Broadstairs Folk Week 2023 and beyond

Funded on
14 Dec 2022

Broadstairs Folk Week will take place from Friday 11 to Friday 18 August 2023, in concert venues, dance halls, theatre, pubs, gardens, bandstand, promenade, school, church halls and around the town.

£32,608 Raised of £32,434

202 Backers

100%

Our Delivery Report

Funded on 14 December 2022 | Delivered on 18 August 2023

£32,608

RAISED

202

BACKERS

DAYS TO FUND

BIGGEST PLEDGE

£11,557

From Kent County Council

£20

MOST POPULAR PLEDGE AMOUNT

11/08/23 - 18/08/23

Broadstairs Folk Week 2023

Broadstairs

04 August 2023

Return of Folk Week

Kentish Gazette

Broadstairs Town Team donated £50

donated £100

Rosalind Binks – Member for Broadstairs donated £2,000

The Latest from Broadstairs Folk Week 2023 and beyond

The number of events created during the week included 15 concerts, 7 free daily family shows,77 workshops in music, song and dance, including drumming, playing the ukulele, singing, clog dancing, guitar, mandolin, fiddle, harmonica and bodhran. There were 134 free music events around Broadstairs, 30 dance events, 7 sessions of Poets’ Breakfast, tai chi, sketching and 7 free knitting, crochet and craft demonstrations.

http://www.broadstairsfolkweek.org.uk

Broadstairs Folk Week will celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2025. Founded as a festival of folk music, song and dance, it has grown in popularity and impact over the years to become a hugely important event in Kent's cultural calendar. Each year, the festival packs out Broadstairs, with daily free entertainment at the Bandstand, the Craft & Music Fair, music and song sessions in pubs around town; dance displays and an opening parade. Festival goers enjoy concerts by top musicians from the UK and beyond. Participation is at the heart of Folk Week, with opportunities to take part in over 70 workshops in music, song and dance - joining in with choirs, ukulele players, clogging, African drumming and many more. Folk Week relies on its volunteer workforce to ensure that the festival actually happens. Around 250 people fulfill an amazing array of tasks - they drive minibuses, check in festival goers at the campsite; steward concerts, sell tickets at the temporary Box office; make beds in accommodation for visiting artistes; sell lottery tickets and merchandise, collect donations in tins where the free entertainment takes place; run the free family entertainment at the bandstand and manage venues, liaise with artistes and dance sides. Previous Folk Weeks have included special themes and outreach projects that covered the role of women in folk music; the roots of folk music, green themes and a 2 year community singing project. The festival has meant so much to generations of local people and visitors who return year after year. In 2012, Kent County Council carried out an Economic Benefit Impact survey that showed that the festival inputs £2.3 million into the local economy. There is a Friends of Folk Week membership, a Corporate supporters scheme and plenty of opportunites for local businesses to sponsor. There is sometimes an assumption that Folk Week effortlessly returns, year after year, its future assured forever, but festival only happens because of the time and dedication of the people who love it and want it to continue.

Project Owner: Broadstairs Folk Week The Project Owner takes legal responsibility for receiving and spending the funds raised and ensuring the project is delivered.