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£40,000 grant gives festival the go-ahead

by Amy Glendinning
23/ 4/2008

FOLLOWING a last minute cash injection, Cartwheel Arts have announced that the annual Darnhill Summer Festival will take place in July.

Cartwheel’s future hung in the balance earlier in the year after the Arts Council of Great Britain withdrew its annual funding.

However, the council has now given the arts group a one-off grant of £40,000 to tide them over for the year, meaning the fifth annual Darnhill Summer Festival will be able to go ahead on Saturday 5 July.

Cartwheel’s director Rick Walker said: "We have been given a one off grant to stabilize the company and achieve a different funding model.

"We are alright for a year and in that time we will have to find alternative sources of income.The Arts Council will entertain applications for grants in the future but our problem is paying for core costs such as salaries and rent.Having said that, we’ve a full programme for the year and are also booking work into next year."

Niki Duthie, Darnhill Summer Festival co-ordinator at Cartwheel, said: "We have moved the festival to St Margaret’s Primary School as Heywood Community High School no longer take community lettings.

"We are happy to be there and the school are also excited about it and looking forward to taking part.It is a slightly smaller venue so we will have to use as many areas of the school as we can, but I think this summer’s festival will be great."

The theme of the festival is ‘A Small World’, and artists have been commissioned to come up with music, poetry, dance and costumes which interpret the idea.

Niki Duthie said: "It is about the world getting smaller, in terms of shrinking through technology, for example.It will be like looking at a world in miniature and exploring nano-technology. Things will be a bit topsy turvy and people may find that things which are usually small are very big. It will certainly be interesting!"

For more information or to get involved in running a stall or putting on a demonstration or performance at the festival, contact Niki Duthie on 01706 361 300.