Future 60 | Harrogate International Festivals

Festivals of Harrogate since 1966

Since its inception in 1966, Harrogate International Festivals has fired up hearts and minds, revolutionising the cultural landscape of the North Yorkshire spa town.

Our appeal to raise £1m is a critical part of the Festival’s vision to create a secure future for the charity.

Since 1966, the Harrogate International Festivals has played a central role in shaping the nation’s musical landscape, and Yorkshire is lucky to have such a respected and renowned event on its doorstep. I urge you to support it – Lesley Garrett CBE.

A person of colour playing the cello wearing formal wear.

A charitable organisation, our passion and ambition maintains our position as an arts organisation delivering Festivals of national importance and dramatically increasing the cultural opportunities for Harrogate and the wider region.

The Harrogate International Festivals is the Home of Festivals. Established as the Harrogate Festival of Arts & Science, our founder Clive Wilson believed that…

“The Festival must be seen as a developing thing, widening its scope and perhaps shifting its emphasis as the years go by”.

The Festivals has indeed evolved throughout the years having been at the forefront of classical music in the 60s, the vanguard of comedy and street theatre in the 80s and 90s to the breadth of festivals within our current portfolio.

Today we are distinctive amongst festivals, measuring our far reaching delivery against our limited funding income.

In 2024 Harrogate International Festivals delivered over 200 distinct events, created 60m+ opportunities to read about Harrogate through national partnerships and attracted over 90,000 people to our portfolio of live and digital activity.

At the heart of our delivery is the creation of an evolving and innovative programme, changing lives through cultural experience. The Festivals cannot stand still; we are determined to invest in our strengths of raising aspirations, creating opportunity and nurturing excellence.

Philanthropic investment is now critical to the Festivals being a sustainable organisation, with the ability to make full use of our artistic and cultural inheritance and create life changing opportunities in the arts.

The funds will ensure that the future of the Harrogate International Festivals is vibrant and engaging, allowing us to continue to create access to the arts for the widest range of audiences and participants regardless of background and personal circumstance.

In short you will help ensure our arts charity thrives, not just survives.