Their succession plan is for a new generation to take their places. Stepping up as HFT directors will be Trevor Deeble, who facilitates the Fat Tuesday Club weekly music-making sessions for young people; his wife, Hannah Deeble, who already has the role of General Manager; and Sally’s son, Elliot Lampitt, who is Festival Co-ordinator.

The organisation will see some further changes as James Weaver, joined by William Bunch, takes the Sonics strand in a new direction as an independent enterprise.

HFT has burgeoned over 16 years from a one-nighter on Mardi Gras evening, not only to a five-day musical showcase that brings in huge crowds of both residents and visitors but also to a year-round programme that champions local talent. By making its main offerings free, HFT has ensured that everyone can join in celebrating their shared musical heritage regardless of financial status. As Sally observed in a closing commentary, the festival has become a reflection of the town – “a diverse and eclectic mix of talent and culture”.

She and Adam added: “It has been a tremendous privilege to play a part in the growth and evolution of HFT. While we will certainly miss the energy and excitement of orchestrating the festival and the year-round activities, we believe that now is the right time to pass the torch to a new team that can carry it forward into the future.”

This year’s Fat Tuesday festival is anticipated to be just as exceptional as ever.

From live performances and music conventions to the annual umbrella parade, the festival has something for everyone.

HIP spoke to Sally Lampitt, one of the event directors, for a behind-the-scenes snippet of what it takes to organise an event of this scale and a preview of what to expect from this year’s festival.

Hastings Fat Tuesday runs from 28 February to 4 March, featuring over 350 free gigs, gatherings, parties and parades alongside ticketed events, with acclaimed artists from across the South-East appearing alongside a wealth of local bands.

The event is run by a not-for-profit organisation that supports the communities of Hastings and St Leonards year-round, promoting creative opportunities to people at all stages of their lives through arts and culture. It is managed by a small team made up of co-directors Adam Daly & Sally Lampitt and General Manager Hannah Deeble, and it is currently the UK’s largest Mardi Gras celebration.

The preparation for the festival is extensive, beginning only a few weeks after the previous event finishes. This is essential for the necessary preparations involving funding, marketing and partnerships to take place. According to Lampitt, the main challenge in recent years has been “being able to secure enough funding so that we can deliver something that’s really substantial, but also really good quality.”

Last year, a lack of funding required changes, however as a small organisation they were able to be flexible and still managed to offer “the core element that people love”. This year, the organisers feel “very lucky” to be supported by Arts Council England.

For the organisers, the focus is on giving back to the community and showcasing the incredible artists the area has to offer. They receive around 250 applications every year, and although they cannot say yes to everybody, they say it’s “a great opportunity for us to really hear and see more of the local talent.” Fat Tuesday highlights the “amazing musical economy” that exists in Hastings and introduces these artists to the public.

This year it will also feature an event at The White Rock Theatre, including comedy, cabaret, drag and bingo, with “something going on for everyone”.

The two main music days are Saturday and Tuesday.

Unplugged Saturday features artists performing five 15-minute acoustic sets, moving between venues throughout town with little setup, which can often be very “chaotic”.

The Fat Tuesday Tour involves artists playing three 20-minute sets in venues across Hastings Old Town. As the name suggests, Tuesday night is the main event, with full stages set up in all the venues that participate and a real focus on high energy local artists.

However, Lampitt confesses a real affection for the Saturday programme, saying “I absolutely love the madness of something like that. I love the fact that you can walk around and there are hundreds of people out on the streets. You know, musicians running from venue to venue. There’s different genres of music being played across the old town and St. Leonards. I think that’s just wonderful. The Saturday has always been my favourite bit.”

Visit schedule.hastingsfattuesday.co.uk for a full list of this year’s events and artist details.

HUGH SULLIVAN

Like the Town Deal, under which Hastings was awarded £24.3m in 2021, the LTPT investment plan is to be put together by a local Board rather than by Hastings Borough Council (HBC), though the council’s officers will staff its administration. Government guidance stated that this Board must be chaired by “an independent local community leader or local businessperson”. After a consultation involving local MP Sally-Ann Hart and DLUHC, Rebecca Conroy, CEO of East Sussex College, has been selected in this capacity.

Ms Conroy has in turn appointed other “interim” Board members including Mrs Hart; the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne; local business executive Simon Mansbridge; Tracey Rose and Steve Manwaring from the voluntary sector; Cllr Keith Glazier, leader of East Sussex County Council; Cllr Julia Hilton, leader of Hastings Borough Council; “culture leaders”, Adam Daly, founder of Fat Tuesday, and Dr Mandy Curtis, director of 18 Hours Ltd; Sean Dennis, director of Hastings Chamber of Commerce, and Andrew Harvey, chair of Love Hastings Ltd; Andrew Doyle, CEO of the integrated Care Board of NHS Sussex; and Lorraine Clarke, Regional Director of Ark Academies. 

Does this selection of the great and the good of Hastings fairly represent the town’s community? 

‘THE USUAL SUSPECTS’

In January 2020, then HBC leader Peter Chowney explained in a cabinet meeting that, because of the very short time allowed by the government for appointment of the Town Deal Board, he had approached “the usual suspects – the people who’ve got time on their hands and can come along to meetings and go to presentations and so on”. The new LTPT Board would no doubt hope that isn’t the basis of their selection this time round.

But a further groundswell of complaint in relation to the 2020 Board appointments came from those who felt that it was centred on Hastings, largely ignoring St Leonards and its surrounds. This issue has resurfaced in relation to the announcement of the interim LTPT Board. Bryan Fisher, vice-chair of West St Leonards Neighbourhood Forum, wrote to the council on 19 March suggesting that one of the Forum’s committee members, Anna Sabin, be invited to represent them on the Board.

In response, an LTPT spokesperson replied that the council “currently works with over 60 external partners and boards, and it would be impossible to represent all of them on the Board.” The intention was, however, to set up thematic working groups… Plans will shortly be made to undertake community engagement over the summer”..

Cllr Hilton has replied to Mr Fisher in similar terms, explaining that the Board needs to be kept relatively small, but that she herself would be pushing for town-wide involvement in the working groups to ensure that areas like West St Leonards are not forgotten. He remains sceptical that working groups will be given sufficient remit to research and promote potential projects so as to influence the Board. 

There was a first meeting of the interim Board on 20 March. A public record of the minutes has been promised, but has not yet appeared, nearly three weeks later.

Arts Council Refuses Funding for February Event

HUGH SULLIVAN
The Directors of Hastings Fat Tuesday CIC (HFT) announced this week that their flagship grassroots music festival, held annually on Shrove Tuesday and preceding days, will not go ahead in 2024, or not at least in the form which the town has come to expect.

Arts Council England (ACE), which over past years has made major contributions to the Fat Tuesday festival budget, has rejected the company’s application for funding in 2024. According to a press release issued on behalf of HFT, the Arts Council “has recognised the outstanding quality and ambition of the festival but cited lack of funds” as the reason for its withdrawal. 

Shrove Tuesday falls on 13 February next year, and the Fat Tuesday celebrations should, as in previous years, have started on Friday 9th. Since its inauguration 14 years ago, the festival has established itself as a major event in the town’s calendar, probably the largest grassroots music events in the Southeast. Last year, HFT records show that the festival scheduled more than 300 live shows across five days, reaching aggregate live audiences of more than 27,000.  80% of the events were free, removing financial barriers for all and providing a host of benefits – not only to those attending but to the local economy, the education sector and to the 500+ grassroots musicians and freelancers who took part. 

Director Adam Daly understands that the homeless crisis in Hastings has left the council unable to provide significant funds for cultural events. “But at a time when ACE has been announcing a much-needed five million pound investment in the grassroots music sector,” he says, “it does seem counter-intuitive for it not to support an organisation that has consistently had grassroots music at its heart.  Even a scaled-back event still requires substantial funding to support the musicians who take part and the small dedicated team who deliver it.”

Co-director Sally Lampitt feels that the departure of the council from 1066 Country Marketing, coupled with the retirement of former marketing and major projects manager Kevin Boorman earlier this year, has had a major bearing on ACE’s withdrawal decision. “The Arts Council are always very aware of local authority support and like to feel there’s a strong cultural strategy in place that shares their vision,” she says. “Kevin was pivotal to this, and always supported and encouraged Hastings Fat Tuesday. His expertise and insight will be greatly missed.” 

Another negative factor compounding the difficulties of setting up the festival in February 2024 was the uncertainty around venues. The closure in 2022 of St Mary in the Castle, where many of the chargeable Fat Tuesday events used to take place, left the White Rock Theatre as the only sizeable musical venue in the town. But the planned withdrawal of the Theatre’s management, Trafalgar Theatres, at the end of January, with no certainty of any transitional programming beyond that date, left HFT unable to commit any bookings for dates just a few days later. The arrival of the Guildhall Trust, who might well be supportive partners in future years, is too late this time round.

“The loss of Hastings Fat Tuesday Music Festival will be seismic for the town,” admits Daly. “It will impact an already fragile economic position and be a massive loss for audiences, for the local freelance industry and especially for the musicians who gain vital experience of live performance”.

The Directors say they are reviewing all possibilities around the festival and hope to continue the traditions of Mardi Gras in some significantly reduced form this February.  But their focus for 2024 will be on ensuring that they continue to provide year-round support for emerging musicians. They’ve had funding for that part of their enterprise since 2021 from a number of sources, including Youth Music, The Chalk Cliff Trust, Lakedown Brewery, the Isabel Blackman Foundation, and the Magdalen and Lasher Trust. 

With new financial support from the Arts Council and PRS For Music, as well as from other local sponsors including Hastings Borough Council, organisers Bob Tipler and Adam Daly undertook a huge marketing effort not only in places like Brighton and Tunbridge Wells but in London too. And how the hosting venues were rewarded! Crowds of out-of-towners descended by road and rail for the weekend and beyond, most intent on the twin enticements of music and alcohol but many ready to dance, costume up and explore the streets. Where, just to to enhance an authentic New Orleans feel, they experienced the bonus of wild winds and an occasional downpour from the edge of Storm Freya.

Following the launch party at the Albion on Friday, some 30 bands played 15-minute ‘unplugged’ acoustic sets each at a succession of participating venues over five hours of Saturday afternoon  – quite a few struggling to be heard, it has to be reported; the Mardi Gras ball followed on at St-Mary-in-the-Castle. Rain and wind on Sunday caused the cancellation of the traditional umbrella parade  – but only so it could be transferred to the interior of St-Mary, where it gained in density what was lost in movement. 

Adam Daly said he was especially pleased with the success of other fringe events over the weekend, in particular the Sonics celebration of avant garde electronic music, and  Monday’s music industry panel event, the Unconvention.

• Next year? The festival will be back – “pushing the boundaries further,” Daly promised.

ALL PICTURES: Mark Richards

KENT BARKER REPORTS:

Many of the 20,000 people expected to attend this year’s Fat Tuesday Mardi Gras festival in Hastings will be affected by rail engineering works on South Eastern.

There will be no London line trains into or out of Hastings over the weekend.  On Saturday 10th February, they will stop at Robertsbridge and on Sunday at Battle. A bus replacement service will be in operation.

Fat Tuesday organiser Adam Daly told HIP they were having to cancel plans to carry out a comprehensive survey of people attending the festival because of the rail disruption.  However, he still expects the event, now in its ninth year, to attract record numbers of people. “Of the 20,000 visits we are hoping for over the five days, perhaps a third will be coming from outside the town.  But many of them will arrive by car, especially for the umbrella parade on Sunday.”

As well as the Grand Ball on Saturday, some 200 musicians will play acoustic sets at many of the 27 participating venues. Sunday sees the ever popular Umbrella Parade and on Fat Tuesday itself between 80 and 90 musicians will play in twelve pubs and venues, mainly in and around the Old Town “Hastings’ Fat Tuesday has become the biggest and best Mardi Gras event in the UK and is now recognised as a major music festival,” said Adam Daly.

The event costs up to £80,000 to put on, with most of the money coming from the  Arts Council and the Performing Rights Society.  The music venues also make a contribution along with Hastings Borough Council.  All the musicians play for free, but get expenses of between £25 and £35.

For full details of the Fat Tuesday line-up see Page 11.

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