Friends Of Towersey Festival Bursary Awards 2016

The Friends of Towersey Festival are pleased to announce the recipients of their 2016 bursaries.

The three acts who’ll be benefiting from the awards are Newcastle upon Tyne-based duo Will Finn and Rosie Calvert, ceilidh band Tautas Roks, and local songstress Nikki Loy – who will all be heading to the the festival this year.

“We all want to be there and play and contribute to the music and the atmosphere but it costs money and time and so bursaries such as this help ease some of the pressure of covering the expenses incurred by having a band and playing festivals. It helps keep music live and real!,” says Nikki Loy, who releases a new album this year.

Rosie Calvert, agrees: “Bursaries like this one are so valuable to working musicians – especially those of us that aren’t particularly well-established. It’s a financial risk for festivals and promoters to have unknown musicians playing, so smaller artists often have to accept lower fees – which makes gigging much harder to do. This bursary means that we won’t lose money on travelling to the festival and eating there (expensive but delicious festival food is our downfall!), we’ll actually make money for the work that we are doing.”

Both graduates of the Folk and Traditional Music BA at Newcastle University, Finn and Calvert recently announced their own Kickstater campiagn to fund their debut album.

Tautas Roks are appearing at Towersey twice this year, in the Bar Stage and also Festival Dance House (FDH) where they’ll be leading a ceilidh

Tautas Roks’ Kris Fisher says: “If you ask an artist why they put so much effort into each performance they do, the answer will always be the same: they enjoy the atmosphere that their music makes. Music has a way of bringing people together who may have not met otherwise, and it’s a great feeling for the artist. However, to put on such performances artists need to ensure that they are offering the same quality of music for each gig. Bursaries such as these allow us to keep our equipment in top condition and to pay for rehearsal studios. In Tautas, we have always said that playing gigs is the fun part and any expenses are for us to take the time to learn new material and offer the best performance possible.

“To have this support, is very encouraging as artists to keep doing what we love. We must be doing something right!”

For more information on the acts, see:

Tautas Roks: www.tautasroks.co.uk/index.html

Will Finn and Rosie Calvert: www.facebook.com/willfinnandrosiecalvert/

Nikki Loy: www.nikkiloy.com