As we want the benefit of the project to be felt locally, your event must take place in Folkestone (and we have decided this means within 45 mins walking distance of Folkestone Central Railway Station.)

The ethos of Folkestone Music Town is collaboration, so we ask you apply as a partnership between an artist/band/act or promoter and a venue.  You should share a vision for what you are wanting to do. On the form, one should be the ‘primary applicant’ and the other the ‘collaborator’.  

It can be a brand-new partnership – or it could be taking an existing partnership to the next level, working on something new.  

Each proposal will need to have a venue and date either pencilled or confirmed. You don’t need everything agreed, but we do need to see that there is a strong likelihood of the event going ahead and that there will be audience for it. So please do not apply as a venue without an identified act, or vice versa.

Diversity and inclusion are central to Folkestone Music Town’s mission. We want the Future Sound of Folkestone to be a celebration of the widest range of musicians and musical genres in the town and to involve artists and audiences from a broad spectrum of backgrounds and communities. We are particularly interested in younger or emerging artists living locally who are developing their profile.  

We will ask you to provide some personal monitoring information which will be kept confidential and will not be used in the decision making.

And finally, the successful applicants must demonstrate that they have excellent social media reach and marketing so that they can tell the world about the fantastic and diverse music scene in Folkestone.

Successful artist/venue partnerships can spend the £500 on any project costs they have (including artists fees) but we will expect to see a budget showing your financial contribution as part of the proposal, and we expect that at least £50 (10%) of the award will go towards good quality video capture and documentation of the event.

As the money is coming from a public funder, we are ensuring a fair and impartial decision-making process by inviting an external independent jury to judge the proposals on our behalf. No members of the FMT team will be making decisions.   

We are delighted to have a music industry panel of 3 experts, led by Fiona Stewart, owner of the internationally renowned Green Man Festival, and including Nigel Feist, director of the Broadstairs Blues Bash (an inspiration for FMT), and Creative Director of Electric Medway Kevin Grist, who collaborates regularly with local musicians and organisations.

The jury will read your proposal and decide, based on what you have written, and judge on these criteria:

• The quality of the collaboration between venue and artist/band or promoter
• The genre or style of music
• The audience you wish to attract
• Your social media reach and marketing plans

Don’t be disheartened. Talk to us.  Folkestone Music Town is a supportive group of likeminded musicians, venues, event organisers and technicians who are committed to raising the profile of music in our town and making it sustainable.  

Alongside Music in May, we run the FMT gig guide, workshops and conferences, our regular Music Town meet-up and other events throughout the year. We are always looking for further funding and sponsorship for activities and we are aways looking for new ideas, new talent and new people to get involved.

We will award 5 projects for the period July to September 2024 from the first call and 5 projects from October to December from the second call. We will be flexible if for unforeseen reasons your project dates have to move but we must complete the Future Sound of Folkestone by the end of January 2025.

The First Open Call is 17 June – 8 July – decisions announced on 15 July for projects July-September

The Second Open Call is 2-29 September – decisions announced 7 October for projects October- December

Please give the following information:

• Your name and details as the primary applicant
• Your collaborating partner’s name and details (venue, band, promoter etc)
• Your event(s) title, description of your event(s) and the date(s)
• You should say whether the venue you wish to use is confirmed or tentative (pencilled.) It does not have to be fully confirmed as we understand that things change, but you should show that there is a strong chance that the event will go ahead. The event should take place in the period July to September 2024 and the venue should be within 45 minutes walking distance of Folkestone Central Railway Station.
• The names of the artists who will be performing plus links to their social media, Spotify, websites etc to show their profile and likelihood of attracting an audience.
• A brief biography of the artist(s) (up to 200 words)
• A description of the audience you wish to attract (200 words)
• A brief statement of why you think your event(s) should be supported. What do you think this event would bring to Folkestone (for example – will it benefit a particular community, present musical genres that are not common in the town, give an opportunity for younger artists or younger audiences etc?) (200 words)
• Please give some details on your own social media reach.
  And please provide an outline budget showing how the Future Sound of Folkestone contribution’s will enable your event or events to go ahead. Please also show your own contribution as we will wish to judge ‘value of money’.
• We will then ask you complete a monitoring form. This information is held by us so that we can see how we are doing in reaching all areas of our community and will not be used in the decision making. If you are planning that your project is going to focus on a specific community or audience (for example in terms of age, ethnicity, disability, LGBTQ+ etc) then please make sure you include that information in the questions on audiences and why the project should be supported.
• Any technical problems with the form can be sent to info@folkestonemusic.co.uk