Plan to secure future of arts festival

Organisers are drawing up a five-year business plan which could help secure a sustainable future for an award-winning arts festival.

The Wye Valley River Festival has proved popular when it was held in May 2014, 2016 and 2018, including music, parades and community workshops.

But grant applications to help fund a festival in 2020 have so far been unsuccessful.

A study on governance options, audience demographics and funding models to help shape a five-year business plan is now being drawn up.

About 20,000 people attended the first ever festival, with thousands at the spectacular finish in Chepstow, which included a torch-lit procession over the Old Wye Bridge.

And the festival won the national Bowland Award last summer, which recognises a best project, practice or outstanding contribution to the wellbeing of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

“There has been widespread support and encouragement for the Wye Valley River Festival to continue after the original three biennial festivals,” a report due to be discussed by councillors says.

“The general feeling is that the momentum and inspiration generated by the festivals to date should not be lost at this stage.

“However, as previously recognised, the current management, governance and funding of the three festivals is not a sustainable model that can be carried forward indefinitely.”

Initial grant applications to Arts Council of Wales and Arts Council England for the research and development phase of next year’s event have been turned down.

But organisers are continuing to explore proposals for the event, with several other funding opportunities being investigated.

The festival has included events in Llandogo, Tintern, and Monmouth as well as in Ross-on-Wye, Hereford, Bishopwood, Lydbrook and Redbrook along the River Wye.

“By staging magnificent outdoor arts events that captivate and engage, the festival has celebrated and interpreted the River Wye, the countryside and its communities, using the arts to develop thinking, imagination and understanding, building new audiences and strengthening the vital role that culture plays in the future development and ‘place making’ of this AONB,” the council report adds.

An update on plans for the future of the festival will be discussed by councillors on Wye Valley AONB’s joint advisory committee on Monday, March 4.