TAFWYL EVALUATION REPORT 2017
CONTENTS 1. Introduction
1.1
Festival History
1.2
Festival Aims
1.3
Attendance at the Festival
1.3.1 Partners
1.3.2 Sponsors
Tafwyl 2017
1.4
1.5 Marketing
1.5.1 Social Media and Website
1.5.2 Media
2. The Evaluation
2.1
Aims of the Evaluation
2.2 Methodology 2.3 Results
2.3.1 Demography
2.3.2 Festival Venues
2.3.3 Grading the Festival
2.3.4 Economic Impact
2.3.4.1
2.3.4.2 Stallholders
2.4
Developing Tafwyl
2.5
Tafwyl 2018 Location
3. Summary of Action Plan
2
Customer Expenditure
1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Festival History Tafwyl is the annual arts & culture festival established by Menter Caerdydd in 2006 to celebrate the use of the Welsh language in Cardiff. In 2012 Tafwyl moved from the Mochyn Du, became part of Cardiff Council’s ‘Cardiff Summer Festival’ and was held at Cardiff Castle for the first time. Tafwyl’s footfall has grown incredibly over the last few years from 1,500 in the Mochyn Du to over 36,500 at last year’s event. Due to UEFA using the castle over the Champions League Final period, Tafwyl had to move location in 2017, and after lengthy discussions with Cardiff Council, Llandaff Fields was chosen as the temporary home of Tafwyl. In 2017 the main aim therefore was to attract Tafwyl’s regular attendees as well as a new audience to Llandaff Fields, by putting an extra focus on marketing as well as offering an attractive & exciting timetable of events.
1.2 Festival Aims The aims of the festival, as noted by the organisers, are as follows: 1. Raise the profile of the Welsh language in Cardiff by
giving
children,
young
people
and
adults
the
opportunity to hear and speak the language in our capital city. 2. Present Welsh culture in a fun, friendly and inclusive environment. 3. Create opportunities for the public to gain confidence in their Welsh and gain access to the language. 4. Target separate audiences, with activities accessible to every group. Adults should see the festival as sophisticated enough for them to enjoy, while also fun for children. 5. Increase the provision of activities for Welsh speaking children and young people and increase their awareness of the language’s worth. 6. Strengthen the position of the Welsh language in the community. 7. Increase and improve services for Welsh citizens. 8. Be considered a festival of high quality. 9. Establish a national profile. 3
1.3 Attendance at the Festival Tafwyl 2017 was attended by over 38,000 people (over 9 days), compared to 36,500 in 2016. Tafwyl Fair was attended by 19,000 on the Saturday and 17,500 on the Sunday. Attendance during the week’s fringe festival was also high with 1,500 enjoying 35 events across the city. The total footfall for Tafwyl Fair and the Tafwyl Fringe Festival therefore was over 38,000.
1.3.1 Presence of Partners Tafwyl is a partnership between the public, private and voluntary sectors and it provides a platform for the Welsh language in the country’s capital. We are proud as an organisation to have had this idea and to have developed it together with partners who share the same vision. The organisations that visited Tafwyl include:
As well as the above partners, 21 schools, 8 Cylch Meithrin & 2 community drama groups are partners. The feedback from partners was very positive, with everyone who was asked stating their intention to take part next year as well.
“The organising was totally professional and without fuss. The team were always willing to help and answer questions beforehand. The security staff were welcoming and the event team went out of their way to help in setting up and taking down. Thanks for all co-operation, we look forward to working with you next year.” Literature Wales
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1.3.2 Sponsors Tafwyl succeeded in attracting £29,100 in sponsorship, -13.5% compared with £33,650 last year. Many of the sponsors were concerned about the new location and were worried the Llandaff Fields wouldn’t attract as much attention, profile and attendees. We had to reduce the sponsorship fee for some companies – and unfortunately didn’t succeed in attracting new sponsors. Positively though, Cardiff University signed a new 3 year sponsorship deal as Main Sponsors for a sum of £30,000 for Tafwyl 2017, 2018 & 2019. Here is a complete list of sponsors:
Following the success of Tafwyl 2017, several companies have already been in contact interested in sponsoring Tafwyl 2018. Two meetings have been organised with a couple of companies with definite interest in sponsoring. In addition to this, Equinox Communications have signed a sponsorship contract for Tafwyl 2018.
“As a sponsor it was a pleasure to see so many people, in their tens of thousands enjoying the festival! The arrangements for the event were excellent, the set up arrangements, the weekend, everything was so easy! There’s something for everyone at the festival and it was great to see so many people of all ages, Welsh speakers as well as non-Welsh speakers enjoying themselves over the weekend. Equinox will be back in 2018!” Equinox Communications
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1.4 Tafwyl 2017 Many agree that Tafwyl 2017 was the best to date with... •
40 live bands
• 35 fringe festival events
•
120 volunteers
• 68 partners
•
16 sponsors
• 329 individual events at Tafwyl Fair
There were many new developments this year. One of the highlights was developing Yurt T – an area for teenagers to enjoy bands, workshops and chill out. A big effort was made to attract more teenagers to the area and to the festival as a whole this year. With support from Arts & Business Cymru & Big Lottery Fund workshops were organised in 5 high schools for pupils in year 9 and above (Whitchurch High, Fitzalan, Glantaf, Plasmawr and Bro Edern) with musician Mei Gwynedd and performer Tara Bethan. Following the workshop each new band had the opportunity to perform at Tafwyl as well as the opportunity to record their new songs in a studio. The project was a huge success which attracted a number of young people who’d never have considered coming to Tafwyl previously.
“What an ideal opportunity for pupils to improve their musicianship and incidental Welsh hand in hand!
It was lovely to see these pupils thrive in
such a wonderful way at Tafwyl.
If ever there is an example of the once
exclusive Welsh language traditions reaching out to our bilingual learners, this is it.
Please come back and reach more of our pupils next year as
Fitzalan pupils love to embrace the ‘old language’.” Rachael Morgan-Jones – Fitzalan High
Other developments were the folk afternoon in conjunction with Trac and Cwpwrdd Nansi, and a family rave with Big Fish Little Fish. Both were extremely popular.
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1.5 Marketing A
major
effort
was
put
in
to
marketing the festival to ensure the usual Tafwyl attendees as well as a new audience were attracted to
Llandaff
Fields.
In
addition
to the usual marketing strategy, Tafwyl
posters
were
plastered
around the city for a period of 6 weeks by Jack Arts. There were 100 large posters on poster posts and 200 A3 posters around the city. Two weeks before the festival 24 large flags were installed along Cathedral
Road
–
they
certainly
attracted attention and there was huge
praise
for
the
impact
the
flags had. Five days before Tafwyl AA signs went up around the city and beyond that led people to the city centre car parks, and also walking signs leading people from the train stations & city centre to Tafwyl. People were asked how they heard about
the
popular
festival.
source
of
The
most
information
again this year was Facebook - with 38% of those surveyed stating they received information about Tafwyl on
Facebook.
The
other
popular
marketing trends were the website, booklets & Twitter. The new methods of marketing were also those
very
successful
questioned
said
as
14%
they
of had
heard about Tafwyl by seeing the flags on Cathedral Road and 13% by seeing the city centre posters.
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1.5.1 Social Media and Website In the months leading up to Tafwyl and during the festival, from the 1st May to the 3rd July there were 28,094 visits to Tafwyl’s website (www.tafwyl.cymru), compared to 15,830 last year. 19,854 were unique visits and 97,339 visits to different pages on the site. 69.3% of these were new visitors to the website, with 30.7%% returning visitors. Tafwyl’s Twitter was very busy during the festival period too. Over the month there were: • 396k Tweet Impressions compared to 169k during the same period in 2016. (Up 536.6% from the previous month) • 34.6k Visits to Tafwyl’s Twitter compared to 17.9k during the same period in 2016. (Up 1,169% from the previous month) • 1,718 mentioned @tafwyl. • 511 new visitors in June. Over the year, Tafwyl’s Twitter followers increased from 4,765 to 5,779 – an increase of 21%. The number of followers on Facebook had reached 4,796 by the end of Tafwyl, compared to 3,587 in 2016 (an increase of 34%). We decided not to develop the app for Tafwyl 2017 and to develop the website with the budget instead to make www.tafwyl.cymru phone and tablet friendly. 59% of site visitors used a phone or tablet therefore it was wise development.
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“Such a great event - thank you to all the organisers. We went as a family on the Saturday and my 16 year old then also spent all the next day there. It was like having a mini Welsh Glastonbury in our own city - a huge treat.”
1.5.2 Media The festival enjoyed extensive media coverage including: • 14 items on national television including ITV News, Heno, Made in Cardiff, Prynhawn Da and Newyddion 9. • A Channel 4 film crew attended the festival to film ‘A Year to Fall in Love’, which will be broadcasted in the new year. • Tafwyl highlights were broadcast on Made in Cardiff, appealing to a wider nonWelsh speaking audience in Cardiff. • Live broadcast from Tafwyl on BBC Radio Cymru throughout Saturday afternoon. • 6 radio interviews including Radio Wales, Radio Cardiff and Radio Cymru. • More than 12 items in the national, regional and local press including Buzz Magazine, Cardiff Life, Golwg, Y Cymro, Selar and Y Dinesydd. • A double page spread in Western Mail. • Several items on Wales Online (including a comprehensive item ‘Everything you need to know about Tafwyl’) • Several items on BBC Cymru Fyw and Golwg 360. • A very popular item on Visit Wales’ website ’12 Things we Love about Tafwyl For the first time this year a couple of well-known bloggers blogged about the festival and it was extremely popular. ‘Visit Cardiff’ blogged about a Welsh Learners experience at Tafwyl, and ‘Cardiff Mummy Says’ wrote about the events for children at Tafwyl. 9
2. EVALUATION 2.1 Aims of the Evaluation The purpose of the evaluation is to collect information about the following elements of the festival: 1. Did the festival fulfil its aims? 2. What did attendees think of the festival? 3. What is the demography of the festival’s audience? 4. What was the effect of the festival on participants? 5. What was the economic impact of the festival?
2.2 Methodology Data was collected by the evaluation team at the main entrance and by the festival office. The team at the main entrance collected a sample of the festival’s audience in order to analyse the demography. An evaluation survey was sent to the public through our Facebook and Twitter, and our e-chlysur network, sent to 5,000 people. Survey Monkey was used to create and analyse the survey. A survey was also sent to all the festival’s stallholders and partners in order to collect their opinion and comments about the festival.
2.3 Results 418 interviews were held with festival attendees on Survey Monkey. The demography of attendees was observed.
“Congratulations to the team for organising such a wonderful event. It was wonderful to see so many people especially teenagers socialising in Welsh. It’s a great opportunity for them to see that the language is alive beyond the classroom especially those who come from non-Welsh speaking families.“
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2.3.1 Audience Demography According to the sample of the team at the main entrance, the gender split was 52% female, 48% male. According to the questionnaire 8% were under 25, 39% between 25-40, 46% between 40-60 and 7% over 60. Observationally, about 1/3 of attendees were children, and the majority of those who attended were white (88%). A number of people had travelled far to attend the festival. 17% of attendees had travelled from outiside of Cardiff, showing that Tafwyl is developing into a national event attracting visitors to Cardiff for the weekend. The evaluation shows that Tafwyl apeals not only to a Welsh speaking audince but to a much wider audience of non-Welsh speakers – 78% of the attendees were Welsh speakers. Out of the non-Welsh speakers 97% believed the festival was welcoming to attendees who don’t speak Welsh.
2.3.2 Festival Venues The main change this year was moving Tafwyl from Cardiff Castle to Llandaff Fields. This was not only a lot of additional prep work but also a concern for us because the castle was such a central location. Thankfully the increase in the numbers showed there was no need to worry and that more people than ever came to enjoy Tafwyl. It also became very obvious that people were staying for longer periods of time at Llandaff Fields compared to Cardiff Castle. In the Castle there was a lot of coming and going and people calling in off the street but not staying. 5000 is the maximum cappasity at any one time at the Castle...but at Llandaff Fields over the busiest hour over 8,000 were on site at the same time. 69% graded the location of the festival as ‘Excellent’ and 26% as ‘Good’. Only 3% graded the location ‘Avarage’ and only 2% ‘Bad’. During the fringe festival 35 various events were held across the city in different venues. Many of these venues were new this year, with events held accross the city – Cardiff North, South, East & West as well as Cardiff Central. Some of the new locations included: •
Little Man Coffee
•
The Old Library, Splott
•
Llandaff Area
•
Pontcanna Area
•
Ffandangos
All the locations worked very well, and the venues are keen for Menter Caerdydd to hold events there again. The guided walks around Llandaff and Pontcanna were extremely popular and a number of people have requested Menter Caerdydd hold these tours throuought the year not just during Tafwyl week. 11
2.3.3 Grading the Festival The response to the festival on social media and in the form of personal letters was very positive. Respondents were asked to rate their impression of the festival. The responses are summarised in the chart below:
Lleoliad / Location Staff a Stiwardiaid / Stewards Bwyd a Diod / Food and Drink Adloniant / Entertainment Cerddoriaeth Byw / Live Music Stondinau / Stalls Argraff Gyffredinol / Overall Impression 0 100 200 300 400
The live music aspects of the festival were extremly popular with 96% grading the music ‘excellent’ or ‘good’. The stalls were also very popular with 92% grading them ‘excellent’ or ‘good’. The rating for the overall impression of the festival wad extremly positive with 93% rating it ‘excellent’ or ‘good’. Only 1.2% of attendees rated the festival as ‘fair’ or ‘poor’. The Street Food & Bar Area at Tafwyl has become a very popular part of the festival. In 2016 93.98% of attendees graded the Food and Drink as ‘great’ or ‘good’, but unfortunately in 2017 the percentage fell to 65%. The very obvious problem we had was the long queues for the bars and food stalls. The number of people staying on site at Tafwyl for longer periods was higher than ever and unfortunately there were not enough food stalls and bars to cope with this. In addition to this, as security staff were checking bags more thoroughly because of the country’s current
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security level people couldn’t sneak alcohol in with them as easily - and there was a knock-on effect on the queues. However, by Sunday there were many more bar staff and more staff on the food stalls. There was praise for solving the problem of queuing by the second day and the visitor experience on Sunday was much more positive. We will need another bar in 2018 and two additional food stall. What did you enjoy....? “The atmosphere on Sunday after queues were resolved
somehow!” We asked the audience ‘Do you think Tafwyl has a positive effect on the Welsh language in Cardiff?’ – An impressive 99% answered ‘Yes’.
98% stated that they would visit the festival again in future.
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When asked ‘What did you enjoy most about Tafwyl?’
“The lively, welcoming atmosphere and a variety of entertainment.” “The friendly, inclusive atmosphere and being able to use the very little Welsh I know.” “It was nice to see new people are discovering the festival, and good to see how the festival has developed. And it’s all free! Amazing. “ “That so many people of all ages and backgrounds can come together and enjoy music, conversation and socialising completely natural in Welsh.” “Seeing the surge in interest in Welsh activities and the many young families enjoying every aspect of contemporary Welsh culture. It proved that there is a miraculous growth in Welsh interest happening through the city. This is certainly the future of the language!”
2.3.4 Economic Impact 2.3.4.1 Customer Expenditure To evaluate the expenditure of Tafwyl attendees, respondents were asked to note how much they spent on different things: Area
Average
Bwyd a Diod / Food and Drink
£27.80
Stondinau / Stalls
£14.53
Trafnidiaeth i’r ŵyl / Transport to and from the festival
£4.54
Llety / Accommodation
£1.47
Tafarndai a Bwytai / Bars and Restaurants
£14.46
Total expenditure per head
£62.80
So by analysing the results, bearing in mind that about 1/3 of attendees were children (and by multiplying the average expenditure with 2/3 of Tafwyl’s weekend audience = 24,333), we can see that Tafwyl had an economic impact on Cardiff of about £1,528,112.40. This figure is 4.5% more than the economic impact of Tafwyl 2016, at £1,462,656.60. As well as the above figure, we have received an economic report from Cash on the Move who provided ATM’s at Tafwyl.
1,163 withdrawals were made at Tafwyl that dispensed £52,660 into the economy of the event.
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Tafwyl was extremely positive to local businesses too. One local cafe owner noted that they had taken £5,000 more over Tafwyl weekend than a usual weekend. One local bar took £11,000 more through the tills than an average weekend – it was their second busiest weekend over the last 10 years – the busiest being Wales V England!
2.3.4.2 Stallholders 50 stalls were at Tafwyl this year, compared to 40 in 2016. 40 selling Welsh produce and 10 information stalls. Tafwyl’s stallholders were asked, in a separate survey, how much money they made on the day. The average profit for stallholders selling merchandise was £600, around £24,000 between all produce stalls. The bars and catering stalls made a profit of over £50,000 at Tafwyl, with Tafwyl receiving a percentage of this figure. Many of the caterers/bars employed local Welsh speaking staff for their stalls – 150 local staff were employed for the festival.
“Very well organised, advertised, designed, branded. Good security team. Fab atmosphere, good quality traders. Perfect trading times. So much for everyone to do, absolutely loved being part of such a great, successful event. We sold thousands of ice cream, thank you so much. These sales are vital to keeping our small, local, Cardiff business going and growing. It also ensures that our employees have plenty of hours to work and our local dairy and fruit suppliers are kept busy. Thank you for putting together a brilliant event and letting us be part of it. It will be one of the best events we do all year, I’m so grateful to you guys for doing it.” Science Cream “THANK YOU for a great event! Of course the weather was with us and made things easier, but Tafwyl would never be as successful without the efforts you guys put in. It was certainly one of the best 2 day events we’ve been to in 8 years and I can not thank you enough for making it that way. It was brilliant, from the layout of the field, to the music, the crew on hand or the general atmosphere.” The Welsh Creperie Co.
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2.4 Developing Tafwyl We asked respondents how they would like to see Tafwyl develop. Here are a few of the most popular suggestions: • More bars / street food traders so there are fewer queues • A larger site • More Q&A’s • More seating areas • More shade from the sun / cover from rain • More Street Theatre • Comedy • Campsite • More activities for pre-school children • If returning to Llandaff Fields – a shuttle bus from City Centre
2.5 Tafwyl 2018 Location When asked ‘What did you think of Llandaff Fields as a location?’
“The location was much more welcoming to people who wouldn’t normally attend. Several of my non-Welsh speaking friends came this year. The profile was higher because of the location – much more buzz about it.” “The open space that Llandaff Fields offered gave it the feel of a mini festival and was a great all round introduction to fantastic Welsh arts, crafts and produce.” “Fun atmosphere. Somehow there was open & inclusive atmosphere at Llandaff Fields, it would be nice to see Tafwyl return there. “ “I really enjoyed the location this year - nice to be outside the city centre. It felt very relaxed. Also, I noticed a lot more non-Welsh speakers - fab! “ “Location LOT better than the castle - please can you stay there next year!” “It’s great having all the greenery around Tafwyl. Easily accessible by bus and bicycle. More potential to grow Tafwyl. More open to people who passed to see the event. Not as much noise from the stage affecting the other tents.” When asked “Where would you like to see Tafwyl 2018?” 62% answered Llandaff Fields, 25% answered Cardiff Castle and 13% reported ‘Other’. In the ‘Other’ option many have indicated they would like Tafwyl to move around the city to areas including Grangetown, Splott and Roath. Despite the original concerns, Llandaff Fields was a huge success. It was very visible from Penhill & Cathedral Road whilst we were building the site over the 16
week leading up to the event. Many say it felt more open and inclusive; and a festival for the whole community not just a Welsh language event hidden behind the Castle walls. The space at Llandaff Fields enables more stalls and more space for a larger audience. It’d not have been possible for 8,000 to be at the Castle at any one time, but it was at Llandaff Fields. Moving back to the Castle would be a step back now, reducing the amount of stalls and limiting attendance numbers to 5,000 at any one time. Unfortunately the additional costs of being at Llandaff Fields is high - roughly £50,000 between track way, security, fencing, car park closing, and additional marketing costs. We are very thankful to Cardiff Council for covering these costs this year. Discussions with Cardiff Council and Tafwyl funders will now be needed before being able to choose where to hold Tafwyl 2018.
3. SUMMARY OF ACTION PLAN This year’s Tafwyl was the most successful yet with over 38,000 attending the 9 day festival. By now we attract over £180,000 in funding for Tafwyl. Tafwyl 2017 brought an economic impact of around £1,528,112.40 to the city. 98% of attendees said they are likely to visit again next year. 99% of attendees think Tafwyl has a positive effect on the Welsh language. In order to continue to develop Tafwyl, respond to our customers’ recommendations and ensure that Tafwyl is an inclusive festival that can appeal to a wider audience, the following factors must be considered in future: • Work closely with Cardiff Council to find a suitable location for Tafwyl 2018. • Continue to offer free admission to the festival but continue to ensure substantial income in order to keep the festival going. • Develop a current, exciting and ground breaking programme of events for Tafwyl 2018. • Additional bar & street food traders • More seating area & better provision for rainy weather / shelter from the sun. • Develop a partnership with the The Welsh Government’s Major Events Team & Visit Wales in order to expand the Tafwyl brand outside of Cardiff. • Work closely with the National Eisteddfod to ensure it doesn’t affect either festival when the Eisteddfod visits Cardiff Bay in August 2018.
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