After seventeen wonderful years, Swaledale Festival’s Artistic Director Malcolm Creese is moving on to pastures new.
Malcolm’s energy has led to the Festival growing fourfold, with a greater emphasis on more diverse events. Blues, folk, jazz, world music, film, talks, puppetry, theatre, comedy, family events, guided walks and art exhibitions have all added variety and richness to the strong core of classical music.
Ticket sales have increased, the network of Festival venues and volunteers has expanded and the professional team has grown.
Malcolm introduced the Reeth Lecture and Young Artists Platform, and he developed ‘Wandering Minstrels’, a community and education programme taking musicians into schools and care homes to perform live for pupils and residents. In 2024, this award-winning outreach work was extended with a music workshop and concert in a prison.
A skilled double-bassist, Malcolm performed at Swaledale Festival twice before being appointed Artistic Director in 2007. “I remember thinking what a wonderful part of the world it was. It was quite a small affair in those days, and I could see that it had huge potential. I set about growing the Festival and introducing a wider variety of art forms.”
Top musicians and artists now come from all over the world to perform in the northern Dales. Highlights include Paco Peña, John Williams, Dame Emma Kirkby, the Hallé, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Peter Donohoe, Stephen Hough, Tasmin Little, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, Natalie Clein, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, VOCES8, Black Dyke Band, Antonio Forcione, Clare Martin, Kathryn Tickell, Simon Armitage, Martin Taylor, The Young’uns, People Show, Brian Sewell, Barry Cryer and Rich Hall. Local artists and performers also feature significantly in the annual programme.
On behalf of the Festival, Malcolm has commissioned a significant amount of new music and art, and in 2014 brought a surprise to the Festival when he borrowed the enormous steam locomotive Bittern (sister of Mallard) and ran it on the Wensleydale Railway for a day.
Under Malcolm’s stewardship, the Festival has received the Ability Media International Award for Inclusivity and Artistic Excellence, Dalesman Magazine's Top Award for Artistic and Cultural Achievement, Richmondshire District Council's Community Group of the Year, the Prime Minister's Big Society Award and the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service.
In 2023 Malcolm introduced the Festival’s first Patrons, Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason and Ronnie Archer-Morgan.
Malcolm’s legacy is a successful, much-loved and internationally respected Festival that will continue to celebrate the arts in every form, for everyone.