Harrogate International Festivals (HIF) is a
registered charity
A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good).
The legal definition of a ch ...
and one of the UK's longest running
arts festivals, having been established in 1966.
Based in
Harrogate,
North Yorkshire.
Festivals include the Harrogate Music Festival, Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Harrogate International Spring Series, Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival and a programme of outreach which includes the Spiegeltent and Children's Festival programmes. HIF also runs a programme of community outreach including literacy, music and arts programmes for young people and communities with least access to the arts due to rural isolation, geographical location or social exclusion.
Charles, Prince of Wales is the Festival's patron, and Peter Blackburn CBE is its honorary president.
was honorary president from 2009
until her death in 2020, the position having previously been held by
Clive Leach
Clive William Leach CBE (born 4 December 1934) is a former English cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman who bowled slow left-arm orthodox. He was born in Bombay, Bombay State, India.
Cricket career
Leach made his first-class debut for War ...
CBE. A past vice-president was Harrogate historian
Malcolm Neesam
Malcolm George Neesam (28 June 1946 – 28 June 2022) was an English historian and writer specialising in the history of Harrogate, North Yorkshire. He was also a librarian and archivist. His major works were the first two parts of a projected ...
.
The current Chair of the Trustees is Fiona Movley.
In 2017, HIF won the Northern Soul Arts Festival of the Year Award.
History
The Harrogate International Festival was set up in response to local demand to re-establish the quality of event that people had been used to between the wars in the town's spa heyday. In 1966, with the help of composer
Benjamin Britten and singer
Peter Pears of
Aldeburgh Festival fame, and financial support from
Harrogate Borough Council
Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa ...
and the
Arts Council of England, Clive Wilson launched the Festival and became its first Director.
In artistic terms the Festival has changed radically from its origins in the late sixties.
The Festival dates (originally in mid-August) were chosen as they had to fit into the town's conference & exhibition calendar.
In its early days the Festival featured music, literature, drama, visual arts and science. However, over the following decades music came to the fore, making up around 90% of the programme.
In 1984 following a national
Arts Council strategy review entitled "The Glory of the Garden" funding was withdrawn from all festivals north of
Cheltenham
Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...
. Up to that point Harrogate had received a guarantee against loss of £38,000, the biggest Arts Council grant of any festival in England. The loss of the grant demanded a more populist approach to programming in order to build ticket revenue and to enable the major scaling up of corporate sponsorship.
In 1991 it was recognised that a broadening of the artistic programme was needed to extend the audience reach – geographically and the under 55s – as well as by genre and to increase sponsorship, trust funding and box office revenue, in order for the Festival to grow. An incremental expansion of the performing arts programming commenced initially with jazz,
contemporary dance
Contemporary dance is a genre of dance performance that developed during the mid-twentieth century and has since grown to become one of the dominant genres for formally trained dancers throughout the world, with particularly strong popularity in ...
and
classical ballet, World Music and literature.
In an average 12-month period the Festivals stage over 300 distinct events and attract over 90,000 people to its activities. Alongside box office sales they rely on sponsorship, grants and charitable giving.
Festivals
Harrogate Music Festival
International music festival held across various venues during the month of July.
Harrogate Crime Writing Festival
Known as the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival (TOPCWF), and held over four days in July, the festival was launched in 2003. TOPCWF is sponsored by
T & R Theakston and is held at
The Old Swan Hotel in Harrogate.
The winner of the
Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award is announced on the opening night.
In 2013
The Guardian described TOPCWF as one of the best crime-writing festivals around the world and in 2016 TOPCWF was named by
Elle Magazine as one of the six best literary festivals.
Harrogate Literature Festival
Launched in 2012 and known as the Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival, the festival is held in October. Selected by Harper's Bazaar as 'one of the UK's best literary festivals the event celebrates great writing by bringing best-selling authors, politicians, comedians and stars of the stage to share their stories.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the 2020 festival was held online. Speakers included
Bernard Cornwell,
Lee Child,
Matt Haig,
Rory Bremner &
Ken Follett.
Speakers at the 2019 festival included
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
,
Simon Weston, Sir Tim Waterstone &
Louise Minchin.
Harrogate International Sunday Series
A series of international chamber concerts are held at the Old Swan, Harrogate between January and April each year. The Sunday Series was launched in 1993.
Salon North
Known as Berwins Salon North, the events consist of three speakers who explore ideas from art, science and psychology.
Spiegeltent & Children's Festival
A week-long festival of club classics, soul and jazz is housed in a
Spiegeltent on Crescent Gardens in Harrogate. The venue is transformed through the day to house a Children's Festival featuring arts, music, science and literature that traditionally takes place during May and June.
Outdoor Work
HIF claims to have a reputation for bringing major outdoor installations to Harrogate. Large scale projects include, Cie Carabosse Fire Garden – 2016, Pentalum Luminarium by Architects of Air – 2018,
Museum of the Moon by
Luke Jerram – 2019 & In Memorium by Luke Jerram in 2021.
In October 2021, a temporary sound and light art installation, celebrating Harrogate's 450 year spa heritage, was installed next to the Royal Pump Room Museum in the town. Entitled '1571 The Water That Made Us' the installation was a collaboration between sound and light artists, Dan Fox, and James Bawn and HIF.
References
{{reflist
Arts festivals in England
Festivals in North Yorkshire
Cultural festivals in the United Kingdom
Festivals established in 1966
Events in Harrogate