Amongst the host of culturally rich events Liverpool has to offer is Threshold Festival, now a staple of the city. Ahead of their 2019 event taking place on March 29-30 in venues across the creative quarter of Liverpool, Threshold Festivals CIC have announced that they have been successful in their ‘Grants for the Arts’, Arts Council funding bid. This financial boost will allow the increasingly popular festival to grow and develop even further.
The annual festival of music and arts, is heading into it’s ninth consecutive year in the Baltic Triangle and according to co-founder and festival producer Chris Herstad Carney, the timing of this funding win could not be better.
“We have had mixed success in funding bids over the years and I think it’s important that people know what a difference a grant can make to the future of a large event. We’re incredibly grateful to Arts Council England for recognising the work we do. Without this funding, we couldn’t have put on the festival we wanted to put on.”
In 2017, the festival was faced with a difficult challenge as funding for the event was not successful. As a result, the festival organisers went down the same path that is becoming all to common within the city as financial pressures tighten on creative projects and local businesses. They launched an ambitious crowdfunder, which exceeded its target, raising over £11,500 for the event.
Despite this success, the team opted to scale down their 2018 event to a modest three venue event with an all important industry panel day at the home of their long running partner, Baltic Creative. The panels included a consultation with audience, artists, Threshold team members and Liverpool industry luminaries such as Rebecca Ayres – MD of Sound City and Yaw Owusu – Curator of LIMF.
“We scaled down, but at the same time worked harder and sought to learn from our successes and challenges, while putting the artists themselves at the core of the discussion. In doing this we learnt a huge amount in how we needed to move forwards if the festival was to continue. The feedback was incredible and we’ve definitely felt the love.” – Kaya Herstad Carney, Co-founder and Artistic Director.
Since its foundation in 2011 by a group of dedicated creatives from the music, theatre and visual arts scenes, Threshold has become a cornerstone of the Liverpool music and arts scene as early adopters of the Baltic Triangle and it’s post-industrial venues. Now, with the support of the Arts Council the festival can expand once again and carry forward its growing fanbase into the new year to produce yet another thriving weekend of culture.
Early bird tickets are available now from Skiddle and Ticket Quarter for only £11.25.
