This year’s Ilkley Live Music Festival was a huge success in so many different ways.
The Festival attracted and showcased over 50 musicians and bands performing at venues across the town and more than doubled its audience numbers from the previous year, with local residents and visitors alike soaking up the great atmosphere created by the event.
Added to these achievements, the partnership between the Festival and Outside the Box, run by local charity Ilkley Community Enterprise, was a big hit.
“Thanks to the incredible generosity and support of people attending the Festival as well as our commercial venue partners, we were able to raise almost £3,000 for our charity of choice, Outside the Box”, says Dan Hammond, the Festival organiser. “So not only were we able to connect more musicians and artists to local audiences but in line with our community focus, we helped to support a really great local cause. The whole experience has been really inspiring”.
The commercial partners for the Festival including The Ticket Office, Martinez, The Riverside, The Flying Duck and The Gin Lounge, all donated to Outside the Box and people attending the various stages and community venues were also encouraged to make donations whilst enjoying the spectacular array of musical acts performing across the town.
“We are immensely proud to be the chosen charity for this fantastic local Festival” says Louise Hale, the charity’s Chief Executive, “Working in partnership with Dan and his team has been a great experience not just for our staff teams but also for our client community at Outside the Box. We are really keen to increase the involvement of people with a learning disability or other neurodiverse conditions, in music and performing arts and to promote their talents and abilities. Ilkley Live is a great way for us to do this and the community spirit that is the basis for the Festival very much reflects our own history and approach. A huge thank you to everyone who made donations to us, we realty do appreciate your support”.
Fittingly Outside the Box plans to use the funding to develop the weekly music sessions run by the charity for their clients, with an ambition to create and support an Outside the Box band that could work up to being one of the featured acts at next year’s Festival.
The date has been set for next year’s Ilkley Live Festival, it will take place on Saturday 13th July 2024.
For further information on the activities during the week or the work of the charity email cafe@outsidetheboxcafe.com or call 01943 431173.