Festival review panel report

Herefordshire Council’s Festival Review Group has vowed its support for festivals in the County which it recognises are valuable for their economic, cultural and social benefit.

The Review Group recommends that the current level of funding for the festivals reviewed should be retained but subject to recommendations designed to ensure future success.

Those festivals are Ledbury Poetry Festival, Hereford Photography Festival, Leominster Festival, Three Choirs Festival and Ross-on-Wye International Festival.

The purpose of the review was to use the festivals that receive funding from the council of over £5,000 assess the value of festivals generally and understand some of the channels facing events taking place in the county.

What was clear from the start was that the county is very fortunate in hosting some of the best run and high profile events, not just in the region but also in the country.

Cllr Chris Chappell, Panel Chairman, said: “We recognise the significant cultural, economic and community impacts of the all the festivals, including Ross-on-Wye International Festival and we are totally supportive of it taking place but question needs to be asked is the festival viable given its scale.

“Herefordshire Council gives £20,000 annually to support Ross International Festival, which though the highest grant given to any festival it is only a small portion of the events turn-over.

“It is therefore recommended that our support continues as over time the festival can build its audiences to meet its ambitions.”

The Review Group of Cllr Chris Chappell (Chairman), Cllr Harry Bramer, Cllr Ruth Lincoln and Cllr John Stone held key witness interviews, public festival representative interviews - and assessed balance sheets and accounts, as part of the review.

This was the first review of its kind conducted by the Scrutiny Committee, and is a model that will be followed in the future, dealing will key issues that the local authority has to address.

Other recommendations to apply to all festivals currently supported by the Council include:

· Encourage Town Council involvement in festivals – particularly in Ross-on-Wye
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· Festivals meet regularly to investigate opportunities for sharing resources such as marketing, box office and administration, as well as share good practice and exchange ideas.
· Introduce a system of benchmarking and performance indicators to allow easier assessment of festivals impact.
· All festivals under review be funded through a three-year service level agreement (with targets) instead of annual community grant funding.
· Advancement is made to the Cabinet Members for Economic Development and Environment to support infrastructure on which festivals are dependent – e.g.. A direct rail link from Birmingham Airport to Hereford, increase public transport schemes to support festivals.

The Report was endorsed by Scrutiny Committee on Thursday and will be forwarded to Cabinet Member (Community and Social Development) for consideration.