The 2024 Cambridge BMG Federation Festival April 5-7th was a great success! Thanks to the Moonlight Mandolin Orchestra for organising the event which went very smoothly. Check out our facebook for various pictures/videos of the event https://www.facebook.com/BMGFederation

The BMG is grateful for the support of the Arts Council in partially funding the cost of this year’s Festival.

The arts council recognised that grant funding would enable us to improve the range and quality of what we can offer to participants.

The festival is our largest event, aiming to bring people from all over the UK and overseas to listen, learn and participate in a full programme of workshops, concerts, competitions, masterclasses and large group music making. And to listen to professional players from a variety of traditions and different countries. We hope our festival will create connections and enthuse participants.

The organisation and funding of this festival has become especially challenging in recent years. We aim to give our participants a quality experience and to that end we have made what we hope are improvements to the format e.g. making the weekend residential, increasing the number of professional performances, increasing the number of workshops, reducing the number of competitions. Today’s BMG has moved on from the idea of music as a competitive activity to one where learning, development and participation are seen as much more important. There are still some opportunities to compete for those who value such experiences, but the focus is on personal development, enjoyment, taking part and listening to and learning from the best.

This increased ambition has created increased costs, and the support of the Arts Council is timely and very welcome.