Re: Holmfirth Folk Festival - or not
- From: Chris Rockcliffe <chrisrockcliffe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 02 Dec 2005 01:53:47 +0000
Peter30/11/05 4:31 PM
> This discussion is getting silly. From the outside all I can see is
> niggling political infighting, silly arguments and raking over historical
> slights.
>
> It is quite obvious to me that if HFF are cancelling this year's festival
> its because they have good reasons - I've always found them to be people who
> want to do their best for the town and the folk scene. Unfortunately the
> reasons given are simply not credible, or they are not properly explained,
> or they appear to have been poorly thought through - and they certainly
> haven't convinced everyone.
>
> Nobody cancels a festival because its too popular. It may be they cant get
> enough cash, or they cant get enough people to help with the work, or they
> cant reach agreement on the future direction - but they really need to
> explain it better.
>
> It seems to me that Peter (Picturedrome) is either trying to to recover the
> situation (as he sees it) or to make things worse (as others see it).
>
> I don't live in Holmfirth - but I have stewarded at the festival for the
> last four years and I enjoy it - and obviously lots of other people do too.
> I like the friendly, amateurish atmosphere; I like the balance of
> concerts/sessions; I like the fact that its embedded in the town( or seems
> to be) and I like the Picturedrome. I personally think there are too many
> dance sides, but I accept they contribute to the atmosphere.
>
> So here is the root cause of the debate:
> You can have an HFF organised event at a better venue (fine with me)
> Or you can have a festival in the town organised by different people (also
> fine with me)
> Or you can have a different sort of festival organised by either party
> Or you can have all or none of these
>
> I don't really understand why someone can't knock the necessary heads
> together and fix it!
>
> Peter
> Written from the safety of London!
There appears to be a power struggle going on - with both sides trying to
paper it over as something else? Perhaps the argument just reached an
impasse. But to use local newspaper front pages as a surprise weapon to
bash locals with, does seem an odd thing to do. Maybe that has backfired?
I can understand the HFF org. wanting to take it out of town and being able
to turn it into a bigger event... and I can understand others not wanting it
to happen like that and to stay in town.
I wouldn't pretend to understand all the many problems. The factors are
practical - camping space etc as well as the economies of scale for covering
the cost of big acts. At the end of the day, Holmfirth has an established
successful *small* festival aura about it which maybe ought to stay small
and accessible with perhaps fewer acts and better quality.
The people I know who go and have gone year after year - go for the crack
and the jamming and session side of things more than the bigger concert
names. Perhaps they're typical of a hard core? Do they contribute less to
the festival and more to the community than those who buy loads of tickets?
Good post from someone above. Maybe neutral Peter - from the safety of
London - with inside knowledge - is just the man to put Humpty Holmfirth
back together again !! :-)
CR
.
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