Northern Festivals Network is given Arts Council award

The Just So Festival 2016

Friday 19th to Sunday 21st August 2016
Rode Hall Parkland, Scholar Green, Cheshire, ST7 3QP, England MAP
£125

Daily capacity: 5,000

The Northern Festivals Network has been awarded £179,500 in the latest round of the Arts Council’s Strategic Touring Fund to deliver arts programming for family audiences and build a resilient sector with increased collaboration between artists, venues and festivals until 2018.

The Northern Festivals Network is led by Wild Rumpus who produce large-scale outdoor arts events for families including the Just So Festival, A Day At The Lake, The Lost Carnival, La Lune and Just So Brazil.

Sarah Bird, Director of Wild Rumpus said, "It's brilliant news that we’ve received continued funding from Arts Council England for the Northern Festivals Network, giving us the opportunity to carry on working together, programming great artists and companies and helping families to step outside their day to day lives and immerse themselves in the arts."

The Northern Festivals Network also includes Cloudspotting, Festival Number 6, Fire In The Mountain, Kendal Calling, Ramsbottom Festival, and Underneath The Stars. The consortium was founded by Just So, Kendal Calling and Ramsbottom Festivals in 2014 with a joint determination to raise the bar of family programming at greenfield festivals.

This new 3-year grant will support the work of the UK outdoor arts sector, supporting artists and companies to develop new work for audiences and demonstrate the benefits of investment in this programming. It will work with the national and international festival sector to make the case for festivals investing in arts programming for families with a focus on quality, accessibility, sustainability and community engagement.

Their aims are to create a resilient sector by partnering festivals with arts venues and artists, whilst sharing knowledge, resources, building capacity, audience development and arts attendance for family audiences year round. One of the key focuses is accessibility, engaging new audiences as part of a partnership with Attitude Is Everything, and forging links and partnerships with international artists, international festivals and the UK.

Alison Clark, Director North and Combined Arts added, "Greenfield Festivals are an important and growing aspect of the way that we access the arts. I’m delighted that the Northern Festivals Network, led by Wild Rumpus, has been awarded Strategic touring funding to increase the amount of high quality work touring to greenfield festivals across the North of England. Its emphasis on engaging new audiences and developing partnerships with international artists and festivals will significantly strengthen the opportunities for families to enjoy arts and culture."

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