Feb 2008
Wirksworth Festival secures 3 years of Arts Council funding

Wirksworth Festival has been awarded a grant of £58,000 for 2008 by Arts Council England. The Arts Council has also confirmed that funding for the Derbyshire Dales-based arts festival will continue to 2010 – making the Festival one of the council’s Regularly Funded Organisations.

‘It’s a huge boost for everyone involved to know the Arts Council has endorsed our efforts and recognised the quality that has been achieved,’ said Festival Chairman Bill Lounds. ‘It’s a vote of confidence that means we can really plan for sustainability.’

From small beginnings in 1995 when a group of local artists opened their own homes to display their work, the Festival sees the small market town thronged with visitors for two weeks each September enjoying a vibrant mix of visual art, performance, street theatre, crafts, food and drink. A highlight is the Art and Architecture Trail held over the opening weekend when visitors throng into the winding streets to see the work of more than 100 artists displayed in over 70 venues, most of them private homes. The Festival continues to be run entirely by volunteers.

In 2004 the Festival board employed a consultant to look at the history of the Festival and its strengths%20and weaknesses. Her report was used as the basis for a development plan which would introduce a level of professional management and organisational systems to ensure the longer term sustainability of the Festival. This was endorsed by the Arts Council in 2005/06 with 3-year funding to follow the proposals in the development plan.

‘The development plan was successful,’ commented Bill Lounds. ‘and the Festival is now well organised, confident and aspirational and is looking forward to the opportunity provided by its new status as a Regularly Funded Organisation.’

Announcing the decision to the Festival, Laura Dyer, Executive Director of Arts Council England wrote: ‘Through previous Arts Council funding (the Festival has) developed both management and artistic quality. RFO funding will provide the financial stability for them to improve their audience development.’

The Arts Council has made it a condition of the funding that a part of the grant be used to draw up a three-year business plan.

The Festival board will continue to look at ways to develop income through local business sponsorship and increasing visitor numbers. The grant funding will enable the Festival to set in place ways of gathering better audience data and start to develop new audiences.

‘Local partnerships are vital for the Festival’s sustainability,’ said Bill Lounds, ‘We will continue to work with NOW (New Opportunities Wirksworth – the town’s regeneration partnership) local businesses, schools and the community.
Plans for 2008 include:
Arts & Architecture Trail 6-7 September
Wirksworth, Bolehill and Gorsey Bank Art & Architecture Trails combined in to one massive launch weekend. Over 100 artists exhibiting in 70 venues
Makers Market 6-7 September
Expanded crafts market in the Town Hall AND the Memorial Hall

CONTACT for further information: Festival Office, Memorial Hall, Wirksworth
Telephone: 01629 824003 Email: info@wirksworthfestival.co.uk