Cancelled Cambridge Folk Festival lost £320,000

One of the oldest folk festivals in England was cancelled after making a £320,000 loss last year, council documents have revealed.

The annual four-day Cambridge Folk Festival, organised by Cambridge City Council, first began in 1965 and has been hosted in the grounds of Cherry Hinton Hall.

Papers published by the council ahead of an upcoming meeting on Thursday cited the "financial difficulties faced by the folk festival".

It said it had "earmarked £75,000 to deliver an alternative programme of folk-related events in 2025" ahead of the full festival's return in 2026.

The cancellation of this summer's event was announced in January.

The festival has hosted global headliners such as Robert Plant, Joan Baez, James Taylor, Van Morrison, Nick Cave, Lady Blackbird, Peggy Seeger and Suzanne Vega, and typically attracts about 14,000 people.

Robert Dryden, a Labour city councillor for the area, said in January that the cancellation came as a "big shock" that would "disappoint lots of people".

Labour-run Cambridge City Council has published papers ahead of a scrutiny meeting on 20 March which will look at the reasons behind the cancellation.

The council said the papers would "clearly outline the decisions taken by the festival organisers... to ensure the successful future of the much-loved Cambridge Folk Festival".

The papers continue: "The UK music festival industry is facing widespread financial pressures.

"These have dramatically impacted the continuation of festivals in the recent years.

"Large corporations... dominate the festival landscape.

"In 2024, Latitude, which is normally held on the penultimate weekend in July, chose to move to the last weekend in July, in direct competition with the Cambridge Folk Festival."

The council said it analysed feedback from attendees in 2024 and said some alluded to reduced crowd sizes, and "attributed this to clashes with other festivals including Latitude".

The paper adds: "In 2024, the folk festival incurred a provisional loss of £0.32m. In the years prior to the Covid pandemic it returned an average profit of over £0.2m to fund free community events in Cambridge."

The council said that "while revenues have remained broadly stable, costs have increased significantly as they have for the whole of the UK festival sector".

It said it was "committed to the long-term success of the internationally acclaimed Cambridge Folk Festival".

"During the 2025 fallow year, the council will review the format of the festival so that it can return in 2026."

It said it was planning other entertainment "including free outdoor events and venue-based folk concerts", more details of which it would announce in April.

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