History and Background

Overview

Thame Town Music Festival is a free multi-genre, multi-venue, market town centre based festival aimed at promoting live original music performance from new and established artists.  
 
New for 2021 - BBC Music Introducing Stage!
 
TTMF21 will bring amazing live music events to Thame, including a Songwriters Competition and a Classical Concert.  Saturday 10th July 2021 will once again see Thame transformed into a fantastic outdoor venue with the Main Stage outside the Town Hall, a second town centre stage curated by BBC Introducing and additional venues throughout Thame.  The affected town centre roads are closed to traffic for the day and a number of bars, food stalls and non-food stalls operate in the festival area. 
 
TTMF17 saw 9 venues host 58 acts with over 200 musicians attract over 8,000 visitors. TTMF18 hosted over 9,500 visitors and added a Classical Concert, a Music Industry Convention and a Songwriters Competition to the line-up over the two days. TTMF19 was the biggest year yet and saw around 12,500 visitors to Thame enjoying over 60 acts across 12 venues including two outdoor stages.
 
The event is supported by Thame Town Council and is funded through sponsorship, grants, venue and stall fees, advertising and merchandising revenue. It is organised by Thame Town Music Festival CIC which is a non-profit making Community Interest Company run by unpaid volunteers.
 
Event production (music, staging, lights , etc.), Stewarding, security, waste management and medical services are provided by contracted professional companies.  Festival volunteers assist with other duties.  TTMF work with Thame Town Council and all the emergency services during the planning and running of the event to ensure compliance with all security and emergency procedures.
 

Background

We are all local people who love music and Thame.  We got together in late 2016  to add to the fun and vibrancy of Thame and to give musicians’ a platform to perform (it’s not so easy these days to get your own music heard!) and to allow people to see live music – We love it!

TTMF17 saw 9 venues host 58 acts with over 200 musicians attract over 8,000 visitors. TTMF18 hosted over 9,500 visitors and added a Classical Concert, a Music Industry Convention and a Songwriters Competition to the line-up over the two days. TTMF19 was the biggest year yet and saw around 12,500 visitors to Thame enjoying over 60 acts across 12 venues including two outdoor stages.  
 

Principles

We remain committed to the principles initiated in 2017 namely:

  • We will treat everyone as we would wish to be treated
  • We will do each task as well as we can
  • We focus on music, particularly original and authentic music

 

Objectives

To become an important annual event which attracts new and established musical artists and is seen on a national level to be supporting new and original music and musicians.  We will do this not only through providing an opportunity to perform but through hosting music business conventions where representatives and artists from the industry share advice, contacts and experiences.

To provide clear differentiation from other small festivals:

  • To further enrich the cultural life and reputation of Thame as a vibrant, diverse, and enthusiastic community
  • To give original artists a platform to perform in a quality setting to a supportive and engaged audience
  • To continue the FTMC mission of promoting live music performance in Thame 
  • To support the local economy and small retail businesses particularly Thame High Street 
  • To kick start a fund/campaign to create a performance venue for Thame

 

Thame Town Music Festival CIC

We are a not for profit organization and take no money from it.  It exists to enhance Thame and get live music thriving in our town.

Thame Town Music Festival CIC, Company # 10683384, Millweye Court, 73 Southern Rd, Thame OX9 2ED

 

First Thursday Music Club (FTMC)

The FTMC was started in 2010 by Johnnie Littler and now, nearly 10 years later, runs the best open mic nights in the country.  FTMC also run stages at Towersey Festival, the Thame Carnival and other events.  So far FTMC have put on over 700 acts to a combined audience of over 11,000! All for free!

FTMC is at The Stables, The James Figg, 21 Cornmarket, Thame, Oxon. OX9 3BN.  The first Thursday of each month (see what we did there?) Walk up slots 8:00 – 9:00, then pre-books, a feature act and lots of fun – come on down. Contact FTMC through their Facebook page. Follow on them twitter, Visit their website.

 

2021 Thame Town Music Festival - Organising Committee

  • Simon Davidmann – Chairman, Entrepreneur, Guitarist, Cellist
  • Johnnie Littler – Festival Director, Guitar, Singing, and good with an email!
  • Michele Pethers – Creative Programme, Record company!
  • Chris Hallsworth – Finance & Operations Director, Guitar, good with wood and sharp implements!
  • Anne Laird – Event Director and superfan
  • Contact us on info@ThameTownMusicFestival.org

 

2021 Thame Town Music Festival - Venue Curators

We have a top team leading on the genres and venues they include:

 

2021 Thame Town Music Festival - Genres

Music we love and will be featuring somewhere include:
  • Acoustic
  • Americana
  • Blues
  • Classical
  • Country
  • Folk Sessions
  • Grassroots and Introducing
  • Indie
  • Jazz
  • Musical comedy
  • Rockabilly
  • Singer – Songwriter