OUR CHARITY

Henley Festival was set up in 1982 as a charity, its mission being to stage a music and arts Festival for the local community. To coincide with our 40^th anniversary in 2022, we launched RISE, the charitable initiative to inspire and support the next generation of talented performers and technicians hoping to work in the creative arts industry. RISE provides paid opportunities for young up-and-coming musicians, comedians and visual artists. We also seek to support the young backstage staff of the future by offering paid work experience with leading lighting and sound companies, and in marketing and PR.

RISE will give talented individuals or groups, whatever their story, the opportunity to take the first steps into the exciting world of performance and creativity both public facing and back of house. We feel it’s our mission to nurture the next generation of creative talent, especially after the devastating effect of the pandemic on the cultural sector, so across our programme we’ll be providing opportunities for young musicians, comedians and visual artists to perform or show their work, as well as helping them before and after with marketing and production. Talent, of course isn’t just on the stage, it’s also the people ‘behind the scenes’ that bring the creative process together by introducing work experience programmes for these disciplines including sound engineers, lighting designers, stage managers etc to give aspiring young people the chance to experience working in an industry that’s notoriously difficult to get into. Watch out for our RISE performers across the Festival week!