Other Voices Cardigan celebrates record attendances on its most successful edition to date

• Festival sees record attendances over three days of music, discussion and ideas with over 15,000 individual admissions recorded across 100 performances over Cardigan
• Highlights included special performances from James Dean Bradfield and Nadine Shah and an interview with First Minister Eluned Morgan 

Other Voices Cardigan 2024 has drawn to a close with the festival’s producers reporting record figures across the event’s fifth edition. The three-day event, which ran October 31-2 November, attracted thousands of music fans to the coastal town of Cardigan, immersing themselves in a curated programme celebrating music, friendship, language, ideas and culture from both sides of the Irish Sea and beyond.

Festival highlights included stellar performances from Nadine Shah, Bill Ryder Jones, and Fabiana Palladino. St Mary’s Church audiences were treated to an acoustic performance by Manics’ frontman James Dean Bradfield, who performed special renditions of the classics ‘Motorcycle Emptiness’, ‘A Design for Life’, and ‘Ready for Drowning’. Other Church performers this year include Charlotte Day Wilson, Melys, Victor Ray, and Georgia Ruth.

Providing an extraordinary and inspiring programme across a myriad of musical genres, events took place in cafes, bars, places of worship and arts venues.

As over 42 established and emerging acts from Wales and Ireland played the Music Trail, and some 300 artists and crew worked and performed, the festival also boosted the local economy, with many businesses reporting increased foot traffic and sales during the event.

Over the past weekend, the festival saw over 15,000 individual event admissions over 100 performances across the weekend, representing a 36% increase on 2023. Visitors from outside Wales also increased significantly by 41%, with music fans coming from Ireland, Italy, New York, Sweden and Germany.

“This year has been another fantastic success,” added Dilwyn Davies, CEO of Mwldan, co-producers of the event. “We’ve celebrated the vibrancy and vitality of the music scenes on both sides of the Irish Sea, and the spirit of our communities. The audience response has been incredibly positive and joyous, and we can’t wait to bring everyone together again in 2025.”

“Cardigan/Aberteifi came alive with great music and stimulating and provocative banter when Other Voices came to town this past weekend”, said Phillip King, Founder of Other Voices,”The event is growing and expanding year on year, attracting more visitors to this beautiful town. It’s a real delight to bring Other Voices across the Irish Sea, to collapse between Ireland and Wales and to bring us together in a way that deepens and strengthens every aspect of our relationship”.

Church performances were live-streamed on Other Voices YouTube channel and simultaneously streamed to the big screen at Mwldan in Cardigan, and highlights will be later broadcast on BBC Wales TV, BBC iPlayer and RTÉ and RTÉ Player via our media partners. The event is presented by BBC DJ and Other Voices regular Huw Stephens.

Other Voices Cardigan is staged with the support and investment of Welsh Government and Government of Ireland, The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, and The Department of Foreign Affairs’ Reconciliation Fund, and is produced by South Wind Blows in partnership with Mwldan and Triongl. This project is part-funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, supported by Ceredigion County Council. Other Voices Cardigan will be filmed for future television broadcast on BBC Wales and RTÉ, and on BBC iPlayer and RTÉ Player.