Festival organiser rises above increasing financial pressure

Public spending cuts are piling on the pressure when preparations for the festival – in its 28th year – are already in full swing.

Headline acts have been confirmed – Paul Carrack, Barbara Dickson and Bellowhead – and tickets are selling fast.

But organisers will not know until six weeks before the curtains go up whether the funding – from the Arts Council, East Riding Council and the Performing Right Society – will come in to cover their costs.

There are probably not many people who would lay their house on the line for a festival – but effectively Chris does just that every year.

Chris, who last year won a Real Yorkshire Award for services to tourism and music, and also runs music agency Adastra, said: “We have to programme the festival, sell tickets and confirm artists, without knowing if we’ve got any funding, which is pretty scary, but there’s no way we can put the festival on any other way. It’s always bad but this year it’s more worrying. In the past we could be fairly sure we would get the money, but this year we don’t know whether we will get the money or not.

“I do lend the festival a lot of money for cash flow, it’s like a major juggling act. If we didn’t get any funding we would be up against it then. Whilst I can juggle the money, if they said no, it would be the house.”

Chris, who plays bass with The White Horse Ceilidh Band, has been into folk music ever since she was a teenager living in Nottingham. The idea for the festival came from members of the White Horse Folk Club, which she got involved with when she moved north: “We decided it would be a good idea to put on larger scale acts and try to attract some of the bigger name artists and try to attract people from around the country.”

None of the original venues – the White Horse pub, Picture Playhouse and the Memorial Hall – are used now, the pub having banned live music, and the Playhouse having been converted into Browns department store. The festival is based instead at Beverley Leisure Centre. Ideally Chris says they would get a new venue, which could accommodate a bigger audience. The car park they used is being built on, and they are having to look elsewhere.

Despite the pressures – and Chris admits to occasionally thinking about giving up – she will not, not least because there is no one to fill her shoes. And the actual festival – three nights and two days of music, dance, film and the spoken word from June 17 to June 19 – makes it all worthwhile.

She said: “I keep trying to train people up to take over bits of what I am doing but it’s getting that continuity someone who will be here year after year.

“It has to be someone who has that total dedication to go through thick and thin when we are struggling financially.”

So what keeps her going? “The music is the major part, but it’s also the other bits, the comedy and the literature, it’s seeing people really enjoying it. It’s the weekend when everyone is having a good time that makes it worthwhile. It’s good to see young people who are growing up coming to the festival and taking off in careers in music.”

One of these is accordionist Sam Pirt, whose bands include 442 and The Hut People, and is one of the organisers of the Area 2 Youth programme, which nurtures young talent. Award-winning Norfolk folk trio Moore Moss and Rutter have been coming to the festival for years. She said: “They are performing again this year and we are giving them a main stage performing opportunity as well. It’s great to see that kind of thing happening.”