The Festival of the Artisan celebrates all things created in the spirit of Artisan Values: authenticity, artistry, connection & inspiration.
Founded in 2018 by Steve Bonham (singer-songwriter in The Long Road, director of Artisan Creative), the first festival was held in Ashbourne, in the Derbyshire peaks, and had three strands: music in a glorious 13-century church, St. Oswald's; beer & cider in the church hall next door; and a variety of crafts in the grounds of the church. Held over three days in June 2018, musicians from Spain, America, Ireland and the UK came together celebrating the artisan music that united them, even though the genres of music they played covered folk, Spanish flamenco, American country, blues, all sorts.
The festival in 2019 was smaller in scale, branded a "one-day MiniFest" and held in the church hall of St. Oswald's. The music on this day again covered a range of genres and styles, but tying into the focus for the day: The Story and The Song. Alongside the musical performances, there were local spoken word performers (including a stand-up comic) who brought storytelling to the forefront.

Artisans at the heart of it

The festival has always been artist-led, with artisan musicians leading the charge: wanting to create a space celebrating the depth and authenticity of artisan music that will allow other artists to flourish as well. The 2021 festival is still focusing on the music strand, but in the years to come, we hope to build the artisan producers strand up again - including food, drink and craft producers in future festivals.

What is artisan music?

Artisan music is what binds folk, country, rock, Americana, blues and jazz. The idea of authenticity, artistry, connection to the source materials and inspiration. Essentially, all these forms of music are acoustic and born out of direct experience: the extraordinary stories of ordinary folk.

It is the universality of folk music in its broadest sense.

​What binds musicians working in these fields is greater than that which divides them. We take the raw materials of our lives to create something intimate, of the moment and timeless.
Festival of the Artisan: at home