The wide-reaching workshop events programme offers opportunities to learn and develop a variety of skills in a secure and inclusive community of teachers and learners. With great breadth and depth, the programme offers perennial favourites and exciting innovations with the chance to learn new skills, to fine tune established talents, to try one-off taster sessions or to commit to week-long series. Many series lead to showcase performances at the end of the week.
Amongst the favourite festival regulars returning in 2023 are Sandra Kerr’s Festival Choir, John Kirkpatrick with his Festival Concert Band (sheet music available here) and Nick and Mary Barber with the Big Band (download the tunes and/or listen to them here).
Kitty Greenwood returns with another series of Fiddle Foundation workshops, Squeezebox from Scratch (Ed Rennie & Helena Painting) offer more help for Absolute Beginners on Melodeon, plus a new Next Step option for previous participants. Look out for Advanced Melodeon, Concertina for Beginners & those more experienced, guitar, concertina song accompaniment with Steve Turner, and beginners and an intermediate mandolin workshops with Matt Norman.
John Dipper returns with his popular English fiddle classes – in a bigger room this time – and Folkulele is back with Norma Mills, leading a beginners & experienced series of ukulele workshops based on folk song.
John Dipper
Percussion tutors include Louisa Davies-Foley on bones. FayrePlay with Tim Walker offer Early Music and Early Dance Workshops (download the music here)
Playing for Cotswold Morris Workshops return with Stephen Rowley and not forgetting the popular Well Known Tunes At A Steady Pace with Bob Ellis and Jannette Stewart.
As well as our popular choirs, song-based workshops include song crafting with Lady Maisery, harmony singing with Daisybell, West Gallery Music and Shape Note, Sean Nos, Stream of Sound with more singing workshops for grown-ups, and exploration of the human voice with Maddy Prior and Rose-Ellen Kemp, Classical Indian Song with Samia Malik and more to come.
Adult Creative Making Sessions return to Bulverton with Mark Clarke, Creativity, Design & Production, and look out for more hands-on workshops including Zine making with Maddie Morris & Real Magic in Folk Music with Hannah Sanders.
Bhangra is back with Avtar Indian Dance and Hannah Moore brings the swing.
Avtar Indian Dance
There’s Kerry Fletcher’s essential European Dance and Irish Set Dance with Kevin and Carol Monaghan. Look out for Stepping workshops, including those linked to Lewis Wood’s Footwork show and, of course, there’s a whole range of Folk Dance from Contra to English Country Dance via Early Dance and a week of Ritual Dance from Rapper to Border Morris via Appalachian!
Making the most of our location on the South West Coast Path, new for 2023 is a series of guided song walks, tapping into the folklore, landscape, and the history of land access, with Johnny Campbell and more.
And there’s Storytelling, Poetry with Ilse Pedler, and a Mumming Skills Workshop with Stephen Rowley.
Plus, a full week of Talks and Presentations including Steve Rowley, Hannah Sanders, Patrick Ryan, and many more .
Check back as more events are announced with the main programme available very shortly – and if there’s another workshop you want to see at Sidmouth, let us know here.
A Season Ticket gets you in to all, or any, of these workshops….as many or as often as you like, plus workshop only ticket bundles are also available.