British Council

Page Content   Local Links   Footer

British Council - Arts

We have been working in partnership with the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) to create opportunities for developing links between the international and UK festival sector.

As a result of this partnership we have invited an international delegation of music festival producers and programmers to visit the UK to take part in a one day symposium on festival development and best practice, and to attend Bestival, one of the leading UK outdoor festivals.

The growth and vitality of the festival sector in Britain is a great success story and many international festivals are looking at how they can replicate that success in their own country. The delegation for this visit includes festival producers from Argentina, Australia, China, Estonia, India, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, New Zealand, Palesinian Territories, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, and Spain.

The main objectives for the visit are to:

• provide a valuable opportunity for international festival producers to establish contact with their UK counterparts
• inspire international delegates with the success story of the music festival sector's rapid development in the UK
• provide the opportunity for professional development, learning and creative exchange
• demonstrate a range of different approaches to working in the sector
• provide a space for dialogue, where new opportunities for international partnership can be explored
• give the international delegates the chance to see a range of UK artists and work, and experience a leading UK festival first hand.

Some of the key topics of discusssion at the symposium will be:

• festival management & best practice – site management, ticketing, licensing, health and safety
• programming – approaches to programming
• audience development and building identity
• environmental issues – 'greening' festivals
• working with stakeholders and building relationships with local economy
• what agents are looking for festivals booking UK artists

Bestival

A three day festival founded by the DJ and label owner Rob Da Bank, which takes place in the beautiful Robin Hill Country Park on the Isle of Wight. The initial festival in 2004 attracted 10,000 people growing to 55,000 in 2010. It won the Best Major Festival Award in 2010, and it’s programme features diverse music talent across a range of genres -  from folk to electronica, indie to dance music. For the Bestival line up and more information please check their website.

Association of Independent Festivals

AIF is a not-for-profit organization set up in 2008 to represent the independent festival sector of UK and Ireland. The organisation enables the festival sector to speak to the wider music business sector and UK government with one voice. It also is developing a festival twinning scheme encouraging partnerships between international and UK festivals. Find out more about the AIF here.

Text Only Options

• Change the current font size: larger | default | smaller
• Current color mode is Black on White, other available modes: Yellow on Black | Black on Cream
• Show textual links as buttons
• Do not move navbars
• Do not alert me when leaving text-mode
• Open not handled documents directly
• Hide Text Only Options

Open the original version of this page.