That’s it. The Ludlow Arts Festival has gone – for 2015 at least. As the Ludlow Advertiser and Shropshire Star report, it is not commercially viable.
Chris Davis, the festival organiser tells the newspapers that Ludlow Castle and Ludlow Arts Festival Ltd have decided that: “The scale of events they wish to stage are not commercially viable for either party.”
It’s a shame because festivals bring a lot of people to this town and that helps our economy. But the Fringe festival is still set to go ahead. That’s good, especially as it’s more affordable and accessible than the main festival.
Maybe the main festival will be revived. I hope so. But even if that doesn’t happen, we at least have the Fringe. After all, it’s the fringe that makes news in Edinburgh, not the main festival. And who cares that it can’t technically be a fringe unless it’s peripheral to something. The fringe in Edinburgh would survive and thrive without the main festival and so will ours.
There will be public meeting to discuss the 2015 Fringe on Thursday, October 30, 7.30pm at Ludlow Brewery.