Tramlines festival 2023 Sheffield: ‘Apply-to-play’ scheme will give local acts the chance to perform

Timm Cleasby, Tramlines’ operations director, said: “Local music and new acts have always been a key feature of the festival.”

With 97 per cent of the tickets sold, the festival will take place from July 21-23 in Hillsborough Park.

This year, the overall winner of the ‘apply-to-play’ scheme will be rewarded with prizes including: paid festival slots at Tramlines, Truck Festival, and Victorious Festival; £500 of rehearsal and recording credits at Pirate Studios; a feature interview in Exposed Magazine; and an invitation to perform at This Feeling showcase event.

Mr Cleasby added: “It’s always such a privilege to feature acts who then go on to achieve great things and we must continue to use the platform Tramlines provides to support and nourish local music.”

Rumbi Tauro, an R&B and soul singer-songwriter, is one of the artists who was first selected through the apply-to-play scheme back in 2021, also winning that year’s Pattern + Push competition, which specialises in mentoring aspiring rappers, lyricists, and singers.

Speaking about how the scheme helped her career, Ms Tauro said: “This opportunity was such an encouraging step in my career — I’d just released my debut PE ‘The Process’, so this was a great way to play the tracks at such an iconic festival.

“It also allowed me to connect to a community not so far away from my hometown in Doncaster. I was able to then get booked for other shows around Yorkshire because of the visibility the Tramlines slot gave me.”

Sporting over five stages of music, comedy, and differing performances, Tramlines will feature names such as Richard Ashcroft, Courteeners, and Paul Heaton with Jacqui Abbot. The festival will also feature several venues ranging from food and drink to vintage clothing stores, and other roaming entertainment.