BFW is the largest music event in Thanet annually, attracting thousands of people (visitors and locals) to events and generating an estimated £2.4 million (2012 figures) of economic activity in the town. SDHRC is the most important local Arts and Wellbeing research centre in the region and this initiative is a continuation of joint working started in 2018 with the evaluation of volunteer experience.

We are now in a new phase planning work with additional partners (Band in a Weekend, Rosslyn Court, Margate Pride) to capture data on the impact of attendance on audiences at a ‘free’ non-ticketed event and workshops with young people as an ‘audience development’ initiative. This project is subject of a submitted funding application (2022).