Swaledale Festival Revenue

About Swaledale Festival

Swaledale Festival is an award-winning annual celebration of music, arts and walking based in the three northernmost Yorkshire Dales - Swaledale, Wensleydale and Arkengarthdale. Founded in 1972, the Festival begins on the Saturday of the late May Spring Bank Holiday and sees well over fifty events taking place across a fortnight. Performances take place in venues ranging from tiny chapels to Ripon Cathedral - from a Wensleydale cowshed to Richmond's historic Georgian Theatre Royal. The eclectic programme includes a core of world-class classical music concerts as well as folk, brass bands, jazz, world music and fine young graduate musicians at the beginning of their careers. There is poetry, film, dance, drama, comedy, workshops, masterclasses, exhibitions, children's events, talks, themed guided walks, and usually some surprises (think steam train trips, bat watches, archaeology projects and astronomy sessions!). Previous performers have included Sheku Kanneh-Mason, John Williams, Emma Kirkby, Paco Peña, Angela Hewitt, Brian Sewell, John Paul Jones, Kathryn Tickell and the Hallé Orchestra. There is a focus on the extraordinary landscape, stories and characters of the northern Dales, and an extensive community and education programme which brings high-quality arts to care home residents and young people in isolated rural communities. In 2023 the Festival announced the appointment of its first Patrons: writer, lecturer and arts advocate Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason and antiques expert Ronnie Archer-Morgan.

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