THE effect of Coronavirus on live music events in Kirklees means organisers are now looking ahead to 2021 following a string of forced cancellations.

Kathy Aveyard, chair of the Kirklees Music Festivals Group, which represents events including Holmfirth Folk Festival, Huddersfield Carnival and Marsden Jazz Festival, said it was “working to maintain the operation of music festivals and to ensure their future resilience.”

All the group’s festivals have been cancelled bar one – the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, scheduled for November, which will review its position over the summer.

These are the latest in a series of events that have been cancelled. Most recently it was announced that the Bradford Dragonboat Festival and Keighley Show would be cancelled for 2020.

Keighley Show is cancelled

Meanwhile Kirklees Council has announced that its Kirklees Summer Playcamp has also been cancelled due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Together events such as Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Marsden Jazz Festival and Cleckheaton Folk Festival attract thousands of visitors to the borough each year and contribute more than £2m to the local economy.

Spending and investment locally by those festivals is more than £400,000.

Kath Aveyard said the festivals group was using the lockdown period to develop marketing, audience development, traffic management, and to deliver “a bold and vibrant programme” for the Kirklees Year of Music initiative planned for 2023.

She added: “The festivals group is also committed to continuing to do what we can to support artists and freelance workers in the cultural and creative industries at this difficult time – from looking at how we can curate and deliver events online to the launch of new commissioning schemes.”

The organisations involved in the Kirklees Music Festivals Group are: Shepley Spring Festival, Holmfirth Folk Festival, Sun Up Festival, Huddersfield Carnival, Cleckheaton Folk Festival, Great Northern Ukelele Festival, Marsden Jazz Festival, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.

Kirklees Summer Playcamp traditionally runs each summer for approximately four weeks at Woolley Edge Scout Camp near junction 38 of the M1.

Normally six groups of 75 children aged 9-12 stay at the camp for a period of four days and three nights.

However all arrangements have been cancelled. Organisers say they hope to return in 2021.