Salisbury International Arts Festival 2008
'Celebrating 35 years'
More than 115 shows with artists from 15 countries
Over 30,000 attendees
With 17,000 people attending free events
2 World Premieres & 3 UK Premieres
6 UK Exclusives
19 sold out shows
3000 Closing Concert attendees
Impressive international and national media coverage:
Over £1 million worth of print coverage and more than 70 million opportunities to see or hear about the Festival (increase of 27 million from 2007)
Including: BBC television news, ITV television news, Radio 3 - The Verb & Afternoon on 3, The Telegraph, The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, Period Living & The Sunday Times.
International coverage includes coverage on BBC World Service, Tonight - South Africa, GWN TV Network Australia, Cape Argus (South Africa)
Quotes:
"One of the most respected Festivals in the UK" - Nick Dodds, Chairman of the British Arts Festivals Association
"I love the astonishing mix of people coming to Salisbury Arts Festival - musicians, authors, prominent personalities. Something for everybody and the atmosphere is infectious"
Sandi Toksvig in Wiltshire Life
"Two weeks with a theme, a focus, a flair for cross-continental connections and a joyous sense of occasion" - Classical Music Magazine
"Five best talks & festivals" - The Independent, The Information
"...it was almost a surprise to be walking out into Fisherton Street and not among the bustle of Convent Garden, Milan or New York" - Salisbury Journal on Sir Thomas Allen
4 * review of the Festival's Commission, The Traveller - The Times
"Salisbury International Arts Festival relishes dynamic themes" - Classic FM Magazine
"The chance to catch up with inspirational and innovative world music, dance and classical music right on your doorstep" - Wiltshire Society
"The Cultural Agenda - What's Hot in the Weeks Ahead" - Sunday Times Culture
Website
The website allowed us to reach even more people this year.
In 2008 the website attracted:
- Visitors from the UK, Australia, South Africa, Peru, Netherlands and France
- 22,904 unique visitors
- Over the last year 3519 web visitors added the Festival website to their list of favourites.
- Over £50,000 was taken from online sales
Audience Feedback
"I thought that this year's Festival was absolutely great, full of lovely, exciting things, and definitely something for everyone." Janine
"A brilliant and inspiring Festival, a great success." Lucy Salisbury
"What an artistic triumph the Festival was this year! There was a palpable buzz in the air and an artistic coherence that was superb." Nick Molden
"The Festival is a tremendous asset for Salisbury. Long may it continue." Tim & Diane Goetz
"I find that during the Festival I see and hear things that I wouldn't normally see and hear and to have them so close to Salisbury and Wilton is truly wonderful." Judy Snowdon
"You have captured the imaginations of a younger generation of Festival goers and have set a great standard for future free events in Salisbury." The McEwan Family (on the Play Day)
"Your Festivals have always offered such a great opportunity for learning about new stuff and, within that, learning about myself." Steve Holmes
Artistic Significance
Within the South of England Salisbury International Arts Festival is one of the most significant cultural organisations and one of the most important arts festivals.
The Festival brings events to Salisbury that would not otherwise come to the region and the artists who visit the Festival carry the name of Salisbury around the world.
The Festival has a strong history of commissioning unique and excellent work, including:
- concert performance from Marianne Faithfull in 2005, which was subsequently performed at the Belfast Festival, carrying with it the Salisbury International Arts Festival name.
- Confluences -- a critically acclaimed 4 year project with the author Vikram Seth and composer Alec Roth. This year's world premiere took place at Salisbury Cathedral and had subsequent performances at the Chelsea and Lichfield Festivals.
In 2008 the Festival presented three commissioned works:
The Traveller: The third stage of the Confluences project had strong community involvement and was met with positive feedback including a 4 star review in the Times.
The Mallow: This is the second large sculpture sited on the A303 and created through a unique ongoing partnership with QinetiQ apprentices and artist, Charlotte Moreton.
Hotel Medea: This extraordinary site-specific international theatre piece is co-commissioned by Salisbury International Arts Festival and Gargarullo Theatre in Rio De Janeiro. Hotel Medea is unique in so many ways, not least in the timing; it was performed between midnight and dawn for three nights and required close working with the presenting partners, Salisbury Playhouse and Salisbury Arts Centre.
The Festival also plays an important role within the local community. There are free events for families and young people during the Festival including street performances and processions. In 2008 the Festival also launched the first ever Big Play in partnership with Salisbury District Council. This initiative brings opportunities for children to participate in free play events. The Play Day was a culmination of an extended Children's programme and was a resounding success with approximately 2,500 people in attendance and overwhelmingly positive feedback.
Further partnerships with English Nature, community groups, schools, local arts organisations and local media are developing some exciting community and environmental projects and ensuring that the Salisbury International Arts Festival remains embedded with its local community.
The Rainbow Choir Project
"Thank you so very much for everything, but especially for inviting those young people for the experience of a lifetime..."
Archbishop Tutu
In 2008 Salisbury International Arts Festival brought 77 children from one of the poorest, and largest townships in South Africa, to sing in Salisbury Cathedral with the Salisbury Community Choir.
This project was called the Rainbow Choir Project and was an extraordinary example of the power the arts can have in enriching communities and bridging international divides. The Fezeka School Choir from the Gugulethu Township and the SalisburyCommunity Choir were brought together to sing Karl Jenkins An Armed Man: A Mass for Peace in the stunning Salisbury Cathedral as part of the Festival's Peace Weekend.
This visit to Salisbury gave the Fezeka School Choir the opportunity of a lifetime to share experiences far removed from their daily routine. They stayed with families in Salisbury and strong, long lasting bonds have been made as a result of this. TheFestival also organised workshops, activities and visits for the choir to local schools around Salisbury, such as BroadchalkePrimary School and Salisbury High. This sort of cultural exchange and interaction will also benefit Salisbury residents by increasing their understanding of other cultures.
The Fezeka School choir and the Salisbury Community Choir also performed A Mass for Peace at the Wales Millenium Centre in Cardiff, in a concert that was described as 'astounding and inspirationally brilliant' by a local publication.
To continue changing lives in the Gugulethu Township, Salisbury International Arts Festival and the Salisbury Community Choir are raising money for a Music Scholarship Fund to support some of the talented musicians who attend the Fezeka High School. By the end of the 2008 Festival £44,000 had been raised for the fund.
The Salisbury International Arts Festival was named "one of the top multi-arts festivals in the country'' along with Edinburgh and Brighton in The Information Supplement 2005 and described in 2005 by the Independent on Sunday as "The best festival to attend this summer" along with the Edinburgh Fringe. "The Best Festival" Big Issue 2006
The growth of Salisbury International Arts Festival over the past decade has been impressive by any standard and has put it into the top league of festivals in the UK. To put this into context here are some facts and figures:
Only 13% of arts festivals in the UK spend over £500,000 per annum (1). Salisbury spends over £800,000.
The average number of events that takes place in UK arts festivals is 51 (2). In 2005 SIAF put on 88 events and in 2006, 96 events. In 2007, 99 events were put on and, in 2008, 86 events. In addition there were over 50 free acts as part of Salisbury Live, plus free street theatre, REdiscover talks and, in 2008, the Big Play.
Salisbury has a population of 45,000. The Festival was attended by approximately 20,000 people in 2008, with an average spend per person on tickets of £13.15. This alone generated £¼ million for the local economy. If you add additional expenditure per ticket buyer of £7.50 then at fairly conservative estimates, Salisbury International Arts Festival is generating nearly £½ million from its customers for the local economy in 17 days (3).
If you add to this the considerable numbers of people attending free events, plus the expenditure by artists and suppliers, it wouldn't be unreasonable to estimate that the Festival generates between £¾ million and £1 million worth of economic activity within the local economy each year, in just 17 days.
1. British Arts Festivals Association economic impact study Festivals Mean Business (2000)
2. British Arts Festivals Association economic impact study Festivals Mean Business (2000)
3. Arts Council England economic impact study of UK theatre, April 2004 showed that the average visitor spend to regional theatres in addition to the cost of their ticket is £7.77.