The Vision

Landscape defines history and history defines culture. Landscape is about the relationship between people and place, the interaction between nature and culture. The Wye Valley River Festival aims to celebrate and interpret the river, landscape, history and communities of the Wye Valley in a poetic and contemporary way.

The Wye Valley AONB Partnership sees the value that the arts have in interpreting the river landscape and heritage and desires to use Outdoor Arts to bring people closer to the river and the Wye Valley’s unique and special sense of place.

Introduction

April 26th-May 18th 2014: 130 miles, 22 days, 2 countries, 5 local authorities, 10 settlements, lots of community groups and recreation, environment and heritage organisations – English and Welsh versions. This is an ambitious and forward thinking long term project.

The Festival aims to:

•bring together communities up and down the river through a high quality specially commissioned arts and heritage programme that reflects the unique qualities of the River Wye, it’s landscape and it’s people

•engage people with the heritage and history of the Wye

•work with local partners, local organisations and businesses

•provide a platform for local artists, groups and voluntary sector organisations

•creatively engage schools and colleges and encourage volunteer involvement in the event organization

•encourage sponsorship, promotion and engagement of the event by local business

•promote the profile of the Wye Valley as a premier destination, encouraging visitors to visit more frequently and stay longer

•develop a sustainable, nationally recognised Biennial Wye Valley River Festival that complements the area’s and the AONB’s existing programme and special qualities.

History/genesis

The festival was imagined by the Wye Valley AONB Unit following their success in delivering the £3.1m ‘Overlooking the Wye’Heritage Lottery Fund scheme. This programme included extensive capital works in the historic environment, research into the heritage and interpretation, community engagement,interaction and signposting.

During the final stages of the Overlooking the Wye scheme, during the AONB’s 40th anniversary year in 2011, four celebratory events were held with much success, each attracting over 2500 people. These included a Georgian Day in Ross on Wye when over 100 people dressed in costume to commemorate the start of the 18th century Wye Tour. There was great local demand for a repeat event.

Meanwhile ‘The Severn Project’ by Desperate Men was attended by one of the AONB team and imagined such a project alongthe Wye. The success and community engagement of both these projects fed into the drafting of the AONB Sustainable Tourism Strategy as an initial idea of a river festival spanning the length of the AONB.

The Festival is spawned

The Wye Valley AONB Unit joined forces with the River Wye Preservation Trust and gathered community groups together in each major location down the riverto consult on the concept and ideas for the festival. It was decided to focus on the heritage of the Wye, particularly 1750 -1860,being the birth of British tourism through the Picturesque Wye Tour and the most industrialised and active period for the river. This further complemented the work completed through the Overlooking the Wye scheme. Each group was asked to come up with ideas for events and projects based within this period.

ASustainable Development Fund (SDF) grant was securedto develop the festival. The AONB Unit contracted Desperate Men to develop an artistic vision. They recommended applying for Research and Development funds from Arts Council England (ACE) and Arts Council Wales (ACW). This was the first time the AONB Unit had thought of applying for arts funding, the initial vision being more heritage based. Funding was secured from ACW

Next the Development Co-ordinator role was awarded to Kim Tilbrook and Phillippa Haynes to pull together the wider vision and infrastructure of the festival, it’s long term aims and to write the funding bids to Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), ACE and ACW.

This team, of Kim & Phillippa and Desperate Men, carried out extensive workshops and consultation with community groups (now called RAFTS - River Action Festival Teams) to vision a whole festival and to develop the RAFTS’ ideas into a cohesive, presentable and fundable whole.

The focus initially is on the development of the first of a three festival plan - building up community capacity, vision and infrastructure and developing long term partnerships and sustainability - with a festival held on alternate years, biennially.

Communityconsultation

Extensive consultation has taken place with the RAFTS. The team have consulted and informed over 450 individuals and groups and attended over 52 meetings up and down the Wye Valley. The make-up of the RAFTS is different in each place. Some are diverse groups of community members, diverse in interest, age and ambition. Some are made up of the above plus professional artists and other interested organisational representatives such as walkers, rafters, Museums etc. A full report on the consultation process is available on request.

With development funding secured from ACW, Desperate Man convened a group of artists in Wales to develop the artistic concepts and potential for the Festival. Similar work is ongoing with local artists on the English side.

Festival Parameters

All activities proposed in the programme have their roots in or come directly from the RAFTS.

There will be core/flow-through events and a variety of individual events at different settlements.

All activities will fall into 3 areas;

To encourage:

i) people into the landscape and onto the river.

ii) celebration of the communities of the Wye Valley.

iii) visitors from outside the area.

Work will:

•be rooted in and responsive to the river and the landscape of the Valley

•enable community engagement, participation and development

•interpret and celebrate the Wye Valley and it’s heritage in a contemporary and poetic way

•enable artistic collaborations and artist’s professional development

•seek absolute quality

•strive for environmental sustainability eg. local produce

Festival #1 -‘Wye Then and Wye Now?’

The first festival seeks to share and celebrate the history of the Wye Valley and to explore the contemporary issues facing the river and its communities today.

Heritage is and always has been the starting point for the festival. The celebration, interpretation and presentation of the river and its heritage is at the root of the programme, based on the work of ‘Overlooking the Wye’. All the core/flow-through events aim to support the work of the AONB, as does the Artistic Programme.The aim is to further the ‘Overlooking the Wye’ outputs by animating walks, talks, places, characters and stories researched during the scheme.

It also seeks to develop the capacity of communities to progress the festival in a meaningful way and to develop partnerships for the future, to test out ideas, concepts and possibilities and to develop and understand audiences for and of the future.

Core/Flow through events:

  • Walks- 6 historical, 4 nature, 3 artist, 1 feast
  • Talks/debates - 6
  • Outdoor Solar Cinema- 3
  • Collecting Tomorrow’s History Today- in advance and throughout
  • Bridge installations -3
  • Food and crafts – every major location
  • Fayres and Pleasure Gardens
  • Picnics- 2
  • Nights Out- 3
  • Masks and Costume making
  • River and fire skills

Key Events by place

Hay on Wye – launch events

Hereford – Mappa Mundi Spectacular

Ross on Wye – River Fayre, historic procession and Treasure Hunt

Lydbrook – The Tump Fete

Symonds Yat – Canoe Ballet/ Fire and Flame

Monmouth – The Trial

Llandogo - Canoe Ballet / Fire and Flame

Brockweir – Life of a River Port

Tintern – Artists’ workshops, Picnic and Fire Garden

Chepstow – The Turning of the Tide

Community Development

Local communities and RAFTs will be supported on the ground by professionals, providing guidance and advice as needed in aspects such as production, creative process and organisation. Some smaller events are not part of the major funding bids, however the professional support of them is.

A further element of the community development is improving skills, capacity and confidence. This will be enhanced by a workshop programme andgood-practice outings to visit other active communities to share knowledge and experience, thus helping to raise aspirations and generate ideas.

Funding Bids & Timescales

The bids to Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), ACE and ACW are being drafted by Kim Tilbrook and Phillippa Haynes to be submitted by the Wye Valley AONB Partnership by the end of July. The results of those bids should be known in late October. Only then will the full budget for the Festival be determined. Consequently over the summer, there will be little activity for the RAFTS but they will be reconvened in October and early November, as the levels of funding become known. They will then be in a position to assess what can and cannot be delivered, and we will cut our cloth accordingly! From that point there will be less than 6 months to fully develop the Festival based on the available budget. The best case scenario is a budget of about £350,000, and at worst maybe £60,000.

Infrastructure and Staffing

The proposed optimum delivery structure is outlined below.

The Steering Group consists of 15 people who have been meeting throughout 2013 and are constituted with the following Objectives in their Terms of Reference:

(i)To provide strategic and operational recommendations on the delivery of Wye Valley River Festival to the Festival leaders, the Wye Valley AONB Unit and the River Wye Preservation Trust, and to the local and thematic working groups established to develop the Festival.

(ii)The Steering Group is a non-executive, advisory body which brings together interested parties from the public, private and voluntary sectors on behalf of the Wye Valley AONB Joint Advisory Committee (JAC).

(iii)Steering Group Members will represent the wider interests of the Festival at Steering Group meetings rather than the interests of their originating organisation, locality or sector.

The key delivery roles, detailed below, will be self-employed and on commissioned contracts rather than employed posts.

Festival Director

Answerable to the Steering Group and AONB Officer. Overall responsibility for:

  • Final Programme – core/flow through events and artisticdelivery of the Festival
  • Finance
  • Marketing
  • Quality
  • Recruitment and Line management of Artistic Directors, Production Manager, Programme Manager, Intern Co-ordinator
  • Arts commissions
  • Liaison with key Partners – ACE, ACW, HLF, local authorities, Welsh Assembly, environmental and heritage agencies (English and Welsh)
  • Partnership development
  • Future and strategic planning
  • Sponsorship
  • Funding
  • Festival Infrastructure
  • Health and Safety and Licensing

Artistic Director/s

Answerable to the Festival Director. Responsible for:

  • Outdoor Arts Programme
  • Artistic Quality
  • Artists’ selection
  • Artists’ Development
  • Artistic Partnerships
  • Proposing Budgets for artistic activities to Festival Director for ratification
  • Contracting and financial management for Artistic Programme – with AONB
  • Line managing local directors
  • Liaising with Production Manager and Commissioned artists
  • Ensuring quality community engagement in projects
  • Providing information for marketing, PR and social media

Production Manager

Answerable to the Festival Director. Responsible for:

  • Delivery of the design and production of the festival
  • Festival infrastructure
  • Proposing Budgets for production to Festival Director for ratification
  • Contracting and financial management for production – with AONB
  • Recruitment and Line management of local production managers
  • Health and Safety
  • Licensing
  • Security and stewarding

Programme Manager

Answerable to the Festival Director. Responsible for:

  • Core/Flow through programme
  • Partnership development
  • Proposing Budgets for flow through events to Festival Director for ratification
  • Line managing Intern co-ordinator
  • Liaising with AONB finance, community and marketing
  • Liaising with Production Manager
  • Contracting and financial management for core/flow through events – with AONB
  • Ensuring quality Community and engagement
  • Community development

Intern/ festival co-ordinator

Answerable to the Festival Director and Programme Manager. Core function:

  • Supporting the Festival Director, Artistic Directors, Production Manager and Programme Manager

Local directors and production managers will work with RAFTS on the ground to deliver projects.

AONB staff will be integrated and core to delivery, co-ordinating marketing, budgetary control, community development and leadership.

Marketing

Designed and managed by the AONB Unit, will include:

  • Website – pages from and partner sites
  • Social Media
  • Press and PR
  • Printed programmes
  • Printed Posters and flyers for specific events
  • Being visible – sheep and banners

Evaluation

This will be a key feature and undertaking before, during and after the Festival.

  • Baseline questionnaires already done with RAFTS
  • Key ongoing questions identified and agreed
  • Some same questions plus others on receipt of funding decisions and scale of festival
  • Some same questions plus others after the first festival
  • Data collected throughout and at events
  • Interviews and opinions gathered trough Collecting Tomorrow’s Histories Today diary rooms
  • Photography commission
  • Report collated
  • Recommendations for Festival #2
  • Academics commissioned to gather and report

Legacy

The proposal is to produce a development plan for a further two festivals, in 2016 and 2018. This will include

  • Capacity within the AONB Partnership for continuation, possibly a part time post in the AONB Unit?
  • Aspirations for future projects
  • Targets – audiences, participants, profile, tourism
  • Funding and sponsorship

Delegates at the Strategic meeting of Key Organisations were asked the question:

Q: what would you like to see as a legacy of the festival? Years/ festival # 1,2 and 3, onwards?

Year/# 1

  • Create a buzz, everyone telling friends and family you MUST come next year, it’s AMAZING!
  • Community confidence developed
  • Experiment and try out some ideas, methodology and explore resources – set of aspirations identified for future festivals
  • Ignite ideas for festivals #2 and 3
  • Cross promotion of other festivals on the area

Year/# 2

  • The festival is well known in Holland (Wye Valley is the nearest pretty and hilly place to them!)
  • Some communities choosing their own artists and developing projects
  • Aspirations ignited from Fest #1 are developed
  • Community development programme as part of festival planning and delivery programme
  • Sponsorship developed or #3

Year/# 3

  • The festival has a higher profile than Hay Festival!
  • Projects ignited from Fest#1 reach fruition
  • The identity and trajectory of the festival is set
  • Some community members really inspired and take on ever larger roles and responsibilities and facilitate their communities

Onwards

  • No problem getting ongoing funds from partners because of high quality and renowned national reputation of the festival
  • Self sustaining
  • That it takes on a life of its own
  • Long term Sponsorship secured

In addition

  • Capacity and skills of community to play more active roles
  • Aspirations of community raised
  • Local Artists developed
  • Infrastructure developed
  • Partnerships identified and developed
  • Costume, props and staging created
  • Heritage Walks scripted and ready to re-use by guides
  • Museum Collections enhanced
  • Wye Valley profile raised as cultural destination

This project has been supported by the Sustainable Development Fund, aDefra and Welsh Government initiative in the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB)

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