Frome Festival launches anniversary appeal

Frome Festival launched its Anniversary Appeal on Friday 3rd July, the date on which the 2020 Festival should have started. 

The Festival needs to find an additional £6,000 to secure its future and start planning for a Festival in 2021.

In launching the appeal, Festival chairman Gavin Rea said, “We know how much the Frome Festival means to the town of Frome and how disappointed everyone is that it has had to be cancelled.  So we are launching our appeal now to make sure that we can provide an even better Festival in 2021.”

The appeal has got off to a flying start with over £1,000 pledged so far. Information on how to make a contribution may be found on the Festival website: www.fromefestival.co.uk.

Creative director Martin Dimery said, “Like so many events in Frome and across the country, the Frome Festival has had to be cancelled bringing disappointment to the thousands of residents, performers, and visitors who flock to attend the 200 events which are put on in the town during the first week of July.

“Although most events have been cancelled or postponed without financial penalty, the Festival still faces considerable running costs. The loss of revenue this year means that the Festival needs to find an additional £6,000 to make sure that it can secure its future and start planning for a Festival in 2021 and in the years to come.

“We are really pleased that many of the acts we planned to put on this year have agreed to come back in 2021, and we are looking forward to celebrating our 20th Festival in style. But this will depend on whether we can secure funding for the future.”

This week’s news of funding from the Government for the arts has been welcomed, but local venues and festivals do not know yet how much support they will receive.

This year’s festival would have been extra special –  the twentieth anniversary and the twentieth consecutive festival. But organisers were already facing a loss of funding as the town council grant, which has run at £10,000 for each of the past six years, was to be reduced to £6,000 as the council faces growing demands from many local organisations working for the good of the community.

Gavin Rea and Martin Dimery added, “The 2021 Festival will be from the 2nd to 11th July. We hope to carry forward many events earmarked for this year and to construct a programme that fittingly celebrates our 21st birthday and the twentieth festival. Audience numbers and ticket sales have gone pleasingly up in past years and there is plenty of evidence to support continuation well into the future.

“We estimate that we need at least £6,000 more in emergency funding to secure the 2021 Festival and start rebuilding our reserves so that the annual festivals can continue into the future. We operate on narrow margins, which allows us to set realistic ticket prices for the events which the Festival itself promotes.

Pictured: Beverly Jones, general manager, and Gavin Rea, chairman, launch the Frome Festival Anniversary Appeal.

HOW TO DONATE

1. Online  via the DONATION button on our web-site www.fromefestival.co.uk/donate  A Gift Aid declaration is available here if needed.

2. By BACS payment to our local bank account:

sort code 40 -21-19

account number 61475584

    in the name of Frome Festival Ltd.

 Please include your name in the payment reference.

 By cheque payable to Frome Festival Ltd and sent to the Festival Office at 25 Market Place, Frome BA11 1 AH.

GIFT AID

Many of our friends have already made open-ended declarations. If you need to make a declaration now, however, and are paying by BACS or cheque, please print off and complete the declaration available here:

https://fromefestival.co.uk/frome-festival-friends/