Chippenham Folk Festival 2016

Chippenham Folk Festival is an annual event which features the very best in English traditional music, dance, song and folk activities with all its related interests.

It has maintained its principles over its 45 years and has a unique and distinctive brand. From modest beginnings the festival has grown to be one of the keenest supported in the country.

Many of the Chippenham attendees are repeat visitors from previous years, which is substantially higher than many other festivals.

The Chippenham Folk Festival punches well above its weight and is regarded as one of the premier folk festivals in the country despite its tight budget limitations. It looks and feels like a much bigger budget production.

Every pound raised through ticket-sales, collections, donations etc is spent on the Festival; none goes towards salaries. The driving force is not profit-making - they know how much money there is to spend each year. They don't have to go for the 'safe' or 'money-making' options.

There are a large number of comparable folk festivals taking place each year. Each has a slightly different flavour. Chippenham Folk Festival has a unique brand and a wide geographic draw, mainly because of its focus on English traditions and its location within an accessible small market town.

Chippenham Folk Festival offers a balanced programme of music and dance. With the large number of events and venues the festival is kept at the human scale so everyone feels involved.

The Ceilidhs and social dance are the real 'engine room' of the festival - they seem to be non-stop from the Friday night until the Monday night. For Ceilidhs the festival always has a cracking line-up; for social dance there is a full list of internationally recognised leaders and callers. Many of the social dancers buy their tickets each year without even knowing the line up; they trust the festival to provide the best fun going.

The concert venues are small and intimate and encourage participation - they provide a folk club atmosphere and suit artists who can quickly establish a rapport with the audience. They book artists who are not just entertainers, but communicators - they draw the audience in. The concert programmes are put together with knowledge, forethought and experience.

In addition to the concerts, social dances and the Ceilidhs, they present one of the biggest gatherings of Display dancers. They have recently as many as 80 dance display teams over the week-end and they regularly perform in The Big Top tent in the Island Park which protects both dancers and audience from the elements. The early summer Chippenham heat-wave is legendary if not mythical!