It’s official! Penzance’s Golowan Festival is not only great for the community but also for the local economy, bringing in £1.5m to the region, according to a report commissioned by VisitCornwall. But for 2012, the festival faces its biggest challenge yet: how to deliver another fantastic event but this time without Cornwall Council funding. So, Festival Director, Andy Hazlehurst, is sending out a loud and clear message to all local people and businesses to get involved and help deliver Golowan 2012.

Everyone is invited to a Golowan public meeting at 6pm on Tuesday  24^th January at the Acorn Theatre in Penzance.

Andy Hazlehurst said: “This is a vital meeting. We want to know what people want from the Festival, but we are also looking for ideas and suggestions to help put Golowan on a sound financial foundation, and that includes offering the business community sponsorship and other financial incentives. We are already setting up a Friends of Golowan Group to get people involved and help raise those much needed funds.”

The VisitCornwall report, based upon a survey carried out by the South West Research Company, says that the Golowan Festival, regarded by many as one of the best community events in the south west, brings in about £1.5m to Cornwall, about half of which benefits Penzance businesses alone. This is ‘new spend’ over and above what local people would normally spend.

Commenting on the report, Andy Hazlehurst said “It is welcome news indeed, especially in these troubled financial times. However, Golowan itself is not immune to the financial downturn. Two years ago, funding from Cornwall Council amounted to a generous £27,000. That’s just under half of all the Festival’s income. For 2012, that funding has dried up altogether. But we are not despondent.

“Losing the grant is a blow, but not entirely unexpected in the current climate, so we must look carefully at what we are doing and how we are doing it. Golowan is a great festival, attracting people not just from within the county, but also from around Britain and even from abroad. We must respond to changing times and that means finding out what sort of festival people want and gaining their support and participation to make Golowan sustainable.

“This is a real chance for each of us to help shape the Golowan of the future. We can do the arts, we can do Cornish tradition, we can do big events. It’s big enough to have something for everyone. So, come along to the meeting on the 24^th January and tell us.”

If you want to help, the organisers would love to hear from you.

www.golowan.org. Email Golowan@hotmail.co.uk or phone 01736 369686 or 07518 603955.

Downloads

   Press release 20111216 v4

  Golowan Festival Evaluation 2011 – FINAL REPORT 2

Festival Director, Andy Hazlehurst, looks to Golowan 2012.

The 2011 Golowan is still regarded by many as one of the best ever – if not the best – culminating in the fantastic record-breaking Pirates on the Prom event.  Many people have asked us to do it again and, no doubt we will, especially if Hastings or anyone else takes the record away from us. But 2012 is special.

2012 is the year the Olympic Games comes to the UK and, not to be outdone by that little event in London, the Olympics will not only be the theme running through the festival, but Penzance will be hosting the very first Golowan Games. On Quay Fair Day, the 24th June, the GOLympics will be held at our own state-of-the-art venue, the Penzance Prom.

We are looking for suggestions for the daftest, whackiest games that you would like to see, or, better still, take part in. Look out for Cornish wrestling, the pasty eating race, tossing the hay bale, crazy raft racing, welly wanging, and much, much more.

The sky’s the limit (or maybe it’s not), so keep those suggestions coming in!

www.golowan.org. Email Golowan@hotmail.co.uk or phone 01736 369686 or 07518 603955.

Please complete the form below if you have any whacky suggestions for the games.