The Sidmouth Folk Festival has been awarded a grant as part of the Culture Recovery Fund from the Government which was introduced to help venues and event organisers to help face the challenges of the pandemic and to ensure a sustainable future.

The Folk Festival is one of Sidmouth’s longest running and more popular events. The organisers have been running the festival annual since 1955, with this year being the first since then that the festival hasn’t taken place. Folk and traditional musicians from all over travel to Sidmouth every August to perform and run workshops, offering a diverse programme. They have confirmed that the festival will return in 2021.

The Festival received significant support from its audience and local businesses across Sidmouth with a successful crowdfunding campaign which secured its immediate future. The grant from Arts Council England will help cover running costs from October to March as planning gets underway for the 2021 festival.

Sidmouth Folk Festival is on of, 1,385 cultural and creative organisations across the country that received much needed support from the government as part of a package administered by Arts Council England. Further rounds of funding will be announced over the coming weeks.

Festival Director, John Braithwaite said: “We are delighted to be awarded this substantial grant which recognises the Festival’s position as a significant national cultural event. The award will meet our running costs as we prepare for the return of the festival next year. This funding will enable us to reward the loyalty of our audiences and supporters with an event which reflects the festival’s long and illustrious history as a trailblazer in this genre.”