots of people think it looks like a great lifestyle but there's a ridiculous amount of behind-the-scenes effort to make it happen... and many new outfits give up exhausted after a year or two. We only survive because we truly love festivals, are stubborn numpties with workaholic tendencies, and get such good feedback from our customers that we couldn't bear to let them down

I imagine it's a similar story for many long-running non-profitable small festivals.

Edited March 6, 2011 by elfweirdigan