London Folk Magazine and News
English Folk Expo Presents
English Folk Expo presents streamed and in-person shows this Spring and Summer
This year English Folk Expo is taking a meaningful step to help the live folk music industry recover from the impact of Covid 19 pandemic. Tickets are now on sale for 15 concerts in a national touring festival of folk.
Since March 2020, venues have been unable to welcome audiences to support artists performing. The impact on the music industry, folk included, has been devastating, but there is hope for recovery through 2021. English Folk Expo plans to help re engage audiences nationally to support venues, artists and their teams through this period.
English Folk Expo will run a series of concerts in venues nationwide from April to August which will be streamed and will also welcome live audiences where possible. The concerts will restart the process of paying artists, venues and crew while the streamed content will reach music fans still unable to visit venues and festival. Crucially, these are new concerts rather than rescheduling from already booked shows.
In addition, footage from the concerts will be collated into short films which will be shared with English Folk Expo’s network of festivals, venues, agents and labels around the world continuing the work to support a live music industry which sustains professional careers for English folk and acoustic musicians.
Tickets for all concerts are onsale now via the English Folk Expo website and through partner venues. Online tickets for the streamed shows cost £12 per concert plus booking fees, venue tickets vary. Income raised from the project will enable English Folk Expo, a registered charity, to continue their work in supporting musicians to sustain professional careers.
Chief Executive of English Folk Expo, Tom Besford:
“Folk has had a massive resurgence over the past few years with the increased popularity of iconic festivals such as Towersey, Shrewsbury and Cambridge, to more recent influences including the new Official Folk Albums Chart and the TikTok sea shanty craze. As the global music markets begin to reboot following the pandemic, we feel that the folk sector is uniquely placed to lead the first waves of recovery due to its strong global networks, dedicated community of artists and audiences, and direct approach to getting things moving. I have no doubt that folk will continue to play an intrinsic part of the UK music global success story.”
Later this year, English Folk Expo is rolling out a wide ranging programme of online learning to support musicians moving on from the impact of the pandemic. Folk Talk Academy will launch in the Summer and will include essays, lectures and more.
Full details and tickets available for English Folk Expo presents
8-10 April – Cecil Sharp House, London - Maz O’Connor | Fay Hield | Naomi Bedford, Paul Simmonds & the Ramshackle Band
20-22 May – The Corn Hall, Diss - The Shackleton Trio | Lady Maisery | Ezio
4-5 June – St Mary’s in the Baum, Rochdale Folk Festival - The Hut People | The Rheingans Sisters | Jon Boden & the Remnant Strings
20-22 July – The Phoenix, Exeter - Sam Sweeney | Kathryn Roberts & Sean Lakeman | Sound of the Sirens
11-13 August – Queen’s Hall, Hexham - Holy Moly & the Crackers | Leveret | Katie Doherty & the Navigators
This programme is supported by an Arts Council England National Lottery Project Grant
About English Folk Expo: Founded in 2012 in Greater Manchester to deliver an annual Showcase, EFEx has grown to deliver a varied programme of skills training, folk festivals, support and mentoring with a commitment to ensuring accessibility and diversity throughout whilst building a global folk community.
EFEx has widespread impact: every year they not only generate £2million of creative opportunities for folk artists through our Showcase, but also reach <10,000 people from across the UK through their wider programme. They champion an artform that is vital to English heritage and growing in contemporary popularity, which often takes place in informal settings that lack the infrastructure or resources to invest in artists or audiences.
In addition to their annual showcase, they run programmes including artist mentoring, promoter training, Official Folk Albums Chart, Manchester and Rochdale Folk Festivals, EFEx Digital, new commissions, Folk Talk online learning, promotions programme, international development and networking, audience development and more.
