Organizers of the award-winning Stendhal Festival have announced that they plan on running two events in 2021 to celebrate not only their 10th anniversary but also the return of live events in general.
Established in 2011, this year was to see the 10th instalment of Stendhal take place at Balefully cottage Farm, however, as with all events, the pandemic stopped it in its tracks.
The team behind the event are much more optimistic about events returning in 2021 after the commencement of the roll-out of a mass vaccination programmed which they say can be used in conjunction to social distancing plans they have already devised to ensure that the events can take place this summer.
The First Stendhal will take place on July 9th and 10th and the second will be on August 12th, 13th and 14th.
Tickets for both Stendhal Festival events will be on sale on Wednesday, December 23rd.
Festival Director Ross Park hill said that the team at Stendhal are proud to be in a position to make these announcements following a 2020 which could potentially put a permanent halt to the event had things gone differently.
“It’s been a really tough year,” said Ross. “We don’t have to tell anybody that because everyone has been in somewhat of the same boat. That said, the entertainment and events industry has probably seen the biggest hits brought on by the pandemic, so we are quite simply delighted to have been able to navigate our way through 2020 and still be in a position to run events next year.”
Explaining the breakdown of the events Ross said: “Both editions of Stendhal Festival in July and August will be our usual all-ages, family-friendly festivals, showcasing music, comedy, arts, poetry and everything else people are used to at Stendhal.”
Ross continued: “Because we are still in a bit of limbo in terms of how many numbers we will be allowed to have on-site, for the first Stendhal in July we are provisionally releasing a mixture of general and family tickets that will allow for 1500 people to attend and we hope that we will be able to eventually scale that up to welcome 3000 people or maybe more to the farm.
“The Second Stendhal Event on August 12,13 and 14 will only have 500 tickets on sale initially, as it will accommodate our customers who rolled over their 2020 Stendhal Ticket to 2021. As with the other events we hope to release tickets to accommodate a further 1500 people or more by the time August rolls around.
“The ongoing pandemic means that we most likely won’t be able to get back to normal in 2021 and welcome over 10,000 people to one stand-alone Stendhal, so we have made the decision to hold two, more intimate events, to ensure that the number of patrons who usually come along have the opportunity to avail of at least one of them.”
Ross concluded: “I’d like to take the opportunity to again publicly thank those patrons who rolled over their tickets from 2020 to 2021, they are one of the main reasons we survived 2020 and are in a position to re-launch the festival in 2021.
“In that vein, I’d also like to thank all the organizations that have supported us through the pandemic including Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council, Help Musicians NI and The Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
“We are so excited by the prospect of welcoming people back to the farm and we can’t wait to be able to once again deliver all the music, arts and creativity that Stendhal is known for. We guarantee it will be worth the wait.”
More information, including line-up announcements and ticket information, can be found at www.stendhalfestival.com.
