The theme for this year’s Shoreham Wordfest is Making Waves reflecting the changes, challenges and opportunities ahead, plus the important role of literature and the arts in steering us through choppy waters (September 29-October 20).
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00:00Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers.
00:05Really lovely this morning to speak to Rosalind Turner. Rosalind, you are the Programme Director
00:10for Shoreham Wordfest, which runs from September the 29th to October the 20th.
00:15You've got a fabulous programme, haven't you? And you were just telling me how it started
00:19relatively small, but with lots of enthusiasm, and the Wordfest has grown to become something
00:24really significant. You must be very proud of that development, having been in there
00:28right at the start. Yes, I was right at the start. And yes, I would never have believed
00:34all that time ago, 13 years ago, when we were just satisfying what was going on locally,
00:40you know, working with local writers, listening to local poets, and helping new people to get
00:46into writing and sharing their work with other people. And it's grown year on year.
00:52It's a tremendous enthusiasm. We've got an audience, a regular audience drawn from the
00:57local area. But increasingly, things that we're putting on are attracting people from
01:01right across the region and beyond. So our Crime Writing Festival, for example,
01:06and this is the third year of Fatal Shore. And it's run by Ellie Griffiths and William Shaw.
01:13They just bring all their friends, all their crime author friends come along.
01:18And consequently, we've got an audience, even from Scotland, coming down for that.
01:23So yes, it's somehow it's piqued everybody's interest. And as I say, we've got a loyal group
01:28of local people who get involved with it and our audience. But it's nice.
01:34Has it reached its maximum size, do you think? Or is the Wordfest still getting bigger?
01:39I feel it shouldn't get any bigger as the programme directs.
01:43For sanity's sake. Yes, absolutely. And I think,
01:49you know, for the audience as well, they're very enthusiastic, want to come to everything.
01:54It's quite a lot of money, isn't it? Because we don't receive any public funding.
01:58So no, no public funding. Occasionally, we've had a grant from the local councils, but,
02:03you know, it's not easy now. And the Arts Council, we receive funding for specific projects.
02:09But for just running the festival is ticket income. So I'm quite proud of that, actually,
02:15because so far, and I'll touch some wood, every year we've covered the costs of all of our events
02:21with a little bit more to go in the pot for next year.
02:24That's a huge achievement, isn't it?
02:25It is. It is. You know, it's a great model. We've been very successful at doing it.
02:30Don't know if we can hold it this year. We'll see. But it does mean it puts a strain,
02:36we keep the ticket prices as low as possible, because we want it to be there for everybody.
02:42But so for our audience, if they want to come to 27 events,
02:46and the lowest price this year is £10, that's a lot of money.
02:50And obviously, they won't come to every event. But yes, so we try and keep it affordable,
02:55give people offers and hope that we can still get people coming in.
02:59Fantastic. Well, Rosalind, it's a beautiful programme, fabulous programme you've got
03:03lined up for this year from September the 29th to October the 20th. Really lovely to speak to you
03:09and good luck with all that's ahead. Thank you.
03:12Thank you very much.