The festival typically features a variety of activities including music performances, food stalls, craft vendors, and family-friendly entertainment. The festival is organised to bring together local residents and visitors, celebrate community spirit, and raise funds for local causes or charities.

The festival, previously known as Witcombe Cider Festival, was first held in 2012 at Witcombe Cricket Club with only a small marque, a stage, and around 200 attendees, with X-Factor finalist Kitty Brucknell as the headliner.

Since then, Witcombe Festival has gained more acclaim as it was nominated for Best Small Festival Awards in 2022.

However, on Monday the 5th of August, the festival released an official statement on their website, stating the cost of living crisis as the main cause to their limited budget:

It is with great disappointment that we announce the cancellation of Witcombe Festival 2024. Today, we were supposed to get the keys to the fields from the farmer and begin building the festival for a celebration of music, dancing, and togetherness on the August Bank Holiday. Unfortunately, the ongoing cost of living crisis has significantly impacted our ticket sales and overall planning.

The Witcombe festival is not the only festival to suffer from the cost of living crisis. According to the Association of Independent Festivals, 53 festivals have had to postpone, cancel, or completely close in 2024. Since Covid began in 2019, the total number of UK festivals to have disappeared is 182.

In response to the rising number of cancellations, the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) launched a new campaign asking for a temporary VAT reduction on festival tickets that would save many event promoters from closure.

The 5% for Festivals Campaign is an initiative that encourages people to donate 5% of their time, money, or resources to support local arts and culture festivals. This campaign aims to promote the sustainability and growth of festivals, which often rely heavily on community support and volunteerism.

The campaign also seeks to raise awareness among festival-goers about the challenges music festival promoters have encountered over the past five years. It encourages individuals to reach out to their MPs and advocate for a crucial reduction in VAT on tickets.

AIF CEO John Rostron said:

This is a regrettable landmark for the UK’s festival sector. This is the most challenging time for independent festivals who desperately need an intervention from the incoming government before more events inevitably fall.

The full list of festivals lost in 2024 can be found here.

Despite the cancellation, the festival remains “committed to returning with a more spectacular event.”

This year it will be headlined by the Hull dream pop band BDRMM, with the lineup including other independent artists like indie rock band Fever, ska punk and hip hop fusion group Counting Coins, among many others.

The festival was founded out of Hull’s rich music scene and was developed from a weekly music night at the Linnet and Lark pub in West Hull. According to the BBC, the festival director, Mark Page, attributes the success of the festival to Hull’s vibrant music scene which has helped the festival’s meteoric rise in popularity. He stated:

When we first started we thought maybe 1,000 people would attend, so we were pleasantly surprised when 10,000 turned up. The second year, we had 40,000, so we put a cap on it [the size of the crowd].

Due to developments within the area, limits have been placed on the number of people able to attend the festival, but Page notes that it remains well supported.

The festival will take place on Saturday the 3^rd of August at the Hull Marina from midday to 11pm, with around 18,000 music fans attending. Tickets cost £20 plus a £2 handling fee and are available for purchase from in-person select retailers, the locations of which can be found online.

Alongside the wide range of independent artists, the festival also boasts a variety of street food options. These include food trucks serving artisan coffee, Greek street food, and Punjabi street food, to name just a few.

The festival also offers various arts and activities to bring fun and captivating entertainment to the festival goers, all thanks to their sponsors J’ONeill & Co Ltd, Hull Business Angels, and Hull City Wide Partnership. The entertainment includes flash mobs, graffiti artists, and puppet hand parades.

Hull Trains is also sponsoring the festival for the 5th time, providing free travel for ticket holders between Doncaster and Hull. To access the free travel, festival goers must show their wrist bands to on-board transport staff.

Lou Mendham, the service delivery director of Hull Trains, explained the motive for offering their services free of charge, aside from supporting the local community. She said:

Our offer of free travel for those heading to the festival is our way of supporting the team in making it an even greener event.

Both Hull Trains and the Humber Street Sesh are part of the Oh Yes! Net Zero campaign which aims to reduce carbon emissions in local areas. In addition to cleaner transport links, this also includes the use of solar powered stages, environmentally-conscious waste disposal, and powering all stages, bars, and lighting with renewable green fuel (HVO).

Showcasing so many performing artists and food and entertainment options, coupled with an environmentally-conscious ethos, gives the festival a sense of exciting longevity as it runs for the 14th year.

The 2022 award show marked the twenty-third event held by the Association of Independent Music (AIM); AIM’s site provides the organisation’s mission statement; “AIM is the not-for-profit trade body exclusively representing the UK’s independent music sector, which makes up a quarter of the recorded music market. Now in its 20th year, AIM’s members range from the largest, most respected record labels and associated music businesses in the world to self-releasing artists and the next generation of entrepreneurs in music. AIM promotes and supports this exciting and diverse sector globally and provides a range of services, commercial opportunities and practical help to members, enabling them to innovate, grow and break into new markets.”

Talking about this year’s ceremony, AIM CEO Paul Pacifo stated, “Tonight is about us as a community celebrating the incredible successes of the world-beating U.K. independent music sector. It is a hugely competitive market out there, but we understand that we are stronger together and a win for one of us is a win for all of us.”

Such a beautiful album. Well done to @cleosol! @4livingoriginal pic.twitter.com/IfZ1wMH1hQ

— AIM (@AIM_UK) September 28, 2022

Consisting of twenty-one award categories, the annual ceremony saw some of the UK’s most prominent figures and labels within the independent music industry battle it out for the prestigious accolades. The first category, Best Independent album, was awarded to singer-songwriter Cleo Sol for her album Mother, also included within the nominees was chart favourite Dave, for his release We’re All Alone In This Together. The British rapper was also nominated for Best Independent Track for the single “Starlight“; the gong was bestowed to Nova Twins for their track “Antagonist”. The rock duo were also nominated for the coveted U.K. Independent breakthrough gong; fellow chart darling Wet Leg took home the award. Speaking via a video link, the group stated, “Thanks so much for the breakthrough award. It’s been a really wild year for us and we just want to take this opportunity to thank our team and all the other members of our new-found family. As a great man once said, ‘To infinity and beyond!‘”

An incredible headline set from @libertines #AIMAwards2022 @RoughTradeRecs pic.twitter.com/kj4qUOkcQQ

— AIM (@AIM_UK) September 28, 2022

.@LethalBizzle smashed it! pic.twitter.com/GCFd9B71HR

— AIM (@AIM_UK) September 28, 2022

Along with the winning announcements, the event became a massive hit for its headliner act, Indie legends The Libertines performed at the ceremony. Also billed to appear as a special guest was British icon Lethal Bizzle; during the award show the London-born artist was awarded the Outstanding Contribution gong to honour his contribution to the arts and to celebrate his two-decade-long career. Speaking to BANG Showbiz, the artist said, “It feels great, you know, I’m 20 plus years in and when you get to this stage in your career sometimes things can be forgotten. I feel like it’s a nice acknowledgement and it’s a proud moment for my hard work to be recognised like this.”

The 40-year-old Grime star’s performance marked his first live appearance since the pandemic; within his statement, Lethal Bizzle continued to discuss his touring plans, “This year I dropped my new project, a celebratory 20th anniversary project called ‘Lethal B vs Lethal Bizzle’ which is out now and I’m still working on that right now. And next year, I’m hoping to get back on the road. I’m actually performing tonight, it’s gonna be my first show since the pandemic so, you know, I’m gonna be a bit rusty but it’s gonna be fun.“

A description on the AIM Independent Music Award’s website provides the ceremony’s mission statement, “The AIM Awards 2022 marks the twenty-third year of the Association of Independent Music (AIM) and champions industry-leading creativity, innovation, and performance shown by independent artists, labels, and outstanding individuals. Since 2010, the AIM Independent Music Awards have honoured an extraordinary array of independent artists, music companies and industry figures including: Björk, Stormzy, Adele, The Prodigy, Peggy Gou, Wolf Alice, London Grammar, Jorja Smith, Christine and the Queens, Daughter, SOPHIE, 4AD, Ninja Tune, Transgressive, Martin Mills (Beggars), Goldie and Steve Beckett (Warp).”

Today we’re revealing the first wave of nominees for the AIM Independent Music Awards 2022, taking place at Camden’s iconic @RoundhouseLDN on September 28th.

Keep you’re eyes on our socials today to find out who is nominated for the following categories… pic.twitter.com/Ii25LXlbkw

— AIM (@AIM_UK) July 21, 2022

Multi-talented British artist FKA Twigs, Dave and Indie group Wet Leg are all in the running for the accolade Best Independent Track in association with Meta. FKA Twigs has been nominated for her single “Tears In The Club (feat. The Weeknd)”, Dave was nominated for his track “Starlight” and Wet Leg scored a nod for their hugely popular single “Chaise Longue“. All three artists will be up against seven more artists to win the accolade including Nova Twins, Anz and Yves Tumor.

Alt-rock duo Wet Leg will also be up against Nova Twins for the category of UK Independent Breakthrough in association with YouTube Music. The prize’s criteria confirms that the act must be an independent artist who has acquired some notoriety within the UK over the past year and must be self-released or signed to an independent label.

This year sees the inclusion of a new category, Best Independent EP/Mixtape. The brand-new award holds the following criteria, “Recognising the best independent EP/mixtape of the past year. The EP/mixtape must be by an artist signed to a UK/ROI based independent label or be self-released by an artist based in the UK/ROI. The EP/mixtape must have been released between 4th May 2021 and 26th April 2022“. The category marks FKA Twigs’ second nomination for this year’s AIM Independent Music Award; the artist was nominated for CAPRISONGS. Also included in the nominees list are Joy Oribnson for Still Slippin Vo.1, Surya Sen for At What Cost?, TAAHLIAH for Angelica and Wesley Joseph for ULTRAMARINE.

British rapper Dave scores his second nomination within the category Best Independent Album in association with Spotify, the artist has been put forward for the accolade due to his release We’re All Alone In This Together. Also up for the award are producer and artist Boj for Gbagda Express, Children Of Zeus for Balance, Cleo Sol for Mother, Dave Okumu for Knopperz, Emma-Jean Thackray for Yellow, Mustafa for When Smoke Rises, Nilufer Yanya for Painless, SAULT for NINE and Walt Disco for Unlearning.

The #AIMAwards2022 vote is now open for ‘Best Live Performer’

Every act on this long list has been submitted by their teams & a public vote decides the shortlist & winner. This free online poll closes at 2pm on Thursday 18th August Vote here https://t.co/HVDDwmcpXQ pic.twitter.com/MYvyghXent — AIM (@AIM_UK) July 21, 2022

This year’s ceremony consists of four more categories; Best Second Album in association with BBC Radio 6 Music, Best Independent Remix and One To Watch in association with BBC Introducing. The final category, Best Live Performer, stands alone as a very special accolade as a fan vote will decide the winner; the voting is now open and is accessed via this link.

For the past 21 years, the AIM awards have celebrated emerging, unconventional artists of the independent music sector. Some notable artists who have been honoured at past AIM Awards are indie rock band Wolf Alice, rapper Stormzy and the indie-pop trio, London Grammar.

The #AimAwards2020 saw the ever virtual instalment of the ceremony. Originally set to take place at the Roundhouse, the iconic performing arts and concert venue in Camden, London, the ceremony transitioned to a virtual platform to adhere to health guidelines amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

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Pioneer Award AIM 2020. Crazy scenes yo. thank you @aimawards

A post shared by simz (@littlesimz) on Aug 12, 2020 at 12:10pm PDT

As well as scooping up the coveted Pioneer Award, Little Simz also delivered a blinding performance of her song, Might Bang Might Not. Little Simz, who describes herself as a “one woman army”, spoke on her somewhat difficult but rewarding music making journey, saying “it has been the stairs and not the escalators.”

When accepting her award, Little Simz elaborated on the many challenges independent artists face. Simz declared that “The hardest thing you will probably ever do if you are independent is to remain independent, but the rewards are so great.” Simz also gave some valuable advice to aspiring musicians, saying “the best thing to do is stay on it, surround yourself with people that believe in your journey and you will get there.” 

Little Simz took to social media today to revel in her well-deserved win. Posting to Instagram a photograph of herself holding her brand new award, Little Simz wrote “Pioneer Award AIM 2020. Crazy scenes yo. thank you @aimawards.” Gathering over 26,000 likes, the post was met with excitement from fans.

To the delight of her social media following, Simz also posted a clip of her performance at the #AimAwards2020. Featuring a snippet of You Should Call Your Mum, Simz’ powerful performance has received over 33,000 views on Instagram. 

Other British artists that stormed the #AimAwards2020 include rapper AJ Tracey, who picked up the amazing Innovator Award, and singer-songwriter FKA Twigs, who took home the Best [Difficult] Second Album for her breathtaking record, Magdalene. 

Little Simz, real name Simbiatu Abisola Abiola Ajikawo, was born in 1994 in London. As well as her success in music, Simz is also widely known for her roles in E4’s Youngsters and the BBC original, Spirit Warriors. 

 

 

 

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A post shared by simz (@littlesimz) on Aug 13, 2020 at 2:55am PDT

Simz charged onto the scene with the release of her debut mixtape E.D.G.E in 2014, and has been making huge waves in the rap game ever since. Penning hits like Offence, Venom and You Should Call Mum, with knife-sharp lyrical wit and a sonic blend of jazz, hip-hop and experimental rap, Simz’ sound is hard to pin down, which makes it so ear-catching in the first place.  

The latest release from Little Simz is EP Drop 6, which graced streaming platforms on the 6th May 2020.