Creative Director Martin Dimery
Tenth Anniversary Festival 9 - 18 July 2010
Your Support for Frome Festival
Frome Festival is the largest community festival in Somerset. It comprises ten days of music of all kinds, art, drama, literature, comedy, film, photography, involvement in environmental issues, gardens and gardening, fashion, local history, science and technology, and multi-media presentations. There are workshops, interactive events and master classes. Other regular features of our festival include the World Food Feast, the Green Fair and a Gala Fête. Major choral concerts, developed from earlier festivals, have been presented, outside the ten days, in Wells, with touring performances in France, Germany and China.
With overall attendances of 30,000 each year, the Festival is both part of Frome’s rich cultural life and a significant factor in the area’s economy. We have financial support from the town, district and county councils. We have some 70 sponsors, mostly local businesses; their generous help is acknowledged in our free brochures, of which over 20,000 are distributed across 500 square miles around Frome. We work with partner organisations, many of whom put on their own special events under the Festival banner.
Ticket prices are set as low as possible to maximise participation, and some events are free-entry. Even so, well over half our income is from ticket and related sales. We have good regional, and some national, coverage in the media, and our website is much visited and widely commended.
The Festival attracts professional artists and performers of international and national status, including several who live locally. We also draw upon abundant local amateur talent. The organisation relies heavily – about 95% - on unpaid volunteers; we have one, part-time, employee, and we pay fees for artistic direction and technical support.
All this is the responsibility of Frome Festival Ltd, a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee and a registered charity. Its members are the Friends of Frome Festival, whose membership is open to all over 18 on payment of the £15 annual subscription. Membership brings the right to participate by attending, and speaking and voting at, its general meetings. Only Friends may vote and stand for election to the Board (maximum 12 members). All the Board, and only they, are trustees of the charitable company.
Friends are among the first to receive the Festival programme brochure in early summer, and each Friend receives with it a voucher for £3 to set against the cost of a ticket bought at the Festival box office. Friends receive notices of meetings and other Festival information. Being a Friend and member of the company is a valuable way of supporting the annual festival, with its year-round organisation and administration.
To become a friend download an application pack here. PDF document opens in new window, either print it off (or “save as” on your computer for later printing) and complete appropriate parts and return to the address shown in the document.
If you have not got a PDF reader, one is available free from Adobe by clicking on the Adobe logo below.
