Anarcho Folkfest

There are hundreds of festivals, many of them arts and music related, some of them are quite ‘alternative’, and many have political or socially engaged philosophies and messages. For the most part, camping festivals in the Summer involve loads of music, dancing, socialising and partying, often with much drinking.
An Anarcho Folfest is more. Yes, it involves music, partying and socialising, food, creativity and even drink, but one of the key differences is that it retains an explicitly political theme. Anarchism, we believe, is all about social responsibility, community and enabling everyone involved to be free to be themselves within a shared time and space. An Anarcho Folkfest is ideally a temporary autonomous zone, anti-capitalist in nature, where all who are there, in whatever capacity, can meet old friends and new, maybe learn new skills, listen to a variety of music, enjoy good food and drink, and can be free to enjoy a fabulous party. There is a strong DIY element: all who are there have a part to play – even a responsibility – to create the festival. At the festival, we are all producers, not consumers. We all play different roles, but we are all crucial to the success of the festival. The keywords are freedom,
respect and responsibility.

We will have a variety of local and international folk music performances, as well as workshops, music sessions and a shared DIY food ‘cafe’ with self-catering facilities and some communal food.
At the FAFF, it is hoped that the music programme offers an inspiring variety of performances from the local area, further afield and even internationally. We have a limited budget, a limited number of ‘slots’ to fill and dozens of applications from musicians. We try to timetable a balanced line-up of local and international acts, a mix of solo, duo, bands etc., and a mix of different types of ‘anarchofolk’, aware that not everybody at the festival is going to like all the music. We also try to make sure that there is a good balance of women and men, as well as other issues of ‘representation’.
We also seek to challenge ideas of hierarchy among performers (‘headline acts’ vs. ‘openers’ etc.): it is hoped that timetabling of performances, acts and stages is done in as appropriate and non-hierarchical manner as possible.
The workshop programme is similarly varied, with several different themes as DIY culture; creative arts or ‘political’ discussion. Obviously these are broad areas, and we welcome ideas and contributions from all who are involved in the festival, as well as seeking to make all workshops as ‘democratic’ and participatory as possible.

We are actively working to create a space for tolerance and respect for all. In other words: Racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, etc. behaviour will be challenged and not tolerated. The intention is to create an open-minded space. Here we meet as equals and leave as friends.

An anarcho folk festival treads a difficult path: the main purpose is not to make money or to promote capitalist and transactional relationships among all at the festival. Indeed, we are even in an enviable position of not needing to be ‘commercially desirable’ as we seem to have more than enough people who want to be part of the festival anyway. However, we do need to cover costs.
A festival such as this costs money and time to put on, in terms of site hardware, music and lights, kitchens, food, workshop kit, firewood, toilets, recycling and so on. The ticket prices are kept deliberately low, so that the festival is affordable for who want to come, with a sliding scale of prices to enable those who can to pay more for their tickets.

Similarly, we try to make sure that all those who need to be paid for their time and expertise actually get paid. As with most festivals, many people give their time and skills to make the festival run smoothly. At the FAFF, the decision as to who gets what is very much based on trust, in that the organisers offer to pay as much as necessary to those who need to be paid. This means that it is very much left to, say, a musician or artist to decide what they believe to be a fair payment in terms of expenses and beyond. We must emphasise that the Franken Anarcho Folkfest seeks to go beyond purely capitalist transactional relationships; money is not central to our philosophy; but we endeavour to be fair and to make sure that all those who need to be paid are done so appropriately. FAFF will be a non-profit event, all the money goes directly to the festival organization and infrastructure, the musicians, workshop holders and. In case there is some money left, it will be donated to social projects.