£15,000 cash boost for Blackburn Festival (From Lancashire Telegraph)

£15,000 cash boost for Blackburn Festival

12:00pm Saturday 7th July 2012 in News

A GRANT of £15,000 for next year’s Blackburn Festival is set to be approved by senior councillors this week.

Officers of Blackburn with Darwen borough will ask the authority’s cabinet to agree the cash and the free use of Witton Park for the event in 2013.

It will match the amount given to the Darwen Music Festival.

The new event called “Blackburn Festival: Music Culture and Arts in the Park” will take place on June 15th and 16th next year.

It will be organised by a voluntary management committee and replaces a group of other, now discontinued festival events.

The report, set to be approved by the borough’s executive board on Thursday says: “Although this is not a direct replacement for the council organised Arts in the Park, the voluntary committee would like to build on what was created in the past and develop the festival to make a significant contribution to the cultural life of the borough.

“One of the grant conditions is that this is an outdoor event, with music and it is free. The original cost of Arts in the Park was more than £100,000.

“This will be multi-cultural event with a range of music and arts performances to suit a wide range of tastes.”