New look for Chichester Festivities on the cards

A new-look Chichester Festivities will start to emerge next year as the city's summer arts festival works out new ways to survive in ever-tougher times.
By The Newsroom
Published 29th Oct 2010, 08:30 BST
Updated 7th Jun 2018, 19:00 BST

Just a year ago, the axe was hanging over the entire event. Another loss-making festival 
this summer would have spelt the end.

But now the Festivities are confident they have turned the corner, after a comeback summer in 2010 which saw them slash their deficit by more than half.

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Chichester Festivities chairman Ian Farman is now pledging ‘evolution not revolution’ as the board tries to work out the crucial next step – just what format the Festivities will take in the years ahead.

Already a number of changes are looking likely for 2011:

The Festivities will probably be five days longer than usual. A Festivities lasting three weeks should mean the Festivities will no longer compete with itself with too many events on any one night.

The first week of the Festivities will become ‘Chifest’, an attempt to attract new and family audiences to a range of community events.

The 2011 Festivities will probably see two fewer cathedral concerts, but otherwise roughly the same number of events as 2010.

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The Festivities will probably expand its autumn programme of events, probably to include music – all part of ensuring the Festivities remain in people’s minds throughout the year, essential if audiences are to grow.

2011 will also see a greater emphasis on fundraising, given the impossibility of existing on box office alone and the increasing difficulty in finding sponsors.

Mr Farman said: “The old model of the Festivities was not working. We could not have gone through another 2009. If we had, we would have had to either call a halt or have some pretty drastic surgery. But now, in 2010, we have shown, with some new approaches, the Festivities actually are sustainable.”

The key now is to build on those changes for next year.

“The critical thing for us this year is we got the deficit down to manageable proportions. Last year it was £25,000. This year it is nearer £10,000.

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“This year the variety and the quality of the events were outstanding, but importantly we put our toe in the water in terms of having a fringe and having fundraising activities.

“We have shown if we put our whole foot in the water next year, we have a business model which will allow the Festivities to continue indefinitely and, we hope, to prosper.”

But Mr Farman cautioned against rapid change.

“We have a very loyal audience who have supported us through thick and thin, and we are very conscious they like a certain content of programme. It would be extremely inappropriate for us to turn everything upside down.”

Festivities director Amanda Sharp suggested chifest would feature music likely to appeal to younger audiences, world music and jazz for instance.