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04
Oct
Interview: The glamour and grind of promoting arts in Harrogate
After 16 years as chief executive of Harrogate’s leading arts festival, Sharon Canavar has some stories.
“Amy Winehouse was a great gig,” she says. “We got her in 2004 before she was mega. I remember her walking on stage with her band at the convention centre and she was like, ‘f****** hell, I can’t believe we are here, this looks amazing!’”.
Ms Canavar leads Harrogate International Festivals, a charity founded in 1966 to revive the town’s culture. Since then, it has brought more big names and events to Harrogate than any other organisation.
Its annual programme includes HACS Harrogate Music Festival, Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Berwins Salon North, Harrogate International Sunday Series and Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival.
The line-up for the literature festival, which starts on Thursday (October 9), includes former Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, Scotland’s former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, TV star Chris Tarrant, journalist and author Sarah Vine and ex-cricketer Graham Gooch.
They’re not exactly literary titans, but they have all published books and can sell tickets. Arts organisations have to compromise their high ideals with paying the bills, as Ms Canavar knows well.
Funding battles
Two years after she joined, HIF nearly went bust:
“The local authority threatened to take away our grant and took away the free use of halls. I was put on notice, which was pretty traumatic. We shrank down to two staff but thankfully the support of donors at that time got us over that hump and we have grown significantly.”
HIF now has eight staff and 50 volunteers, who do everything from stuffing envelopes to helping at events, but post-covid arts funding remains tough.
HIF gets nothing from Arts Council England and its annual local authority grant has shrunk to £24,000 — a sum agreed by Harrogate Borough Council before it was abolished two years ago.
Its successor authority, North Yorkshire Council, has yet to confirm what support, if any, it will give. “Our financial year runs from November to October so we are in the last month and I still don’t know if I’ve got a grant for next year,” says Ms Canavar.
With former Prime Minister Theresa May (centre) and festival chair Fiona Movley at last year's literature festival. Pic: Mike Whorley
Crime success
Arts charities like to rely equally on public funding, tickets sales and commercial revenue / sponsorship. With the former not amounting to much, HIF compensates in other areas. Total income last year was £1.23 million, up from £1.13 million in 2023.
The crime writing festival is the big earner. When it started in 2003, the year Ms Canavar joined — she became chief executive in 2009 — it sold 3,000 tickets. This year it sold 18,000 — a sixfold increase.
It’s undoubtedly a major success. There’s a real buzz at the Old Swan as international authors mingle with fans over four days. Why has it been so successful? Ms Canavar says:
I think it’s the genre. There’d been crime festivals in the past, but they had been run by passionate people trying to get it over the line but never had a professional events organisation.
Also, the crime authors are so clubbable. They are never in the green room; they are in amongst everybody, and we professionalise how the ticketing works. The authors know if they come, they will have a bed for the night, they’ll get paid, they’ll have a good audience and sell a lot of books. London publishing regroups in Harrogate and lots of deals are done on site.
(left to right) Rachel Tunnicliffe, senior partner at Raworths, Sharon Canavar, chief executive of Harrogate International Festivals, and Simon Morris, managing partner at Raworths. Pic: Richard Maude
Agatha Christie anniversary
Next year is the 100th anniversary of the disappearance of Agatha Christie, who was eventually found at the Old Swan in Harrogate. Festival plans are being hatched to mark the occasion.
Next year also marks the festival’s 60th anniversary. Its Future 50 fundraising appeal launched in its 50th year generated about £500,000 and helped the charity through the pandemic. An @60 campaign aims to get more funds now.
HIF also stages big one-off events such as the Beam light festival in 2024 and the Carabosse fire garden in Valley Gardens in 2016. The latter sold 25,000 tickets. “It was one of those things that put the festival on the map again,” says Ms Canavar. “Since then, we have tried to do more outdoor work.” But such events are only budgeted to break even because of the costs.
She adds:
“Our ambition is hindered by resource. People say, ‘you should do a big greenfield festival at the showground’. Yes, we could, but we could lose our shirt on the back of that and everything else would cease so we have to be careful.”
When will her long stint as chief executive end?
When they kick me off. What’s really great about the festival is that it’s different every year. There’s never been a year where I’ve thought, ‘blimey I know exactly what I’m doing here and everything’s great’, because funding drops out and you’ve got to find it from somewhere else.
My ultimate goal is to make sure that whoever comes into the role after me doesn’t have the challenges I’ve had in terms of fundraising so artistically they can do what they want.
Mingling with celebrities and grafting for cash — the two sides of Sharon Canavar’s job.
Reading a Lee Child book
Quickfire questions
Favourite event?
Carabosse. Walking through Valley Gardens at 11pm after everybody had left and it was still burning was spectacular and special. I’m also going to have to say Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.
Biggest star you’ve brought to Harrogate?
Hmmm, Van Morrison maybe. There’s also Gregory Porter, Dionne Warwick and lots of amazing classical stars as well. And then we’ve had JK Rowling, Richard Osman, Val McDermid...
Dream person to book?
Jamie Cullum (jazz-pop singer), from a personal perspective. I once tried to book Michael Buble and we were told there would be no more Buble, by his agent. I'd also like to get Raye.
Nightmare person you’ve booked?
I can’t talk about them! There are horror stories but in their defence I would say it’s always because they’re massively nervous before they go on stage and they’re delightful afterwards.
Your one desert island disc?
Madonna, the Immaculate Collection – I’m showing my age.
Favourite author?
Can’t say, I’ll get killed.
Most famous person on your phone
Val McDermid or Mark Billingham
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