Changing our Trading Name to Folk England: FAQs

What is changing?
We will be adopting Folk England as a trading name, whilst retaining English Folk Dance and Song Society as our legal name.

When are you changing the trading name to Folk England?
Our aim is to transition to the new trading name from autumn/winter 2026, with the new name, brand and visual identity in place from around October 2026.

What will this change mean, with reference to the legal name vs the trading name?
The official legal name of the charity will continue to be English Folk Dance and Song Society and is the registered company name with Companies House. English Folk Dance and Song Society will appear on legal documents associated with the organisation – including contracts, invoices, banking, tax purposes with HMRC – and this is the primary identifier in the eyes of the law.

The name that we will use operationally – our trading name – will be Folk England. This will be the public-facing name for branding, marketing and public recognition purposes. Other charities take this approach, like The Arts Society (the operating name of the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies).

For everyday branding, we will lead with Folk England, but we will display our registered legal company name, number, and address on official documents and invoices.

What else is changing?
This is purely a trading name change – our charitable objects, membership, activities, day-to-day operations, values and commitment to folk arts are still fit for purpose and remain the same. Members won’t need to take any action: existing membership details, contact information, and payment arrangements will continue as normal.

So, the charity’s remit will stay the same? 
Yes. We are not planning to change what we do: as a public-facing name, Folk England more accurately describes what we do now. We will continue to cover the folk arts – primarily music, song and dance – in the geographical location of England. This is and will remain our remit as a charity.

We will also continue to cherish the early folk collections, and to support English folk music, song and dance that celebrate our traditions. However, this is only part of the story. We will also champion the wealth of folk practices that have roots in tradition and are happening in communities in England today. This includes exploring creative partnerships that connect English folk arts with traditions which originated in other places. We have already been doing this for the past decade or so, with projects including Bhangra Ceilidh. Folk England signals that our door is open to everyone, and our new name will give us the flexibility to continue doing this.

The name change vote didn’t get passed by members. Why are you still changing your name?
Changing our legal name required a special resolution under the Companies Act 2006, meaning we needed 75% of votes cast in favour. While this was our preferred route, we fell just short of the threshold required for a legal name change.

We have always been open about our desire, and the importance to us of making this change, and we're encouraged that a clear majority of members – 69.4% of those who voted – supported this change. This strong mandate reflects the shared belief in the importance of this change for our organisation's future, and has paved the way for the decision to change our trading name.

While members’ approval isn't required for a trading name change, the AGM voting outcome demonstrates genuine member support for this direction, and we believe moving forward with the trading name change represents a positive and honest compromise.

Will there be a strapline?
We are planning to use the proposed strapline – Championing music, song and dance traditions – alongside Folk England, where space allows.

What are the next steps
We’re approaching creative agencies to work with us on a new visual identity (including a new logo), brand guidelines and website refresh. We’ll make sure that this work is done in the most cost-effective way possible, while still delivering the results that we need. We’ll be updating different elements across the organisation, including email newsletter, social media profiles, digital assets, printed materials, signage, merchandise and more.

How much is this costing?
So far, except for a small fee to undertake a quantitative survey in 2021, we haven’t spent anything more than staff time with the project being driven by the in-house EFDSS team, including a brand audit, and the research and planning process, and they will oversee the brand roll-out and launch campaign in 2026.

We will, however, be engaging the services of a design agency to develop a new brand identity. We are mainly reallocating existing marketing budget into this project to cover design and branding work and launch comms campaigns. We are exploring options for fundraising for a new website.

Will you create a new website?
This is a great opportunity to breathe new life into our beloved organisation with a new website. However, a website rebuild doesn’t come at low cost, so we are still looking at options as to whether the website will undergo a visual rebranding or a bigger structural rebrand – this is dependent on budget and organisational needs.

What will happen in autumn/winter 2026?
When we unveil Folk England, we plan to make a noise about our new brand with a launch campaign (including press, content) creating wider awareness for Folk England – who we are and what we do in 2026 – and ultimately this will build profile and give a boost for the folk arts as a whole.

What has been the process for this name change?

• 2020/21: Quantitative omnibus survey carried out asking 1,000 random people for their views on the connotations of the phrases ‘English Folk’ and ‘Folk England’. A name shortlist was drawn up and then surveyed amongst staff and regular EFDSS collaborators.
• 2021/22: Launched a members’ consultation to canvas views on English Folk Dance and Song Society and Folk Arts England, followed by a wider survey to Cecil Sharp House audiences, email subscribers, social followers and beyond. In autumn, the name change was paused due to more immediate financial concerns.
• 2024: Internal brand audit carried out resulting in clarification and update of charity’s vision, mission and values, and key objectives in line with where we are today.
• 2025: Board agreed to the proposal to change name to Folk England. Focus groups held to gather more in-depth feedback on the proposed name change. June announcement of plans to members and held Members Information sessions.
• AGM: 8 Nov 2025 – members vote on proposed change.
  5% turnout of voting members. 69.4% voted in favour of changing the legal name of English Folk Dance and Song Society to Folk England. As this was a special resolution, 75% of in favour votes was required in accordance with the Companies Act 2006.
  The vote didn’t pass as a legal change.
• 8 Dec 2025: Folk England Trading Name Announcement of the Board’s decision to change the trading name to Folk England.

Illustration: Amy Goodwin