Festival Membership – How your support makes a difference
Launched in 2024, our second festival creates impact in a number of ways. Due to cost and infrastructure, it can be difficult for the Island to attract cultural practitioners. By bringing our world-class artists, it provides new opportunities for local islanders to access musical experiences & knowledge of historically-informed early music – enriching the musical landscape of the Island.
The creativity and excellence of the Festival will also attract new national & international cultural visitors, promoting the Island as a cultural beacon and help raise its profile in terms of cultural heritage. The Isle of Wight is an Arts Council Priority Place and Levelling Up for Culture Place demonstrating need for more cultural investment and engagement.
Building on the Festival’s successful Recorder Extravaganza event (where 30 children were coached in recorder playing for six months and gave a performance to family members at the start of the 2024 festival – along with Masterclasses and workshops with a further 200 children), Fairest Isle Festival and Southampton and Isle of Wight Music (SIOW) are delighted to be offering Island schools the opportunity to participate again in 2026. This new project – Recorder Songbook composed by Miriam Monaghan – will feature brand new music written specifically for the abilities of the students on the Island to support their musical development and provide a unique opportunity for them to perform with professional musicians unlikely to visit the Island otherwise. This will result in a performance alongside Palisander (recorder quartet) just after the Fairest Isle Festival.
The songs will be themed around the "Can you hear us?" initiative, part of the Creative Island's place-based partnership funding for 2026. This also connects to the IOW music hub's 'Songs of Place' strand and includes a newly-developed Blackgang Chine medley linking young people to their musicianship and to the Island's rich geography.
Also in collaboration with IOW Music Hub, festival artists will run workshops in four schools from wards which are among the lowest 5% in the UK indices of deprivation, who do not often have the opportunity to see professional musicians, never mind play alongside them. It is part of the Hub’s push to reinstate music tuition in Isle of Wight's schools, following huge reductions in teaching due to removal of funding, the after-effects of the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis. The Songbook and resources will also be shared digitally across the South Coast region with a reach of 2,000 children in 350 schools. In addition, there will be masterclasses for talented young people who would benefit from creative role-models and exposure to career pathways. Your support will enable inspiring workshops in schools and insight into the cultural heritage of a magical island.
Supporting the Island
Fairest Isle Festival is working with Independent Arts – an Island charity that uses creativity to help people live happier, healthier and more connected lives. Established in 1987, it uses the arts to improve wellbeing, quality of life and to reduce social isolation. £1 from every concert ticket sold will be donated to the charity.
Fairest Friend (£25): Priority Booking
Salty Sailor (£75): as above – plus I Fagiolini ‘Benevoli Multi-Choir Masses’ CD being released April 2026 and online introduction to the festival from Robert Hollingworth, Artistic Director.
Magical Mariner (£200+): as above – plus complimentary pair of tickets to 1610 Monteverdi Vespers at All Saints Ryde.
Dragon Donor (£500+): as above plus complimentary Festival Pass to all concerts, events and workshops. Cream tea with the Artistic and Festival Directors to be arranged!
Fairest Isle Festival
Registered charity number 1205902