Brightlingsea Free Music Festival is a two-day open-air event held on Hurst Green, Brightlingsea, open to all age groups and family friendly.
The Festival features live music from a wide range of genres supported by professional quality stage and sound equipment and engineers.
The 2022 Festival saw 15 musical acts ranging from a local choir and shanty singers to a rock ‘n roll band fresh from a US tour.
The Story of The Brightlingsea Free Music Festival
The Brightlingsea Free Music Festival was established in 2001 with the aim of providing a platform for new and established bands from across the mainstream spectrum of popular music. Apart from 2020 (due to Covid restrictions) it has been held every year since then over the first weekend in August.
The 2022 Festival was the 21st time the event had taken place and was recognised for its achievements at the Pride of Tendring Awards.
The aim of the 2022 Festival was to deliver a high-quality music festival and maintain on the build on the 6,000 plus visitors the event attracts each year.
The “Challenge” or “Opportunity”
After the 2021 festival several longstanding committee members decided they could no longer commit their time. At that point a decision was made not to have any more festivals. However, the few remaining committee members felt the festival had become an important part of Brightlingsea culture and should carry on, especially at a time when communities were emerging from the pandemic restrictions and really needed the mental boost that a festival can bring. The Festival therefore managed to recruit new members to the committee who brought fresh enthusiasm and ideas.
Funds were particularly low so the Festival needed to secure funding and sponsorship. Local authorities and businesses funding was securing, enabling the delivery of the Festival.
The challenge then was to deliver a high-quality music festival that the Brightlingsea community could be proud of.
The Festival also wanted the project to help improve the mental and emotional wellbeing of all participants, volunteers, and audience. Especially following the issues of social isolation and poverty resulting from the recent pandemic.
Why the practitioner chose to partner with ECC
The Festival has been fortunate enough to have had funding & support from ECC during previous projects over the years and have always found ECC very supportive, informative throughout both the application process and project management.
How ECC / the culture team responded
The Brightlingsea Free Music Festival application to the Arts & Culture Fund clearly outlined the Essex residents it aimed to engage with via an exciting programme.
The ECC culture team has supported the project via regular catch up’s, offering assistance wherever needed in terms of marketing, PR, and general project advise.
The Results
The Festival delivered a 2-day free entry open air music festival primarily for the residents of Brightlingsea and local area involving 15 bands/artists, 10 food and drink stalls, a licensed bar, a tea tent run by the local Foodbank, first aid provision, and site security. Audience attendance was the highest ever at 3,500 maximum and 7-8,000 overall.
From the feedback received 2022 was one of the best festivals in the town’s twenty one year history and gave a sense of pride and community spirit back to the people of Brightlingsea.
The festival made a financial profit for the first time in several years, enabling planning for 2023.
A particular success was that the Festival decided to directly run its own beer tent, rather than book a third party to run it. Whilst this meant a lot of extra work and volunteers it proved to be a great success.
Testimonials:
Bob Walsh – Income Generation Officer: “I can honestly say we had no negative feedback whatsoever. We had several new members on our committee (3 previous longstanding members having resigned following years of stalwart service) which brought a freshness and enthusiasm to our approach. The best feedback was from the Brightlingsea Town Mayor, Mick Barry, who was previously a long standing committee member. He said it was the best festival he had been to and was particularly impressed with the level of organisation.”
Getting involved
Here at Essex County Council we are passionate about Arts & Culture and keen to support projects across the county. If you have an idea you’d like to share with us, take a look at the Arts & Cultural Fund webpage on the Explore Essex website here and get in touch via email us: culture@essex.gov.uk
We look forward to hearing from you.
