Update Counterflows 2022

Thank You

Four days on from Counterflows Festival 2022 and we are still trying to process such an overwhelming and incredible weekend with you all.

With the festival we wanted to create a social space for music and culture to thrive in; a space that people journey through and experience collectively. We’d aimed for it to be a space for people to express themselves; to create, learn, drink, dance, hang-out, grow and be nourished together. We can’t thank you all enough – the artists, audiences and everyone behind the scenes – for coming together to create just that. What we all just experienced truly felt profound.

This was first time for many things at Counterflows: The first time for pay-what-you-can tickets (thanks to solidarity ticket holders who helped make this possible!), for our Sunday Small Publishers Fair (thanks to all the stalls, that was ace!), for our Ghost Tunes and Shamica Ruddock/Hannan Jones projects to come to life, and the first time we had so many people in attendance (we sold out the festival again with 400-600 people in the room per event this time. Just wild).

This was our largest collective effort yet with the festival, and while we (Alasdair & Fielding) might have been the hosts, the festival would not have been possible on a creative, practical and logistical level without the loving work and support from a large slew of people. We have to thank Ollie Pitt, Lizzie Malcolm & Dan Powers, Emmie McLuskey, Joel White, Tim Matthew, Alannah Chance, John Stevens, Sarah Lawson, Clare Hoare, Silja Strøm, Sam Trotman, Caroline Winn, Nakul Krishnamurthy, Matilda Strang, Alice de Bourg, Sebastian Taylor, Emily Moore & countless others…

We also have to thank all the venues, staff, engineers and our wonderful team of volunteers. The festival was generously supported by Creative Scotland, The Goethe Institut, Sasakawa Foundation and The British Council this year, and without whose support it all wouldn’t have been possible.

Moving forward… In two weeks time we’ll be releasing the 2022 online edition of Counterflows at Home, which will feature all the zine contents at the festival, as well as some podcasts and other goodies, all for free. Keep yr eyes peeled!

If you came this year we’d love to hear your feedback: specifically what you liked and what you think we could do better at. Any thoughts are appreciated and help massively towards future Counterflows planning.

Sound and people continue to make Counterflows what it is, and we’ll hold the memories of this festival dear for some time to come.

Thanks again & hopefully see you in 2023
xxx