Success for online arts festival

A YORKSHIRE arts festival says moving its usual three day extravaganza online, due to pandemic restrictions, has proved to be an overwhelming success.

Holmfirth Arts Festival 2020 took the decision to make the event digital, streaming live over three nights after organisers realised that staging an arts festival, which usually attracts thousands of people, would be impossible due to Covid-19 restrictions.

The festival was streamed over three nights on 18th, 19th and 20th September for around an hour each night and was presented by Yorkshire broadcaster Nick Ahad, featuring more than 40 pre-recorded and newly created films from the artists who were due to be live at the festival weekend.

Bev Adams, director of Holmfirth Arts Festival, said: “We are overwhelmed with how well it went. Producing an online festival was new territory for us as we are used to staging indoor performances of music, comedy and theatre in the Parish Church or Civic Hall alongside outdoor performances, a creative community engagement programme and a spectacular parade in the streets of the town. We were delighted that we were able to adapt all of the entire programme to a live-streamed format.

“We have had more than 1,500 viewers from as far away as Australia and South Africa, over the three programmes, which is tremendous. We were not sure what to expect or if people who go to festivals would be interested in watching from their sofa, but our online festival proved more popular than we could have anticipated.”

The move to digital was made possible thanks to Arts Council Funding COVID-19 emergency funding - designed to support the struggling arts and events industries - which enabled the festival to employ broadcast film and digital media specialists to realise the online festival.

Funders that were already committed to the festival pre-Covid, such as Kirklees Council, The National Lottery Community Fund and Longley Farm, all held steady with their funding offers which enabled all artists in the programme to be paid in full for their contributions, helping workers from an industry hit hard by the pandemic.

Performers included Holmfirth born comedian Kieran Hodgson, a three time Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee, who made a short film about his journey from London back to his homeland.

Urban Astronaut, Thingumajig Theatre, Biscuithead and the Biscuit Badgers, the Clouds Harp Quartet, plus Boff Whalley and Daniel Bye were also amongst the acts.

The festival employed Yorkshire film makers John Coombes and Tim Copsey to film, edit and create the show. It was broadcast from John Coombes’ studio, Bikeshed Media, in Clayton West, just outside Holmfirth.

Ms Adams added: “It was great that we could still pay the artists and musicians for their work and we know it was welcomed by them all. For many freelance artists their work dried up overnight due to Covid-19 with most live performances cancelled.”

This year’s festival theme celebrated the environment in all its diversity in the picturesque Yorkshire market town. The festival, which usually takes place each year in June, in and around the cobbled, hilly streets and unusual indoor venues of Holmfirth, hopes to be live again next year.

Due to the success of this year’s online event, the organisers are also considering making an online element a feature of their annual programme.

Photograph courtesy of Ravji Vaya.

For more information visit http://www.holmfirthartsfestival.co.uk/