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BBC News
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
New-look Cambridge Folk Festival plans backed
Plans to transform one of the country's oldest folk festivals into a two-day event with additional city-wide programming have been approved by a council's cabinet. City councillors agreed to scale back the four-day Cambridge Folk Festival in an attempt to make it sustainable and financially said it made a loss of £320,000 in 2024 and the event was cancelled this year, on what would have been its 60th Nestor, Labour cabinet member for culture, economy and skills, said the new-look event would "continue to create a festival atmosphere". "This is about more than just a music event, it is about protecting a proud piece of Cambridge's cultural heritage and reshaping it for a more resilient and more inclusive future," she Folk Festival began in 1965 and in the past has seen performances from international stars such as Van Morrison, Billy Bragg and Sinead O' festival will return to Cherry Hinton Hall for "a scaled back two-day greenfield event" in 2026, but there will also be a "city-wide, multi-venue" festival under the local authority's plan, the Local Democracy Reporting Service council said this meant there would be "a more inclusive festival with programming spread over an extended period of a week or more".In the meantime, it has organised free and ticketed Folk in the City events this summer. The local authority said: "The refresh is designed to protect what makes the festival special while ensuring it is more inclusive, financially resilient and culturally relevant."Multi-venue formats have proved to be very successful for Celtic Connections in Glasgow, the Brighton Festival and Edinburgh's Fringe festival."The Labour-run council approved a contingency budget of £215,000 to fund any income loss in the first year as the new format establishes are also plans for an additional investment of £60,000 for marketing, infrastructure and local audience and artist development. A review of the festival by officers showed the authority would have needed to have found £500,000 to support the festival's current form, at a time of multimillion-pound savings being made Democrat councillor Tim Bick raised concerns about the costs incurred so far, including the 2024 loss, running this year's Folk in the City events and paying for consultants' reports. "The total cost is now running £971,000 - that is nearly a million, making this episode quite a monumental financial cost in total," he said. Council leader Cameron Holloway, Labour, said Bick had "conflated" a number of costs and potential accepted there were "significant costs" associated with the event, which was a concern, but the authority was looking to mitigate that where possible. Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Two-day music event proposed to save Cambridge Folk Festival
One of the country's oldest folk festivals has confirmed it will return next year after this year's hiatus, but the event is set to only last two days. Cambridge City councillors will consider the scaled-down schedule as part of proposals for Cambridge Folk Festival to try to make it more sustainable and financially proposed event at Cherry Hinton Hall would have two medium-sized stages, as well as more basic camping, to "significantly reduce the infrastructure costs".The festival lost £320,000 in 2024, council officers said. Cambridge City Council has been reviewing the future of the event, which would have celebrated its 60th anniversary this it has organised free and ticketed Folk in the City events at the same venue this Folk Festival began in 1965 and in the past has seen performances from international stars such as Van Morrison, Billy Bragg and Sinead O' local authority said Cherry Hinton Hall would remain the anchor hoped the new format would "protect" the festival while making it "more inclusive and affordable" to more people across different parts of stars both locally and nationally would still be council officers' review indicated it would have to find £500,000 to support the festival in its current form, at a time it is already having to find annual savings of £11.5m. Labour's Antoinette Nestor, cabinet member for culture, economy and skills, said "protecting its legacy" was essential, adding: "We need to address the changes in audience behaviour – such as the decline in people wanting to pay for weekend camping tickets – and ensure the festival returns in a financially-resilient way".But Lib Dem leader Tim Bick was less happy, and said Labour had not encouraged enough views on the matter. He said in a statement: "The in-depth review that they've published doesn't inspire confidence. "It highlights a big weakness in the way the festival has been marketed and a leadership short on vision."He said the line-up, a calendar clash with Latitude festival and inflation had impacted sales this will consider the new proposals on 15 July. Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
