AMOUNT AWARDED: £12,205

Event Background:

The Wigtown Book Festival is an annual celebration of literature in the south west of Scotland. During the 10 day festival, writers of all types, from novelists and biographers to journalists and academics, come to Wigtown to give talks to the public about their work. Events take the form of debates, discussions, talks and workshops, with complementary film and music events all combining to provide a rich and varied cultural experience for audiences.

Wigtown has a population of just 1,200 and the town is known as Scotland’s National Book Town: an accolade which was won through a competition to assist with rural development. The town now has more than 20 book businesses and the festival plays a key part in the Book Town strategy to develop the local economy.

Reason for EventScotland funding:

In 2006 the funding was used to create a new infrastructure for the event to increase audience capacity and grow the event.

How the funding was used:

The organisers hired a large marquee to accommodate a bigger audience and drive up ticket sales and income. In 2005, five key festival events were sold out and organisers believed they could have comfortably increased tickets for each if they had a venue with a greater capacity. The new venue was able to accommodate up to 350 people. The new marquee also provided a central hub for festival activity which had previously been spread across the town’s book stores.

The new marquee also added a much needed ‘festival atmosphere’ to the increasingly popular event. Event organisers also believed that event growth would be evident to audiences and that a sense of growth would create further momentum to the festival.

Having this extra capacity would also allow organisers to revise their festival programme and invite further high profile names to attend. Publishers approached regularly asked how large the biggest venue at the event was as a larger venue is key to attracting high calibre guests. Pairing the new larger venue with high profile speakers would be a massive draw for audiences, thus increasing visitation.

Outcome:

Having the additional venue proved hugely successful and increased visitation to the area by 15% (from 5,400 to 6,200 people).

Due to increased ticket income, the Wigtown Book Festival organisers were able to pay for the marquee themselves the following year.

Three years on:

The Wigtown Book Festival has been supported by EventScotland through three funding rounds and went on to receive support through the Development Programme which provides support to events which are looking to receive funding through the International Programme.

In 2009 the event is being supported by Homecoming Scotland 2009.

EventScotland is also supporting the Borders Book Festival and the Dundee Literary Festival in 2009.