Festival Info

What are the important dates?

The essential dates for the 43rd Shetland Folk Festival in 2025.

  • Wednesday 06 November 2024 - Early membership online sales open
  • Friday 28 February 2025 - Early membership online sales close.
  • Monday 03 March 2025 (6pm UK time) - Ticket booking open to early members only.
  • Monday 10 March 2025 (5.30pm UK time) - Memberships back on sale
  • Monday 10 March 2025 (6pm UK time) - Ticket booking open to all
  • Saturday 19 April 2025 (11am - 4pm) - ticket only collection from Festival Office at 5 Burns Lane, Lerwick
  • Saturday 26 April 2025 (11am - 4pm) - ticket only collection from Festival office at 5 Burns Lane, Lerwick
  • Tuesday 29 April 2025  - All online ticket and membership sales will end at 6pm to enable the committee to process all transactions before moving from the Festival Office to Islesburgh (Festival Club) for the duration of the Festival.  This is the final day you can buy a membership.
  • Wednesday 30 April 2025 - it will be possible to COLLECT tickets and your membership wristband between 5pm and 8pm at Islesburgh Community Centre.  
  • Thursday 01 - Saturday 03 May 2025 - 11am Festival Shop opens at Islesburgh Community Centre for any remaining ticket sales, ticket and wristband collection. Memberships will not be on sale over the weekend. Only non members price tickets will be available. If you have purchased a membership at an earlier date in which case members prices will apply.

Please note that all membership and ticket sales are online and we do not accept bookings over the phone or via email. Our shop will be open on some of these dates above to offer assistance however.

We aim to release the concert details of who is playing where by early March 2025.

For full details, and for instructions how to purchase, please visit the membership and tickets pages.

Youth Programming and Community Projects

In addition to organising the ticketed concerts, SFFS continue to aspire to organise extra community events, many of them targeted at younger members of the Shetland populace.  These events are normally reliant on securing core funding from Creative Scotland and other bodies. Events include the Early Years concert, the Additional Support Needs
concert, and selected school visits. We are also keen on developing educational opportunities. In previous years this has included the “S.H.O.W” project, which showcased the talents of students and tutors from Shetland, Highland, Orkney and the Western Isles in May 2007. The 29th Festival witnessed the exciting and innovative Trans-Nordic educational project, “Nordic Tone” whereas the 2012 Festival included a collaborative project between 4 members of Treacherous Orchestra and 5 music students who formed “The Trad Seeds” in the week running up to the Festival. In 2018, young people from the USA and Shetland collaborated through the Festival hosting a visit form the Young Tradition Vermot Touring Group. Projects like these are extremely valuable for the ongoing development of our prestigious event.

Merchandise

Festival merchandise will be on sale during the Festival at the Club.

Artiste's merchandise will only be sold at the venues that they are performing at.

Raffle Contributors for 2025

The Festival relies on fundraising over the weekend to help meet the costs of staging the event (including freezing ticket prices to make it as affordable as possible to those struggling with the cost of living crises).  We are extremely grateful for any raffle donations that businesses may be able to put forward and concert goers are able to participate by purchasing raffle tickets during the concerts!

If you are able to donate a prize, please send an email for the attention of Lisa Johnson to [email protected] 

No Smoking Policy

In line with Scottish Law please remember that ALL venues used by the Festival are strictly non-smoking - this includes the Festival Club. All smoking, including vaping, should occur well outside of the Festival venues.