BAFA Member case studies

During our Festivals Mean Business research, which you can read about in more detail here, we highlighted some of the fantastic work that our members, and the wider arts festivals sector, are doing to engage their local communities and create opportunities for artists and those seeking work within the sector.

Our Festivals Forward report notes that, in the year surveyed, festivals commissioned 2,700 new works, in addition to programming 34,000 artists and ensembles. Of the festivals surveyed, 86% offered some kind of community outreach or education work, highlighting their importance not only to the people who attend their events, but those who benefit from these additional arts opportunities.

Read on to find out about some of the amazing work our members are doing.

Festival members

Presteigne Festival: commissioning new work

Presteigne Festival, in the Welsh Marches, has developed a national reputation for commissioning new work, supporting and championing composers of all ages and creating a festival environment that sparks creativity and innovation. During the extraordinary leadership of George Vass, dating back to 1993, the Festival has premiered 238 new works (most of them specially commissioned) and inspired artistic development for composers and performers alike.

“One of the best ways of supporting composers is simply to commission them. We work really hard to try to get as many co-commissioners on board as possible, so that new works are performed more than one place, often internationally as well as nationally. We’ve hosted a Composer-in-Residence each year since 1994 and as well as being a real shop window for composers, this can be a really crucial moment in their development – David Matthews has cited his time at Presteigne as a real turning point in his career.”

The opportunities for music creators to meet informally during the festival are enhanced with free tickets and accommodation for emerging composers, who benefit from the rich artistic mix of creatives who make their home in Presteigne for the August festival. Presteigne’s impact is year-round, and the music doesn’t stop when the festival finishes – the organisation works with community groups, schools and individuals on creative workshops, events and opportunities to experience the joy of music making themselves, as well as supporting other festivals to commission new work. Presteigne’s nationally significant role as a driving force in creating and sustaining new music is particularly impressive given the size of the team and organisation behind the festival, and it’s not just new works that are created through the festival.

“The festival is a real melting pot, and many creative performing partnerships have been made at Presteigne, most recently Trio Meister, through the experience of playing with new colleagues in our unique festival ensembles. It’s a great place to develop commissions, and it’s wonderful to see the impact of the festival extended through recordings and the brilliant legacy of the next generation of composers and performers.”

Stratford Literary Festival: community engagement

Annie Ashworth, Director of Stratford Literary Festival, is passionate about the impact that books and reading have in changing lives: “Inspiring young people to have a love of reading is fundamentally important to the rest of their lives and we know that the ability to read and write well significantly improves life opportunities. The Festival also believes in the power of using books and reading to make connections, and this is the cornerstone of our outreach programme.”

The Festival works year-round in a range of community settings to change lives through reading-based projects, working in schools, prison and local venues. Its My Author programme finds ways of reaching reluctant readers through carefully chosen themes and a multi-arts approach that successfully engages children who have previously avoided reading. Recognising the role that parents play in encouraging active readership by children is at the heart of the Bedtime Stories project, designed to creatively connect parents and children, and to help reverse the decline in bedtime reading. 

The festival’s acclaimed national work in prisons is also a child-centred activity, supporting prisoners to write bedtime stories for their children. With some 200,000 children in the UK having a parent in prison, and 54% of prisoners having children aged under 18, these workshops play a key role in strengthening family ties and preventing prisoners from reoffending after release.

“It has made me proud. One of the best things I have done in my life.” (prisoner, HMP Lincoln) “Bedtime Stories helped to reconnect with young ones that were all really missing the power of words to connect…our words flew over the prison gates.” (prisoner, HMP Drake Hall) 

Closer to home, the Festival’s successful Books with Friends project is celebrating its 10th birthday in connecting adult readers through its free and impactful book group sessions: “BWF has given us a sense of sharing in a warm, funny and often feisty community. Thank you for keeping us going.” Tackling loneliness and isolation in the older local community, its members praise the connections developed through the group: “I started attending at a very difficult time, personally, and it really helped me to see that there is more to life.”  

Góbéfest: building cultural opportunities

The drive for Ottilia Ördög to create Manchester’s Góbéfest was to increase cultural awareness of her home country, Transylvania, and to celebrate its music and heritage in ways that would engage and inspire new audiences. 

Over the last 8 years, Góbéfest has grown to become an international folk and culture festival, drawing from across the Carpathian Basin, Eastern and Central Europe and beyond, as Ördög testifies: “The event is unique in Manchester and the North West, although we’ve shared our model with other community groups across the country, which has in turn inspired them to create their own celebrations.”

In common with other BAFA members, the festival’s work reaches out beyond its June focus to year-round work including its Saturday youth programme. In the summer, the festival team enables pathways into arts and culture through its Góbe Backstage programme, enabling under volunteers under 30 to gain experience in tailored opportunities from social media to stage management, as a pathway to paid freelance work in arts and culture. 

“Góbéfest has a really strong focus on diversity, engagement and young people, and providing pathways for development. We launched the only zither band in the country recently, inspired by the visit of the Hungarian zither orchestra, and it’s been brilliant to see kids buying their own zithers because they’ve been inspired by the sessions. We’ve also worked with Manchester City Council to programme Bulgarian dance groups into their events, and our growing international programme is a perfect reflection of the city we’re based in, which speaks in 300 different languages.”