About The Festival

Culture and Community, the South Downs Way!

Our Charity Status

The Steyning Festival was established in 2006 as a charity with the aim of strengthening community bonds, boosting pride, attracting visitors and supporting local businesses. Led by Ann Poupard and local residents, the first festival in 2007 celebrated Steyning’s heritage, local talent and visiting artists, goals that remain core to this day.

With a structure of skilled trustees overseeing various aspects of the biennial event, the festival prioritizes audience engagement, volunteer satisfaction, and local business participation. Its values emphasize teamwork, respect, and accountability, striving to celebrate local, national, and international talent through a diverse program covering theater, music, arts, and community events, primarily catering to the Steyning area. Our charity number, as registered with the Charities Commission, is: 1158833.

Our Structure
Trustees

A carefully selected group of professionals who oversee the legal, financial and operational goals of the charity.

Team of Organisers
A core festival management team to analyse past performance and plan between and in the build-up to the next festival. In particular there is a lead coordinator for each of the main types of event, e.g. drama, music etc.
Teams of Volunteers
A large group of volunteers carrying out a wide range of tasks, they add expertise and share the workload, they report to lead coordinators and the core management team.
Festival Supporters
A group of committed supporters referred to as “Friends” who pay a nominal price to obtain early access to tickets and invitations to a “Friends only” event before the festival.
Sponsors

Commercial sponsors from local businesses who wish to be associated with this positive community event.

Programme
A varied and inspiring programme that builds on the success and key learning from 2024, particularly in identifying key events to drive sales well in advance, with the goal of maximizing ticket sales and broadening audiences for roughly 70 events across 10–12 days.

About the Festival

After the inaugural event in 2007, the Festival remained an annual event until 2010, when the decision was made to alternate with the Country Fair every other year. Since 2016, the Festival has been based at a ‘Big Top’ in Fletchers Croft, which provides a focal point for the programme of activities, which also take place in a range of other smaller venues. The Festival is held around the May Bank Holiday to fit in with the vibrant social calendar of community activities in Steyning and to coincide with the Spring half term. The Covid pandemic resulted in a three-year gap where it was not possible to hold an event. A shortened weekend festival was successfully held in 2021, with a return to a full festival programme of over 70 events in 2022. The Festival remains one of the largest (if not THE largest) UK festivals of its type run entirely by volunteers.

Our Mission

The Festival is a community Festival; run by the community, with and for the community, over a 10-day period on a biennial basis. We aim to showcase local, national and international talent and at our core is a quality artistic Festival, which invokes discussion, thinking and learning. Our core mission is to increase the number of tickets sold and the number of ticket buyers, and to further develop the Festival to build on past successes and secure its future.

Steyning Festival Business Plan 2025-2028

Steyning Festival has grown significantly since its inception, expanding our programme of events, broadening our reach, and increasing our volunteer numbers. In 2025, progress to date was reviewed and evaluated to develop and formalize a business plan, which set out our purpose and aspirations for the next few years. The plan reflects our aim to continue to ensure our sustainability and longevity, whilst remaining true to the original ethos of inclusivity and community.