F E S T I V A L F R I E N D S
Join the
Friends of the Festival, and help to ensure the future of Oundle
International Festival
Like most
arts organisations in the UK today, Oundle International Festival,
a registered charity, relies heavily upon sponsorship and donations
to survive. It receives very little public funding, and faces an
enormous task each year to find the very large sums of money necessary
to promote the Festival and the concurrent Oundle for Organists
Summer School.
The Friends
of the Oundle Festival are a band of enthusiastic and generous
people keen to maintain the quality and sense of enjoyment that
the Festival has built up over the last nineteen years; many are
also motivated by Oundle's acclaimed courses for young organists.
They pay an annual subscription, but often their support does not
end there. Many Friends offer to accommodate visiting artists and
tutors, or collect them from the station; they stuff envelopes
with a will, and distribute publicity material. The Friends also
sponsor a concert.
In return
we offer a complimentary copy of the souvenir programme, invitations
to a reception during the Festival, occasional visits to concerts
in other areas and more. But we believe that most of our Friends
contribute because they have a genuine desire to see the Festival
and Summer Schools flourish. If you would like to join their number
or would like more information first, please e-mail the Festival
Office. (The minimum suggested donation is £15).
With a
track record dating back to 1985, Oundle has from the start cultivated
special features which attract musicians and music lovers year
after year to enjoy an inspiring and friendly cultural experience
every July.
Celebrity
names in the musical world; conductors, orchestras, pianists, choirs,
singers, jazz artists and organists; share the limelight at Oundle
with young professional soloists of the highest calibre. The annual
jazz and fireworks spectacular, with it's popular 'dance 'til you
drop' theme, is balanced by classical concerts of the highest distinction,
set in attractive and unusual historic venues ... to say nothing
of the exhibitions, cultural visits, drama, films, and poetry readings
that also feature in the programming.
But what
makes Oundle unique is the International Summer School, and other
courses, for Young Organists. This world-famous promotion has by
now proved crucially influential in determining the early careers
of hundreds of young organists, who come to Oundle from every continent
to study with a faculty of top names in the organ world. Get Ahead!
inspiration days, at Oundle and also in London, are a recent development.
And then
there's Oundle's pivotal role in the Nene Valley Churches Organs
Trust, which aims to raise well over a quarter of a million pounds
to provide five new pipe organs in local country churches.
The unique
Sound of Oundle is brought to you by a cost-keen and lean administration,
and is delivered with enthusiasm.
Oundle International Festival is a Registered Charity which relies absolutely
upon sponsorship, trust funds, ticket sales, student fees and The Friends of
the Festival.
Ever decreasing
public funding for the arts makes their future far from certain.
Please consider supporting Oundle and help them flourish here.
David Hardwick
Friends Secretary
e: davidhardwick@oundlefestival.org.uk |
