Make Music Day is a global celebration of music that takes place in 125 countries on 21 June every year. The concept, which originates from France’s Fête de la Musique, started in 1982, and now involves two thirds of the population of France. The event traditionally...
FESTIVALS
Lights – Music – Action! – FolkEast returns this Summer !
With the biggest easing of COVID restrictions about to go ahead, and the roadmap out of lockdown on target, England’s most easterly folk festival, FolkEast, has confirmed it is on course to return this August – with weekend tickets now on sale. Last summer FolkEast...
‘Virtually’ Orkney Folk Festival Digital Plans Announced for May 27-30
An international bill of leading folk artists from Scotland, England, Norway, Denmark and Canada will feature as part of this year’s online Orkney Folk Festival - alongside a number of newly commissioned performances from homegrown Orcadian artists. Dubbed the...
Boomtown Fair forced to postpone in face of Government intransigence
Owing to the lack of a Government backed COVID specific insurance scheme to provide a vital safety net to events this summer, the organisers of Boomtown Fair have come to the difficult decision to no longer go ahead in 2021. Rumours and speculation about vaccination...
Shrewsbury Folk Festival gains from second round of Government’s Culture Recovery Fund
Shrewsbury Folk Festival has received a grant of £45,256 from the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund to help organisers plan and deliver its four-day event this August Bank Holiday weekend. The press release reads: More than £300 million has been awarded...
“If all the world’s a stage” …. As You Like It Festival
If all the world’s a stage and the men and women are merely players, then there are plenty of players for the stage at the unique 'As you like it' Festival being held in Stratford-upon-Avon from 26th to 30th July this year. Following the postponement of Costa del...
Top Scottish and International Folk Talent to Feature at new Online Folk Festival
Some of the most renowned names in Scottish folk music will return to the stage this weekend, February 26-28, as part of CCM Live - a brand new, three-day event being broadcast live from Glasgow. The festival’s bumper line-up features Blazin’ Fiddles, Talisk, Siobhan...
What do the four steps to lockdown lifting mean for gigs and festivals?
On the 22nd February the government announced its roadmap to lifting lockdown, with a potential complete lifting of restrictions for theatres, venues and large outside events by late June - so we seem to be on course to be enjoying gigs and festivals across the summer...
Folk on Foot Signs Top Artists for Valentines ‘Festival of LOVE’
In these dark and challenging times, we all need love. And the award-winning podcast Folk on Foot has signed up over twenty of the UK and Ireland’s leading folk artists to provide it on Valentine’s Day (Sunday February 14th 2021). For the Folk on Foot Festival of...
Celtic Connections 2021, the digital one…
Celtic Connections 2021 has drawn to a close, and the organisers have issued this press release: With audiences from over 60 countries and over 27,000 tickets and passes sold, the first ever digital Celtic Connections has been a huge success. Over 10.5 million minutes...
The AFO virtual conference 2021
The Association of Festival Orgnisers annual conference generally takes place over a weekend in November. Obviously that kind of face to face social interaction is a thing of the past, so it is now coming to you on Saturday 20 February 2021 from 10am to 10pm as an...
New Festival Launched by Costa del Folk Team
A new music festival has been launched this month by the team who operate the highly successful Costa Del Folk. The Aviemore Festival will take place between 6 – 10 December 2021 in the Cairngorms in Scotland. ‘We knew that there was a lot of pent-up demand from our...
Celtic Connections Programme Announcement
The Celtic Connections online festival will begin next week, across 19 days, the festival will present over 30 online performances between Friday 15th January and Tuesday 2nd February 2021. World class concerts will be available to view online with some of the...
Gate To Southwell Fest dates for 2021 and new venue
The 14th Gate To Southwell Festival is now set to take place in September 2021 at a beautiful new location in the nearby village of Kirklington (just outside Southwell). Having had to cancel the 2020 festival because of the Covid pandemic, the GTSF organisers are...
Celtic Connections 2021 Announces Initial Line Up and Early Bird Tickets
Celtic Connections has announced the first list of artists who will perform as part of their digital-first festival this January. Across 19 days, the festival will present online performances every night between Friday 15th January - Tuesday 2nd February 2021. World...
40 Top Folk Musicians “TOGETHER AGAIN” for Folk On Foot 3
The award-winning Folk on Foot podcast is re-uniting some of the top names in UK folk for a third online festival on Bank Holiday Monday August 31st. The podcast’s first two festivals raised over £190,000 for musicians who lost their livelihoods during the Covid...
FolkEast Fixes It! The Show Goes On – Virtually!!
FolkEast, the UK’s most easterly folk festival, is to welcome audiences to Suffolk for a live event this month after all. In April, in common with most other 2020 folk festivals, husband and wife directors John and Becky Marshall-Potter reluctantly decided to postpone...
Cambridge Comes Home (Literally)
Given all the drastic cancellations, restrictions and general disquiet that’s gone on because of CoVid 19 it’s been on line activities and events which have at least raised a ray of hope for live music when all is restored to a modicum of normality. Of course this...
Folkroom’s stay-at-home Pillow Fort Folk Festival Streaming live this Saturday
Folkroom's Pillow Fort Folk Festival - an afternoon of live music taking place on June 6th. As the prospect of meeting friends at a gig again soon seems far away, Pillow Fort Folk Festival will bring musicians and fans closer together for a magical day streamed...
FolkEast Crowdfunder Tops £21K After Tough Decision to Postpone 2020 Festival
What a difference a day (or so) makes. Just five days after making the sadly inevitable decision to postpone England’s most easterly folk festival this August, FolkEast organisers have been overwhelmed with donations to their crowdfunding campaign. In just seven years...