Music festival postponed over lack of funds

Sharrow Festival in Sheffield will not go ahead this year

Organisers of a local music festival in Sheffield have said it will not go ahead this year due to financial constraints.

Sharrow Festival had not raised the £20,000 in funding it needed, they said.

They added that they hoped the event could return next year - which would be its 30th anniversary - if it secured the money it needed.

Organiser Emma Rhodes said they had "every intention of bringing it back".

Organisers say they're aiming to return next year

She said the cost of running the festival had risen significantly since the pandemic, with the businesses they work with charging more.

Accessing grant funding had also become more competitive, she added, and they had been rejected for National Lottery funding that they previously relied on.

For the festival to become self-sufficient, she believed it would have to start charging attendees, an idea she rejected.

"That immediately places a barrier for a lot of members of the local community, preventing them from attending, and going against the ethos of what the event has always been," she said.

In its place, organisers said they were working to create smaller alternatives to bring the community together, which could also help raise money for next year's festival.

They also intend to reapply for a National Lottery grant, and have appealed for community support, including ideas on how further funds could be raised.

The event has been held annually since 1996, and brings together local musicians, businesses, and organisations at Mount Pleasant Park.

Ms Jones said it was "hard to sum up its value".

"We just want to reassure everybody who's worried we have every intention of bringing it back in 2026 - this is just postponed, we're not gone forever."

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