News
Secure future for Big Tent Festival
From Fife Today,
Friday, 29th August, 2008
The future of the Big Tent has been secured thanks to the success of this year's event.
Although three-years worth of 'seedcorn' funding to get the event up and running has now ended, organisers have confirmed they can raise enough revenue through other funding sources to ensure the weekend-long event in the grounds of Falkland Palace remains a firm fixture on the Scottish festival scene.
Spokesperson Ian Harrower said there was no question over the future of 'Scotland's Festival of Stewardship'.
"Plans are already underway and we hope to hold it on the last weekend of July 2009," he said.
"The seedcorn funding gave us a great start, and while other festivals can fade out of existence after this goes, we are well on track to receive enough funding from other sources."
However, organisers say they don't have any plans to make the Big Tent any bigger next year.
What they do intend to do is focus on the quality of the event and try to build on some of aspects of the festival.
Ian said: "The festival is all about sustainability, but we realise that with its rural location it can be hard for people to leave their cars at home.
"We've been talking to SESTRAN, Stagecoach and Scotrail about ways of offering incentives for people to use public transport as well as discussing discounts on entry tickets for cyclists, for example.
"We did run a shuttle service from Markinch railway station this year which worked well, but we want to have a better network of public transport incentives for visitors."
One of the other options being considered, said Mr Harrower, was to charge people for parking, but that could lead to queueing and problems on the roads.
"We are really just looking at the options available to us at the moment.
"We have received a lot of positive feedback from visitors, particularly about the food, music and 'family friendly' nature of the event and we want to build on that.
"There is so much potential out there in Fife and the Big Tent provides a unique setting to showcase it."
