The new festival crew - meet the new team behind Ramsgate’s Festival of Sound

The new festival crew

Writer Lila Allen

Photographer Jaron James

Ramsgate’s Festival of Sound is a sonic celebration of audio in all its forms. Born out of Ramsgate Festival and Ramsgate Arts, this year the baton has been passed to a new team who are heading up an ambitious programme for this centrepiece of the Thanet festival scene. We talk to creative director Andrew Gibson and producer Gemma Dempsey as they prepare for 2020

How did you come to be involved in Ramsgate’s Festival of Sound? Andrew: “My background is in arts and event management. This will be the fourth festival I have produced in Ramsgate and the third Ramsgate Festival of Sound. Sound and music production is one of the fastest growing industries in Ramsgate, a town that has always had a thriving music scene. It made sense to promote and celebrate that in a festival. We’ve been lucky as we have been able to build on ten years’ work done by Ramsgate Arts and take the annual festival on to its next incarnation.” Gemma: “The Ramsgate Music Hall and Vinyl Head (now Eats’N’Beats) were instrumental in me moving to Ramsgate. Both showcased great music and attracted audiences passionate about music and the arts, myself included. I’d worked as a music supervisor and a radio producer for years, as well as event coordinator and was keen to see how I could apply my love of music and skill set to my new home town. When I heard how Andrew wanted to develop the Ramsgate Festival I was thrilled as it spoke to many of the things I am excited about: music composition and production, community and creativity. I got involved for the first Festival of Sound in 2018 and am thrilled to be working with Andrew for 2020.”

What is your vision, or ambition, for the festival? “This festival is uniquely Ramsgate. There isn’t a festival quite like it anywhere else. It provides visitors with a unique way of experiencing a town, its heritage, culture, landscapes and people. We are already attracting interest from international artists and the festival has featured outstanding talent with international artists performing and presenting work alongside our immense local artistic community. We would love this to grow and for the festival to bring more visitors and artists to Ramsgate, becoming a destination event.”

What are the plans for this year and how have you had to adjust because of the coronavirus? “The festival is usually held in July, coinciding with Ramsgate Week Regatta, but due to Covid-19 we’ve postponed it to 6-13 September. As the directives regarding public events are constantly evolving, we’ve had to adapt the programme accordingly. We’ll focus on The Sonic Trail (an audio tour created by composers and sound artists) as the main “live” part of the festival, as we can monitor attendance and distancing at the various venues and locations. In addition we will be commissioning the artists who were booked to perform live to instead create new work for our website ramsgatefestival.org/ as a virtual festival. In this way we can maintain our commitment to supporting them through this very difficult time while reaching a global audience online. Given how extremely difficult and tragic this year has been, we hope that the Festival of Sound will provide an uplifting and inspiring respite for everyone.”

What can audiences expect in 2020 and 2021? “Running from 10-13 September, The Sonic Trail forms the heart of the festival and once again we’ve been blown away by the submissions. Reflecting our theme of “sonic odyssey”, you can look forward to installations ranging from the humorous to heritage, archaeological to virtual and meditative to exhilarating. We’ve got great children’s entertainment lined up along with the ever-popular Ramsgate Society’s talks, films and cabaret. We’re working out whether we can present “live” or migrate online. 2021 is a big year for Ramsgate (the bicentenary of Ramsgate becoming a Royal Harbour), so we’ll be sure to pull out the stops for a fantastic Festival of Sound featuring some of the postponed highlights of this year and much more. Please check our new website for up to date details as well as our social media feeds.”

Why is the festival so important to Ramsgate, and Thanet more widely? “Of the three towns that comprise Thanet, it feels as though Ramsgate is less well known than Margate or Broadstairs, and yet each is wonderful in its own way. This festival gives Ramsgate some well-deserved promotion by highlighting the immense amount of local talent, and its stunning architecture and beaches. We hope it will provide visitors with the perfect excuse to check out the festival and then visit our nearby neighbours. While it is hard to find a silver lining to the horrors of this pandemic, maybe one will be that people will seek to explore the UK rather than venture abroad, and we look forward to welcoming visitors wherever they come from!”