Thanks for the notes. I'm pretty much in agreement with many of you BUT… as the guy who does the design for the programme etc. I think it might be useful to share the following.
Firstly there is a question of cost… don't think we haven't had other ideas, personally would have loved to use the format used by the Australian National Folk Festival. Liz offered to do the numbers of events next to the artists. We agree with many of your comments BUT…(yes, that's two upper case 'buts', there is a question of cost, fine if you want to pay big bucks for your programme, there is also the question of scale – Linlithgow might be a great festival but does it last for a week? Does it have the biggest workshop series of any UK folk festival?
As for programme changes, they're inevivable and we really did do our best. We (the staff) might have lost some sleep trying to solve problems but people still came up to me and the other members of staff, as well as the directors and told us they were having a great time. e have a lot to learn, a long way to go BUT…(yes I know) the Whitby Folk Week was enjoyed by loads of people and those whose week was totally and irrevocably destroyed by a clash of programming really shouldn't go to folk festivals.
By the way, please make suggestions, if cost and helpers permit we're only to happy to try to accomodate them. Just don't expect miracles we're only human.