Arts festival goes digital

0
1795

A Cornish literary and arts charity will be holding its annual festival later this month – online.

The Charles Causley Trust exists to keep the memory of the late Cornish poet Charles Causley alive, and to promote poetry, writing and the arts generally.

At the start of lockdown, the committee for the trust’s annual Causley Festival Of Arts and Literature decided to embark on an ambitious new plan and go digital.

Ian Tunbridge, chair of The Charles Causley Trust, said: “The trustees are really pleased to see that we’ve been able to keep the annual Causley Festival in action, despite the lockdown.

“We had to take a tough decision in March whether to scrap the festival completely this year or take a huge risk that we might be able to run it as usual, or to go online.

“The decision to go online sadly means we won’t be able to welcome visitors to Launceston this year, but on the other hand going virtual enables us to reach a nationwide and even an international audience, that should also mean that next year’s festival will attract a larger audience when it hopefully gets back to some normality.”

After weeks of preparation, liaising with artists and acts, plus Shane and Mike at Cornwall Channel (Production), Andy Ward from CRBO (ticketing) and Kenny Marshall from Event Partnership Publishing (brochure), the festival now has a full line-up from July 24-26, complete with an online brochure especially designed for booking tickets and to reach a digital audience around Cornwall and Devon, the UK and indeed the entire  globe.

Kate Campbell, director of The Charles Causley Trust, said: “Deciding to go digital during such a testing time for the cultural sector was a big decision. We just didn’t have the experience of producing things digitally, and we had no idea if it was going to be something people wanted to see.

“Two months down the line, and one big learning curve later, we have a great line-up, a digital brochure and people are booking tickets. Those bookings come from across the UK, and even Poland and The Netherlands. So, we’re really glad we took the leap of faith!”