Coventry City council seeks Godiva Festival backers

The Fun Lovin' Criminals headlined the festival on Friday

Coventry City Council is seeking sponsors to help it stage a 17-year-old free music festival that could be hit by funding cuts.

About 20,000 people attended the first day of the three-day Godiva Festival on Friday, organisers said.

The Labour-run council, currently the main backer of the event, said there was "no ring-fenced budget" for it next year.

However, it said it recognised the event's "huge" benefit to the economy.

The annual event is held at War Memorial Park

The festival, which attracted 125,000 people over three days last year, includes comedy, a funfair and family entertainment.

This year's headliners include the Fun Lovin' Criminals, Embrace and JME.

A council spokesman said it had made a "financial commitment" to ensure the festival would go ahead this year despite its event budget for 2015-2016 being cut by £300,000.

Last year's festival cost £465,000, with the council contributing £297,000. The balance of costs was met by sponsorship and earned income.

It was estimated the 2014 event generated £7.8m for the local economy, the spokesman said.

"However, with reductions across the council's budgets, including the events budget, the council cannot sustain its previous levels of investment in the festival," he said.

"Council officers are actively looking at a range of options to try and secure the future of the festival - whether through widening the range of sponsors and partners supporting the event, running the festival less frequently, or finding new ways to generate income."

Councillors approved plans to make £15m of cutbacks in February. A range of council services from street cleaning to parks maintenance were expected to be affected.

The council said its government grant for 2015 had been reduced to £135m, from £214m in 2010.