
Orkney Folk Festival is launching a new supporter scheme, Orkney Friends, ahead of the 2023 event, giving festival fans the opportunity to play an important part in its continued success.
As a charity, and entirely volunteer run event, the festival relies on the generosity of supporters and sponsors to produce a varied programme of visiting and local artists each year.
Over the years thousands of people have demonstrated their support by being members of the annual Patronage or year-round Patron Plus schemes in return for a range of exclusive benefits.
While this adds to people’s festival experiences and helps raise crucial funds to keep the event running, customer feedback has shown that the schemes have also brought challenges.
Having two very similar but separate schemes has made it overly complicated for people to know how and when to support the festival, and added to the back of house administration for its voluntary committee to manage.
The popularity of the schemes has also placed pressure on the festival’s online ticketing system, creating a poor experience for customers when early access sales launch.