Statement from Beyond the Border

While we have been extremely excited about our festival in 2020, welcoming everyone to a magical new site at National Trust Dinefwr for a fantastic programme, in order to prioritise the health and wellbeing of everyone involved and following the recent government and health advice, Beyond the Border has taken the reluctant decision to postpone our forthcoming 2020 Festival by a year. It will now take place between 2-4 July 2021.

We know that everyone who has given their time to support the festival so far – our incredibly loyal audiences, artists, staff, crew, technicians, volunteers, traders, suppliers and freelancers – will be disappointed. It means we need to wait another year to share all the uplifting and wonderful stories, music, puppets, walks and creative and participatory activities we will create together at Dinefwr.

Rest assured, we are already putting plans in place for the festival in 2021.  For the many of you who have bought tickets for July 2020, if you’d like to attend in 2021 you don’t need to do anything – we will transfer your tickets at no extra cost. If you would like a refund, we will be emailing all ticket holders with details on how to do this in the next few days with support from our ticket supplier, Brown Paper Tickets.

Stories feel more important than ever.  We need to keep talking and connecting with each other, and like so many, we’re committed to doing this as best we can over the weeks and months, starting with World Storytelling Day online events last week, with more to come. We want to do all we can to support each other during this extraordinary challenging period, while also managing this impact on the Festival.  So, look out for news and communication from us about events and activities to help keep us all storied and sane through this period of necessary isolation.

We are very grateful to our partners the National Trust at Dinefwr enabling us to make this move, and also our major funders Arts Council Wales and Welsh Government Major Events Unit plus the many funders supporting specific activities.  Thanks to all of you for your support and understanding.

This has been a really tough but necessary decision.  We hope you’ll continue the journey with us, sharing stories over the coming weeks and months, and to gathering once more in July 2021.

In the meantime, do look after yourselves and each other and stay safe.

Naomi – Artistic Director & Sandra – Festival Manager

On behalf of the BtB Team & Trustees