Business Sponsors & Funding for 2008 Dart Music Festival

There persists a popular misconception that the DMF either receives grants and funding from various authorities and bodies and/or the lovely artists that perform do so for free!

Aren't urban legends wonderful?

The truth is slightly different. No one gives us any grant aid or support to stage the DMF - nothing! All funds are donated or sponsorship deals. The wonderful local business community in Dartmouth gives great support and donates cash to help us put on this event each year. You can spot the ones who help us by the bright yellow certificate displayed in their windows. In return we hope they receive a boost to their business and feel sure they do. Naturally some give more than others and in turn some types of business tend to get a bigger boost from the influx of music fans than others.

Overall of course, the whole community benefits from the wonderfully rich tapestry of music that is presented. "Music for All". Everyone seems happy with this arrangement. The problem is this money does not cover our costs - by a long way! That is why we carry out collections, sell programmes, wonderful merchandise and anything else we can think of to raise enough to 'keep the show on the road' It is amusing sometimes to carry a collecting tin around the events and get comments such as "but I gave some money on Friday" and this is Sunday!

Perhaps people think that giving a couple of quid at the start of the Festival is enough for watching dozens of acts throughout the long week-end. Others, very generously give a little at each event they watch. I guess what we think would be ideal is if everyone gave a little - "a little from a lot" is what we need. Unfortunately the acts cost a lot of money because we try to book excellent performers. They generally travel a long way, need somewhere to stay and fair payment for their talent. This is what they do. It's their job. Some of the acts you will see literally cost thousands of pounds to perform and are world class.

So you will find that some of our performances are ticketed. Where this is the case we try to make the ticket price reflect both the venue and artist and always represent excellent value. We do get help from kind people who offer to put up artists for free, thus saving us most of the accommodation costs. Just to stress the point - without your tremendous donations the DMF simply would not happen. It is also fair to say that without the tremendous volunteers each year - nothing would get done.

There is a stout committee who meet regularly throughout the year to plan everything and then when May arrives we get loads of extra volunteers. As you can imagine there is loads to do and the more hands the merrier.

If you would like to help in a 'voluntary' way, please contact us. You can e-mail us here: lyon@eclipse.co.uk

More importantly, if you would like to help us financially you can find out how by using the same e-mail address above.

Remember, no donation is too small (or too BIG). Thank you

Below are some of our business sponsors for the Dart Music Festival 2008:

House of Hawkins
Baxters Gallery	info@baxtersgallery.co.uk
Crew Clothing
The Frying Pan	ahavlin@btinternet.com
Spunn	lizzie@spunn.co.uk
A K Marine Electronics	andy@akmarine.co.uk
Charles Head & Son	dartmouth@charleshead.co.uk
The Old Market Café	rcwg1@tiscali.co.uk
Dartmouth Trading
Barista Café	taz_barton@hotmail.com
Stoke Lodge Hotel	mail@stokelodge.co.uk
Sloping Deck Restaurant & Dartmouth Bakery
Bakers Bar
The Cherub Inn	info@the_cherub.co.uk
The Leather Shop
Hansell Drew
Dartmouth Vintners, Vinnicombe
Dartmouth Osteopathic Practice
Foss Street Gallery	lornachurchill@hotmail.com
Market House Inn	davidfahy@btinternet.com
Anthony Waring Photography	anthonywaring2@tiscali.co.uk
Skerries	jam.skerries@rya-online.net
Dartmouth Visitor & Information Centre	holidays@discoverdartmouth.com
Tilley Inflatable Design & Engineering Ltd	paul@tidel.biz
Derek Guy	rollinghitch@aol.com
Trish Thomas	trish@trishthomasjewellery.co.uk
Hill View House	enquiries@hillviewdartmouth.co.uk
Moshulu Shoes
Taylors Restaurant	pashapland@hotmail.com
Scorer Property Services	scorer@dartmouthonline.co.uk
Qube Design	info@qubedesign.co.uk
Kendrick's Restaurant
Great Cotton Cottages	greatcotton@btopenworld.com
Capritia Guesthouse	kenjohnstone@btinternet.com
South Hams Scaffolding
Valley House
Lifestyle Magazine
Higher Ferry
South Hams Newspapers
HSBC
Devon Life
David Beeney & Co
Singer & Singer	singerea@aol.com
Dart Harbour Navigation Authority
Harbour Bookshop Flair Fashions Anzac Street Bistro BBH Architects (Dartmouth) The Cutting Lounge Dartmouth Ice Cream Company Number 11 One Design Danielli Dart Optical Brown's Hotel Seale Arms Harbour Bookshop B.B. Architects (Dartmouth) Ribeye Ltd Bond's Nautical Antiques Fulfords 'Cladda' Dart Roofing Kimble Armstrong Trust Noss Marina Ltd Hooper & Wollen