You can now read our full Impact Report on our 2024 Festival!
A summary and review of the years activities and impact.
Thank you to everyone that fed back to us, and everyone that participated and made this year happen.
For 21 years, SouthWestFest has been a celebration of creativity, culture, and community spirit. Participation has been at the heart of our success, from local venues hosting activities to local organisation organising events; to countless people volunteering and thousands of residents attending the broad festival programme. In order to continue providing these vibrant, inclusive, and meaningful experiences that we all cherish, our board of Trustees has decided to take a pause from producing the festival in 2025.
This pause will allow us to take a step back from production to engage deeply with our community, and explore new ways to ensure the festival remains sustainable for the future. We believe that by taking the time to reconnect with local people and partners, to really listen, we will be better placed to understand new needs, evaluate our approach, and build capacity to come back stronger and better than ever in 2026.
Don’t worry, we aren’t going anywhere, Dodie and the team will be actively working with residents and organisations throughout the year to develop a new model that meets local needs and wants, so we can continue to be an asset delivering for the community.
All of us at SouthWestFest deeply value your continued support, we know it is vital for our shared success. We look forward to working together in this time of reflection, outreach and strategy, and as always, we welcome your ideas, feedback, and involvement as we plan for the next chapter of our charity.
If you’d like to volunteer to be part of this exciting year of development and change drop us a line at director[at]southwestfest.org.uk. We are actively seeking to build a Volunteer Engagement Team.
We will be sharing our progress, findings and opportunities throughout the year. If you’re not already, we encourage you to sign-up to our mailing list here, as well as follow our Instagram page, where all our news will be shared.
You’re welcome to email any queries over to director[at]southwestfest.org.uk, best wishes,
SWF Team
Take Part in our Festival by volunteering at our large outdoor events!
We’re looking for Live Event Assistants to support the set-up, smooth running and take-down of our events.
Are you available on the 6th, 20th or 21st July and want to support a fun event and give back to the community?
We are looking for a creative and enthusiastic individual who is either an experience digital marketer looking to give back and get involved in a community arts charity or someone who is at the beginning of their training or career in marketing and wants to gain more experience through this voluntary role to support future opportunities.
The role of SouthWestFest Marketing Volunteer is to support the Festival Director and Coordinator in creating consistent and engaging marketing and PR campaigns in the run up to the Festival. This may include creating and scheduling social media, writing newsletters, developing Festival posters and assisting with PR.
We’re looking for someone who wants to develop their skills in marketing and content creation, and is excited about making engaging work across our social media to share with our audience to support the promotion of the festival.
We want to actively reflect the community we work in and welcome applications from people of the global majority, LGBTQ+ community, neurodiverse and disabled candidates. We are aware that unpaid roles create barriers for applicants to apply and take on work. We will collaborate with you to ensure this role offers as much professional development and networking opportunities as possible, to support your ongoing work.
For full information and how to apply please click here for the Marketing Volunteer Recruitment Pack.
Deadline to apply: 5pm, Friday 5 April 2024
We are looking to expand our Board of Trustees
This is an exciting time to join the charity, as we become a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)!
We are specifically looking for trustees to provide expertise in the following areas:
- Fundraising, experience of corporate sponsorship and income generation
- Business Strategy
- Legal Processes
- Marketing (PR, B2C, social media strategy)
- Financial accountancy
If you work or are skilled in these areas and want to give back to the community, and have a passion for the impact that small community festivals and events can have on local people we look forward to your application.
Full information and how to apply please click here for our Trustee Recruitment Pack
Deadline to apply: 11:59PM, Sunday 25th February 2024
We’re so excited to welcome Kaya to the team, she will be leading on the Open Access Programme, Stalls and Volunteers amongst other areas.
Kaya is a freelance project manager, producer, events and production manager. Her experience spans from being a musician on stage to stage managing shows to producing and project managing public programmes for artists and arts organisations across London and UK. She loves working with communities, artists and tight-knit teams to bring together incredible events and festivals.
From Kaya: ‘I’m really excited to work with the SouthWestFest team and the communities they centre, to bring forward a diverse and rich festival programme in 2024.’
The Festival Coordinator works very part-time, you can reach Kaya on coordiantor[at]southwestfest.org.uk
WE’RE RECRUITING: FESTIVAL COORDINATOR
Join SouthWestFest and help organise and shape our 2024 Festival!
Part-time, 52 days across the year.
Job Responsibilities
- Leading on Open-Access Programme; events registration and encouraging community partnerships
- Leading on design, print & distribution of printed & online materials
- Leading on copywriting and proofing of Festival Brochure & programme on website
- Managing stallholder/trader applications & on the day management of stalls
- Management of volunteer recruitment and retainment
- Management of online ticketing systems/sign up forms
- Supporting Director in research and development of fundraising & sponsorship bids/proposals
- Supporting Director in liaising with sponsors and partners
- Supporting Director implement marketing and PR strategy
- Supporting Director with feedback & evaluation
- During the festival period provide assistance to the Director, freelance staff, trustees and volunteers in the setup and live event management of events
- Provide a positive and professional image of the organisation, dealing with enquiries
- Ensure an efficient administrative service to Director and board
For more info and to apply, click here
How to Apply
To request an application pack please contact chair@southwestfest.org.uk
Interviews are planned for Monday 16th October in person
Interviews are planned for Monday 16th October in person
- Contact name: Catherine Drake Wilkes
- Contact email: chair@southwestfest.org.uk
Apply Below!
Applications are now open until Wednesday 26th April at 6pm to be part of this year’s SouthWestFest!
SouthWestFest 2023: Celebrating Our Twentieth Festival & Open Meeting Details!
We’re incredibly excited to share news of this year’s festival theme, which is SouthWestFest at 20! Celebrating our 20th festival, we wanted to take the opportunity to reflect over the past 20 years, the history of the area and our local heritage, as well as looking ahead to the future with a sustainable focus.
Alongside this, we’d love for you to join us at our Open Meeting on Wednesday 29th March, either online or in person at Pimlico Library from 5.15pm. Here, we’ll be discussing details of the festival, including how you can get involved, and the opportunities on offer.
We’d love to see you there, and you can RSVP here.
We are really excited to announce that George Bailey has joined the SouthWestFest Team as our new Festival Coordinator!
‘George is a producer, playwright and access facilitator originally from Bordon, Hampshire.
He is the co-founder of the multi-award-winning multi-arts production company ChewBoy Productions and has 8 years of experience in curating projects with community, arts and digital practises at their core. He has also worked to support young people in showcasing their creative work in collaboration with organisations such as the BFI and Compass Presents in Bristol, God’s House Tower and a space arts in Southampton and through various roles with Chichester Festival Theatre.’
George will be leading on our Open-Access Programme, Stalls and Volunteers amongst many things!
“I am really looking forward to working with George to create a fantastic and far reaching Festival for 2023. George’s breadth of experience and warm energy set him up perfectly for working with the Festival and our community.” Dodie Finamore, Festival Director.
Our Co-ordinator works one day a week. You can reach him at coordinator[at]southwestfest.org.uk
Neighborhood Project of the Year, Westminster Council
