Mini Coastival festival cancelled due to funding

A lack of funding means the next ‘mid-term’ mini Coastival arts festival in Scarborough has had to be cancelled.

Instead, organisers are turning their attention to plans for the next big Coastival in 2019, which will be the event’s 10th anniversary.

The new Graham Fellows show, “Completely out of Character”, will go ahead at Scarborough Spa Theatre on February 10 2018 at 8pm.

The main Coastival arts festival is held every two years, with a smaller, mid-term festival held in the intervening years. This smaller event was due to be held in February, but a shortage of funding in the current financial climate, which has hit arts organisations across the country, has meant it has had to be cancelled.

Coastival director Wendy Holroyd said: “It is disappointing, particularly for the artists who had begun work on projects for February.

“But in these difficult financial times we have to accept that there is only so much funding to go round. Rather than compromise the delivery of February’s event, we feel it is best to concentrate instead on Coastival 2019 and put our focus into making that a fitting celebration for Coastival’s 10th anniversary!”

The main Coastival is an arts festival in Scarborough which brings together local, national and international talents in a celebration of music, theatre, comedy, dance, performance and fine art.

Each event brings thousands of visitors to Scarborough, making a significant financial contribution to the town. It is estimated that this year’s big Coastival brought a direct economic boost of £426,781 into Scarborough.