Outwith Festival cancels 2020 and looks ahead to next year

Fife’s Outwith Festival is the latest event to fall victim to the coronavirus lockdown.

The six-day arts and music gathering, scheduled for September, has been cancelled – and organisers will instead focus on 2021.

The event, first staged in 2017, brought a host of bands, musicians, writers and creatives to venues across Dunfermline, and had built up a solid fan base.

Almost 9000 people attended 74 film, music, comedy, literature, theatre and art events in 23 venues last year with over 300 performances crammed in to the schedule.

That meant a £330,000 boost to the economy.

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But with concerns over social distancing restrictions and public health, organisers have decided to cancel the 2020 programme, and focus their energies on next year’s festival which will take place from September 7-12.

Fans who bought bird tickets can request a refund or transfer their tickets to 2021. OnFife box office will be emailing ticket holders as soon as possible with details.

Chris Foote, of Delivering Dunfermline said: “So much hard work and planning by the community has gone into this event. We’re especially disappointed for our town – for the 23 venues that would have been hosting events, for the performers, organisers, volunteers and for the audiences that have so far made this a brilliant annual festival.

“However, there are much more important challenges facing us all at the moment. We look forward to safer times ahead and to welcoming audiences back to the festival. In the meantime, we’re working closely with funders to help support next year’s event.”

The Outwith team are working online with local artists, musicians and performers to support the development of their work and create a programme for 2021. Later this year there will be announcements on the line-up planned for next September and – when safe to do so - plans for some exciting special one-off shows.

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Allan Crow, Editor, Fife Free Press