Financial Boost For The 2020 Festival

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We have warmly welcomed a financial boost of £1500 from the Bognor Regis Business Improvement District (BID)
Cultural Fund and £3500 from the nationally based, Joe Strummer Foundation.

The additional funding from the BID will be used to fund the Festival`s Dance Programme plus the Big Seaside Sing and new for 2020, the ‘Shanty Showdown‘.

BID Chairman, Jason Passingham said “Our support for the Festival is based on its proven track record in attracting people into the Town Centre and creating a great atmosphere that people can enjoy and take part in if they wish in a relaxed and safe environment. The Festival really does reach out and involve the whole Town and brings a lot of new people to Bognor Regis which all has a very positive impact for local shops, hotels, pubs and other businesses.”

Monies from the Joe Strummer Foundation will go towards getting even more people involved in music through the platform of the Festival as well as extending the life of one of its outreach projects, `Making Your Mark` which has been running since June 2018 with the aim of combating social isolation by learning and playing the ukulele.

Simon Goodale representing the Joe Strummer Foundation said, “The Foundation is all about empowering people through music and the Southdowns Folk Festival and the ongoing `Making Your Mark` project has shown how this can be successfully achieved. We want to build on this success and get even more people from a whole variety of backgrounds and ages into and enjoying music, improving their skills and confidence thereby creating more positivity and a ‘can-do’ frame of mind”.

Festival Chairman, Roger Nash added “We are really grateful to the Bognor Regis BID and the Joe Strummer Foundation for their valued financial backing. This will enable us to improve and expand the September event as well as giving us a firmer financial footing to continue our musical outreach projects plus help create an even more positive image for Bognor Regis”.

Musical Minds – A Lottery Funded Project

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We're thrilled to introduce a new project for the 2020 festival - 'Musical Minds - funded by the National Lottery Foundation.

The project has arisen directly in response to feedback and clear demand from the local community and in particular from
Radio Respect (an operational broadcasting CIC), Bognor Institute of Laughter and the Joe Strummer Foundation.

This project will give the opportunity to participants experiencing mental health problems, social isolation and learning difficulties, to be involved in owning, planning and executing important aspects of the organisational, musical and technical side of our expanding and popular Festival.

Radio Respect has the central aim of improving mental wellness amongst listeners and its volunteer staff. They currently broadcast via the Internet but will be applying for a Community FM licence for 2020. Bognor Institute of Laughter provide a vehicle for comedy writing and performance skills training to local people experiencing social isolation, often made worse by mental wellness problems. The Joe Strummer Foundation is a nationally known charity whose key aim is musical inclusion to anyone of any background but especially to those who are experiencing disadvantage because of mental health or social deprivation factors.

Using Radio Respect premises, training will start from April 2020, with event planning and organisation, social media skills and
necessary administrative guidance. As the project advances, a 2 Week radio programme schedule will be developed which incorporates the September Festival. This will highlight key people to interview, appropriate musical and comedy inputs and all necessary technical planning. During the Festival itself, there will be a dedicated Project Marquee situated next to the Regis Centre where Radio Respect will broadcast, carry out interviews and host the programming.

There will also be a small performance area in the marquee where the Bognor Institute of Laughter will perform specially written comedy performances which will be broadcast on the radio. The marquee will also stage a number of musical and instrument workshops for `hard to reach` people who would not normally take part or know about such events, so the project can be as inclusive as possible.

To get involved, in the first instance, please contact Roger, the festival director via rnash10@hotmail.com

2020 Tickets: Now On Sale

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Festival tickets for our 2020 festival – both the Folk and Americana festivals – are now on sale via
We Got Tickets, via the post (download the booking form via our ticket page) and via The Regis Centre.

Perfect timing as a Christmas gift for the folk, Americana music-lover in your life, or simply to purchase as your go-to summer festival ticket of 2020.

Purchase 2020 Festival Tickets

Festival Markets 2020

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Planning is underway for next year’s festival market; the markets are a wonderful and integral part of our event.

Please do send us an email showing your interest in holding a stall with us, and we will add you to our ‘reserve stalls list’ for next years market.

The email address is: southdownsfolkfestivalmarket@yahoo.co.uk

Our booking packs will be sent out in January 2020.

Many thanks.

A Play About Songs That Leave And Come Back Again

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An event for friends of the South Downs Folk Festival…

When pioneers from the British Isles came to settle in the Appalachian Mountains they brought with them, in their invisible baggage, songs from ‘the old country’, which took on a new life amidst the new land.

Join the award-winning Little Bulb Theatre as they weave a tapestry both historical and fantastical in an unforgettable evening of story and song.

Told with sumptuous three-part harmonies and a (foot stomping) five-piece string band, you are invited on a journey of musical migration to the birth of what we now call Country Music.

“Boundlessly enthusiastic, insanely optimistic and inexpressibly charming” The Guardian on Little Bulb

A play about songs that leave and come back again.
Age Guidance: 11+
Friday 22nd November: 8:00 – 10:30 pm
Tickets: £15.00 via Mountain Music

Sussex Young Folk Competition 2019

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Want to enter our Sussex Young Folk Competition?
Or perhaps you know someone who does…?

Now in its 7th year, this highly popular event is for young folk and roots musicians, 8-21 years of age.

The Sussex Young Folk Competition 2019 takes place on Sunday 22nd Sept.

The winner is gifted a new guitar, plus a slot on the main stage prior to our Sunday evening headliners Lindisfarne – Official.

To enter, simply contact Roger, our festival director, for details: rnash10@hotmail.com