New-look festivals for 2020
Innovative online and socially distanced events mean you can still get your culture fix, writes Bernadette Fallon
Technically we’re in the middle of festival season right now. Actually, we’re in festival limbo, where Glastonbury was two BBC presenters and some cows in a field, and big-name annual events were cancelled or moved online. But despite that, the last few very strange months brought festivals and live events into our homes in a way never seen before.
One of the most famous literary festivals in the world, the Hay Festival – held in Hay-on-wye in Wales for ten days from May to June and described by Bill Clinton as “the Woodstock of the mind” – went digital this year. Author readings, panel discussions and debates were available for all to tune into – and still are, you can access all of the events at Hayfestival. org/hayplayer. In total, 550,000 people registered to watch – double the number of tickets sold for the festival last year.
Hay festival founder and director Peter Florence confirms it will retain elements of this year’s event going forward. “The digital sphere enabled many more people to experience Hay who could not make it to Wales, and we would never want to lose that.”
Valuable lessons from going digital – “about reach, about online communities and about the joy of watching things together,” says Peter – have already been shared with Nick Barley at the Edinburgh Book Festival.
No doubt they’ll be put into action at this year’s event – the 2020 Edinburgh Book Festival will be presented online from Saturday 15 to Monday 31 August, featuring more than 100 freeto-view events for adults, families and children. Director Barley says organisers are very excited to be presenting live online events for the first time, bringing “the essence of our wonderful festival to our loyal supporters – and new audiences – in a series of ambitious, innovative and exciting online conversations”. See the full line-up at Edbookfest.co.uk.
Venues that normally play host to the Edinburgh International Festival throughout August will remain dark this year, but behind the scenes, organisers confirm they will be marking festival season “in a way that will bring some joy to our community and remind the world of the incredible experience that is the Festival City”, with a series of projects merging spectacle, performance and participation.
A series of archived Queen’s Hall festival concerts will also be screened, as part of BBC Arts Culture in Quarantine, including a 2018 recital from Nicola Benedetti, an all-rachmaninov programme from pianist Mikhail Pletnev and a recreation of one of Chopin’s last ever concerts played in a house on Edinburgh’s Queen Street in 1848. For more information visit Eif.co.uk.
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is launching Edinburgh Unlocked, a comedy festival in an audiobook on 6 August, with royalties going to help support the festival. Published by Penguin Random House Audio, the audiobook will be on sale from all major audio retailers.
Meanwhile, this year’s Fringe Festival is going ahead on a digital platform from 7-31 August, with a programme including live streamed performances, virtual shows, artist workshops, community-focused events and a virtual Fringe Central.
One festival that will be happening this year is the Scottish International Storytelling Festival, exploring Scotland’s coasts and waters through stories. Running from 17-31 October, it will be a mix of online events and small-scale face-to-face performances, reminding us that stories are vital for human survival. See more at Sisf.org.uk.
Also happening is the Appledore Book Festival in Devon, albeit in a new form. The nine-day event will now become a five day drive-in festival, running from 18-22 September, with audiences watching and listening to authors via FM radio from their cars.
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