REDDITCH'S second AIR Festival will be more low-key than last year's big budget extravaganza, with an emphasis on community-based arts activities rather than high-profile music stars.
According to Redditch Council's director of cultural development, Paul Patten, residents will not see a repeat of the lavish open-air concerts held in Arrow Valley Park in June.
A budget of just £100,000 has been recommended for this year's festival - a far cry from the whopping £664,000 spent on the first event, which included concerts featuring Jools Holland, Liberty X and Natasha Bedingfield.
This year's festival will again be staged at Arrow Valley Park on July 15 and 16 and there will be a wide variety of family- friendly entertainment including music, arts workshops and a fairground.
The decision to hold the event a month later than last year will prevent a clash with the football World Cup.
"There will be some very exciting arts events, with some really off-the-wall experiences," said Mr Patten.
The 2005 festival received a mixed response after poor concert ticket sales resulted in them being given away for free at the cost of the taxpayer.
Mr Patten explained the council wanted to avoid staging a similar event.
"It is going to be different for some very good reasons," he said.
"The AIR Festival is a constantly changing event and we wanted to avoid doing the same as last year. If we did the same sort of thing again, it would be compared to the 2005 event and we don't want that.
"This year's festival will have an altogether different feel, with an emphasis on community-based arts activities which our research has shown was extremely popular last time."
But he did not rule out another high-profile concert in the future.
"Like I said, the AIR Festival will change every year and this could mean that if we have an event in 2007, we may have another concert like the one in 2005."
Members of the council are set to discuss the 2006 festival programme and funding tomorrow.
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