I have had a reply. Thought you might like to see it.

'Thanks for your email. I know that Jack Coutts applied for a grant to be able to stage the shanty festival this year. Unfortunately the application was not successful. The problem is that there is a finite amount of money in the grants pot and it is extremely over-subscribed. All of the grant applications are looked at by committee simultaneously and awards are made in April of the year. I know that Jack is extremely disappointed that his application didn't make it through and he's been in touch with me to let me know about it.
I hope that he will apply to the arts council and other funding organisations and I've explained to him that our arts infrastructure manager Kim Graham and our creative infrastructure development officer Phil Taylor will be able to advise him on this.

It would be great to see the shanty festival taking place in Liverpool but it's a very competitive grants process dealing with a large number of art forms. I understand that there will be a significant music presence at the maritime heritage festival in June and some of this will be based around the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade. Best wishes,


Gordon Ross
Music Co-ordinator'