Help us Raise £5,000 and keep the festival free!

Times are tough and we need your help more than ever. With rising costs, this year's festival is running at a shortfall of nearly £10,00 so we're calling on our supporters to help us plug the hole. We're launching a campaign to raise £5,000 to help fill this funding gap, keeping the festival free and ensuring we can return in 2024.

Leigh Folk Arts urgently need to raise essential funds to pay for the increasing costs of putting on the UK’s largest free folk festival - Leigh Folk Festival.

Like many charities, we are facing challenges in fundraising and sharply increasing costs. The annual cost of the festival is in excess of £50,000.  We need to raise most of the funds each year and we are currently facing a significant shortfall which we need to plug before June. As you would expect we are exploring all avenues to contain costs and raise additional funds but anything that you can give now would help us to continue to put on the festival for you and to keep it free.

Leigh Folk Festival has been providing much-needed entertainment for local residents and the wider folk community for over 30 years. We want to continue to provide a wide range of free music, dance, and spoken word for all ages, including activities aimed at families. It is run among other events by Leigh Folk Arts, a charity focused on furthering folk arts, based in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. A team of around 30 local residents makes up the core organisation, with around 100 others involved in event-specific volunteer roles. 

The main event entertains more than 15,000 people over the last weekend in June, proudly providing a platform for new and developing artists where everyone is paid to perform. 

Your support would greatly help with our commitment to keeping the majority of events free now and in the future.