This year’s Village Green festival in Chalkwell Park will take place on Saturday 12 July. The arts, culture and music festival will run from 11am – 10pm with up to 25,000 festival-goers expected to attend. But in a change from previous years, admission to this year’s Village Green festival will not be free, with tickets costing £10 for adults, £5 for teens 11 – 17 and kids under 11 going free.
Artists and bands announced so far include: Beth Orton, Eddi Reader (Fairground Attraction), Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, The Slackers, Man Like Me, and The Hosts. Plus a wide range of comedy, cabaret, live art, literature, film and a whole host of extraordinary outdoor arts, installations, workshops and performances.
Metal said: “We are delighted to announce that we will be hosting the well-loved arts and music festival, Village Green, for its 6th consecutive year. Alongside a fantastic line up of artists and musicians for 2014, we would like to announce a few key changes to the event this year, designed to enable a long term future for one of the most popular dates on Southend’s cultural calendar.”
The arts organisation went on to say: “The introduction of a nominal ticket charge will help to safeguard Village Green following several years of successive budget cuts to the arts. Metal has provided free entry to this fantastic community event for a number of years. We have given careful thought to the level of ticket prices. Our main aim has been to maintain the diverse family audience who have supported Village Green over the years, whilst ensuring the viability of the ever-growing event.”
Organisers of Village Green say that no profit will be made from selling tickets. Sales of tickets represent a contribution to the running costs of the event. The festival remains heavily subsided through the fundraising efforts of the team at Metal which is a registered arts charity in the UK.
Following around 40,000 festival-goers attending the festival in Chalkwell Park throughout the day last year, the organisers have put a number of new measures in place this year to ensure that audience numbers within the park remain at a comfortable level. The festival will be spread out further over new areas within the park and a rapid scan ticket entry system will ensure smooth and speedy entry into the festival on the day.
All this means festival-goers will be able to enjoy a fantastic day of 10 hours of programmed art, music and culture.