TicketSource Rural Touring Awards launched
The National Rural Touring Forum (NRTF) has launched the first ever awards celebrating rural touring in the UK. NRTF is delighted to announce a sponsorship deal with TicketSource.
Anyone
working in rural touring from performers, to voluntary promoters and
the staff of rural touring networks, as well as audience members, are
eligible to nominate for the TicketSource Rural Touring Awards across six categories.

Circo Rum Ba Ba performance in Neuadd Dyfi through Night Out. Image by Keith Morris.
Potential
nominees include artists, volunteer promoters, venues and touring
schemes with nominations opening today and remaining open until 5 th May
when a shortlist will be drawn up by industry peers.
The
shortlist will go before an independent judging panel comprising
Guardian journalist Lyn Gardner, writer and researcher Francois
Matarasso, Ed Collier of independent producing studio China Plate and
Beccy Speight, Chief Executive of The Woodland Trust.
Judges will be tasked with looking for brilliant stories, examples of good practice and forward-looking work.
The award categories are as follows:
Most welcoming village hall or community venue
Most innovative and/or inspirational show seen at a village hall or community venue
Volunteer promoter of the year
Most supportive touring scheme
Rural touring newcomer of the year
The NRTF special award
The NRTF special award is open to all – from touring schemes and volunteers to artists or touring companies.
They
are looking for an amazing story from the world of rural touring to
reward long service, dedication beyond the call of duty, reliability or
an exciting contribution.
The inaugural presentation of awards will take place on 28 th June at the NRTF annual conference.
The
NRTF is the membership organisation for rural touring and represents 26
touring schemes around the country. It recently announced figures
showing a 26% increase in audiences for rural touring over the past
decade based on a survey of its members.
Speaking about the awards, director and NRTF board member Elizabeth Freestone said:
“It’s
thanks to the efforts of dedicated volunteer promoters, of hard-working
performers, of committed touring schemes and of loyal audiences that
rural touring is vibrant and thriving. The RTAs will allow us to
publicly show gratitude to those individuals who have made a real
difference to a community over the past year.”
If you would like to submit nominations for the awards you can do so here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/SV7JGL6
Nominations
will close at midnight on the 5th May. Those shortlisted in each
category will be notified by 26th May and the shortlisted nominees will
be invited to attend the prize giving at Nottingham University on 28th
June as part of the NRTF conference – where the overall winners in each
category will be announced at an event compered by Stella Duffy OBE.