20/05/2026
Hello, good people of Towersey Festival
We know that for many people, Towersey Festival wasn’t just a festival. It was part of their life. Part of family history. Part of the rhythm of the year. A place where friendships were formed, children grew up, traditions were born, and generations gathered.
And when Towersey ended, it genuinely hurt. We felt it too. (in fact, we felt that more than anyone)
After 60 years, closing the UK’s longest-running independent festival was not something anybody wanted to do. But over time, the challenges facing independent festivals became increasingly difficult. Rising costs, changing audience habits and mounting operational pressures created a situation that simply wasn’t sustainable
We know some of you were disappointed. Some were angry. Some felt unsure about what came next and felt like Found Festival was a poor alternative. That’s understandable.
But FoundFestival was never created to “replace” Towersey. Found exists because we still believe the reason Towersey mattered is worth fighting for and worth bringing back.
Community, creative discovery, conversation, music, dance, tradition, belonging……that spirit deserves a future.
So instead of trying to recreate Towersey exactly as it was, we asked ourselves a different question: “What would a truly independent, community-driven, grass-roots music and cultural festival need to look like now in order to survive and thrive for the next generation?”
Found was our answer. And for those who joined us last year, something quite emotional and quite brilliant happened. People recognised the feelings, the music, the people. They recognised so much of what they knew. More intimate and more refined perhaps, but all the same passion, production values and true purpose.
There were ceilidhs packed with dancers of all ages. Families making stuff together. Incredible musical discoveries. Campfire conversations. Workshops. Comedy. Choirs. Live Podcasts. Beautiful moments of silliness and joy. And perhaps most importantly… space for people to genuinely connect again.
Culture evolves. Festivals evolve. Communities evolve. But the values underneath the good stuff can remain and does remain as the foundation of FoundFestival.
Independent festivals like Found survive almost entirely because audiences choose to support them early and believe in what they represent. Without that support, grassroots cultural spaces disappear, and once they’re gone, they rarely come back.
So, if you’ve been sitting on the fence, unsure whether Found is “for you”, I simply ask you this. Come and see.
Not because it’s Towersey. But because it carries forward many of the things that made Towersey matter in the first place. And because spaces built around kindness, creativity, music, participation and human connection have never been more important than they are right now (just look at the news).
We’d genuinely love to welcome you to try out FoundFestival.
Joe (Co-Director of Found Festival & previously Towersey Festival)
