The Road to Edinburgh 2023
Tom Oakes leads a workshop at the Heart of Newhaven Community venue as part of FluteFling Edinburgh weekend 2023.
The Edinburgh FluteFling Weekend took place in May and marked a return to in-person events following the Covid years. With a new venue, a Friday concert added to the usual Saturday workshops, there were many adjustments to make to ensure the weekend was a success.
Returning to in-person events was always going to be tricky as I quickly found out in January, my previous time for getting a March-April event in place. I used to do it over a week, but the post-lockdown world and cost of living crisis has caused amenities to reduce hours or even close, and for prices to rise. It began to feel as if putting on a grassroots event in an increasingly corporate Edinburgh geared up for tourists and big money festivals was no longer an option.
A meeting with Dave Francis of the Trad Music Forum helped to clarify that this issue is part of a wider debate regarding smaller venues, particularly in the capital. Previously FluteFling had been able to avoid these problems, but no longer so it would seem, and we were back to the drawing board.
John Crawford kindly offered to assist as it became impossible to meet our own deadlines and an alternative date in May was settled upon. If it hadn’t been for John, it would be safe to say that the weekend wouldn’t have gone ahead at all. We explored all manner of venues and options, including not holding the event in Edinburgh at all. All of this was useful, but brought us no closer to a conclusion.
In the end, Tom Oakes pointed us towards The Heart of Newhaven Community, which proved to be a perfect venue. Providing spaces for a concert, a workshops hub, talk and sessions in one location, the staff and volunteers couldn’t have been more helpful and the venue was perfect for us. We have already booked next year’s weekend at the same venue, which will take place 19-21 April 2024.
Challenges always present opportunities of course, and of huge assistance over the weekend were Linda Harkness and Coralie Mills, who managed the desks, checked the tickets and ran the raffle. They were invaluable in ensuring that things ran smoothly in a new venue with a tweaked format, and I can’t see how we managed before without them. Particular thanks too must be passed on to Peter Saunders who made himself available on the day.
FluteFling Edinburgh Friday concert. At the door: (L-R front) Linda Harkness, Coralie Mills; (L-R back) Sharon Creasey, Gordon Turnbull. Photo: (c) John Crawford.
Since I began writing this, I see that the Edinburgh Jazz Festival is taking some of its events out of the city centre, so perhaps we aren’t alone in our experience of Edinburgh venues. Going forward though, it is clear that many hands working together can overcome these and other barriers and long may it continue.