Buy festival tickets early to help them continue
ISLANDERS are being urged to get into the habit of buying festival tickets early – both to avoid disappointment and to help festivals plan.
Speaking to the Guernsey Press Arts Podcast, Vale Earth Fair Collective member Jade Kershaw – who is also the community arts development co-ordinator at Guernsey Arts – said getting organised ahead of time could have benefits all round.
‘If we’re going to put down “how can the public help festivals with their longevity?” I think the most important thing, at this point, is booking early,’ she said.
‘It’s that whole thing of taking for granted that the festival will happen and that you can turn up. I don’t know if it’s a UK mentality but it’s a very Guernsey mentality for a lot of events – I’m guilty of it myself – expecting that I can turn up and pay on the door or expecting that I can get a ticket a day or two beforehand. We need to train ourselves out of that.’
As well as giving ticket holders something to look forward to, she said early booking could also promote stability in the running of festivals by bringing certainty around numbers.
The last three years have seen the Vale Castle-based festival, which takes place on the Sunday before the August Bank Holiday, sell out, leaving some would-be revellers disappointed.
The VEF offers a cheaper rate for ‘early bird’ tickets, which are already on sale on its website for this year’s 12-hour festival on 27 August.
These are £20 for adults and £15 for 13-17-year-olds. Those 12 and under can enter free with an adult.
Guernsey Literary Festival director Claire Allen said several events in this year’s festival, which runs from 2-14 May, were already close to selling out, while all tickets have already gone for a talk at St James by the BBC’s international editor Jeremy Bowen.
A festival programme has been distributed to households by Guernsey Post and is also available on the festival’s website.
