Billingham International Folklore Festival

Since its foundation in 1965 Billingham International Folklore Festival of World Dance has welcomed 20,000 performers from 95 different countries. BIFF is a unique multicultural event celebrating World Dance in all its variety and its fusion with other art forms and sport.

During each festival, Billingham transforms into a kaleidoscope of colour, joie de vivre & friendship. Billingham becomes a “meeting place” for world cultures, showcasing the diversity & richness of the world through traditional & contemporary cultures in the forms of dance, music, songs, costume & crafts. These are incorporated into various performances, parades, exhibitions and workshops. Each festival presents over 300 international performers from around the world. Every year we receive hundreds of applications from traditional dance companies around the globe, from which we select eight to appear in Billingham.

Billingham Festival is not only about performances and workshops. Two weeks prior and during the festival, Billingham turns into a unique centre for international creative collaboration between choreographers and performers, informing and sharing their practice, creating new work around the annual festival theme and collaborating on a flagship festival performance.

After the COVID Pandemic & being transferred to a biannual festival we welcome back the magic in the Summer of 2023. This year our theme centres around Salvador Dali's " The Dance of Time".

Funding for the arts has taken a significant cut, & to enable us to continue with the festival in Billingham we are looking to raise funds from alternative sources. This is where outside support comes in.

A link to the festival website www.billinghamfestival.co.uk

The groups in the line-up this year are from Ghana, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Georgia, Chile & Phillipines. The groups will be partaking in several events within the festival week, & the surrounding area as fringe events. We have some amazing rewards for donations on offer, which we hope will give you some inspiration to donate to this amazing festival. We are appreciative of any value you would be willing to donate outside the reward values also.