About Rhythms Of The World

Rhythms of the World 2011 from Film Infinity.

Rhythms of the World (ROTW) is a registered charity (no 1090835), led entirely by volunteers, which aims to unite diverse communities through music and the Arts. The main way we achieve this is to hold an annual festival of music, dance, arts and cuisine from around the world - every July in Hitchin, Hertfordshire.

The Rhythms of the World festival, originally organised by the local Oxfam campaigns groups, has evolved into one of the biggest - and best value - world music festivals in the UK with over 31,000 attending in 2011. People come from all sectors of the community and the event features both local talent as well as artists from around the world.

How it’s funded

The festival is a massive undertaking in both terms of organisation (the festival site itself is a two-week build and de-rig) and cost (around £260,000 in 2011).

The event is led entirely by volunteers, freely offering their time, support, experience, knowledge and enthusiasm. The small ticket charge goes part way (but only part way) towards covering our costs but our aim is to keep the price as low as possible to ensure as many people as possible can attend.  To achieve this we rely on support from sponsors (in cash and in kind), advertisers and grantees, as well as income from our wide range of traders.

The festival is held in the beautiful parkland of Hitchin Priory and could not take place without the generosity of Chartridge Conference Centre who allow us use of their grounds, free of charge, before, during and after the festival.

But, as always, we can do with more help – both in terms of finance through sponsorship and donations, and in terms of volunteers to get involved and help make it all happen.

The Rhythms code

Please show your respect and support for all the festival-goers, volunteers and supporters who make the festival possible by following THE RHYTHMS CODE:

• Enjoy the unusual each day of the festival
• Please look after yourselves and others and respect The Priory Grounds & the town of Hitchin
• Please take personal responsibility for your litter
• Please show your appreciation for the performers and the volunteers who make the festival happen
• Leave your car at home
• ROTW values and respects diversity and individual differences. 
• Any individual demonstrating abusive behaviour due to intolerance of such differences will be excluded from the event.

Site Terms and conditions

Please also be aware of and comply with the site terms and conditions which you can find in full on the reverse of your ticket

• No Glass containers to be brought onto the site.
• Not more that 750ml of wine or 4 cans of beer or cider to be brought onto the site per adult
• BBQs or any other item with an open flame (e.g. candles, lanterns, gas lamps) will not be permitted on the site
• Fireworks, smoke canisters, offensive weapons or other similar articles are not permitted on the site
• Any person found in possession of such articles will be refused entry or ejected
• Persons will not be admitted if, in the opinion of Security, they are under the influence of alcohol or an illegal substance
• ROTW reserves the right to carry out bag searches and to refuse admission in reasonable circumstances
• Any person found to be behaving in a manner deemed unsociable or potentially dangerous will be ejected from the site without refund
• Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult
• With the exception of assistance dogs, no animals are permitted on the site