Information

Not sure what you need to know... hopefully the information below should answer any questions...

If you want to chat with other festival attendees or ask any questions come and join us on the IVFDF Central Discord Server

Accommodation

There will be indoor camping available at the festival. Just bring a sleeping bag and a roll mat, and sleep in a hall with other festival-goers! This is a small extra cost (£2 for the weekend) on top of tickets.
We have two indoor camping venues this year:

1. Our main camping venue is the Exhibition Centre which is a 5 minute walk from our main venues.
2. If you want a quieter night sleep in a smaller hall, our quiet sleeping venue is St Lawrence Church Community Hall. This is a 20 minute walk from our main venues or just off the bus route to the city centre. Please note to provide a quiet sleeping space last entry to St Lawrence Church Community Hall will be at midnight.

For anyone wanting more luxurious accommodation York has a wealth of hostels, hotels and B&Bs. See the Visit York website or your favourite travel companies to find them. The festival is being held on Campus West, so search for places close to postcode YO10 5DD.

Showers

There will be showers available over the weekend. There are lots of showers available at York Sport Centre which will be available on Friday until 10pm and Saturday & Sunday 9am to 7pm, a fee of £2 will be charged by the centre. There are also a few showers around James College near the workshop venues. Remember to bring your own toiletries and towels.

Getting here

York has regular train services to lots of places around the country. From the railway station there are buses up to every 20 minutes on Route 66 and 67 until 11:30pm each day (with Clubber Bus CB1 running a similar route overnight). Get off at the University Library bus stop. See the route maps and timetables for more information.

There is car parking around the campus, see the the university information page or the campus map for locations of the car parks. The pay and display car parks are free on evenings and weekends.

The festival is being held in several locations around the Campus West site of the University of York. A full interactive map of the campus can be found here.

The ticket desk and reception is in Vanbrugh College (room V/N/044) and will be open from 7pm until midnight Friday night, 8:30am until midnight on Saturday and 8:30am until 2:30pm on Sunday. The room is in Vanbrugh College's Nucleus on the Ground Floor. This room is accessed via the foyer area next to the food court and vending machines. through the glass door.

Room names

York has an elegant naming scheme for the public rooms which can be helpful in working out where a room is.
For instance our ticket desk and reception is in room V/N/044 - the V stands for Vanbrugh College, N means it is in the Nucleus part of college and 044 is the room number.
Some naming is obvious - D is Derwent college, V is Vanbrugh college, AEW is Alcuin East Wing and RKC is the Roger Kirk Centre. Some names are less obvious E is the Music department, G is James College (parts of James College are also J).

When to arrive and leave

The first event will start at 7pm with the first dance starting at 8:30pm on Friday night and will continue until 5pm on Sunday evening.

The ticket desk in Vanbrugh College (room V/N/044) will be open from 7pm until midnight Friday night, 8:30am until midnight on Saturday and 8:30am until 2:30pm on Sunday.

Food and Drink

The bars near the three main venues will be open and serving drinks over the weekend. The Lounge will keep serving drinks for Late Night Dancing.

Food On Campus

• Friday only - If you arrive early on Friday evening then Vanbrugh Dining, Derwent Dining (D-Bar) and Roger Kirk Galleria (RKC) all serve dinners from 5pm - 7:15pm.
• The Courtyard - Derwent College - Wide range of food and drink including Pizzas
• Library Cafe - 11am to 4pm - Hot/cold drinks, rolls, wraps, paninis, jacket potatoes, soup and nachos
• Nisa supermarket

Food Off Campus

• Head to the south-east into Heslington (10-15 mins walk) for the Charles XII and Deramore Arms pubs.
• Head to the north along University Rd to near the junction of Hull Road and Green Dykes Lane (15 mins walk) you will find a wide variety of options
  • Pubs - Beeswing Ale House
  • Shops - Spar, Co-Op, M&S Simply Food
  • Takeaways and Fast Food - Domino's, Pizza Hut, Backstreet Burgers, Happy Noodles, Mad Cow (Chinese), Bluefin chip shop and Bamboo Thai.
• Heading north-north-east to Hull Road is the Black Bull Hotel
• Heading further along Lawrence St, near to St Lawrence Church
  • Pubs - Rose and Crown, Waggon and Horses, Rook and Gaskill
  • Takeaways - Jennys Fish and Chips (stays open late), Dominics Pizza
• The city centre of York has some amazing restaurants. The committee recommends The Biga+ (Mediterranean) on Walmgate, Everest Gurkha on Fossgate, Rosa's Thai on Coney Street, Over the Rainbow (Cafe + Bookshop) in The Shambles and Zidane's Indulgence on Heslington Rd.
• On the East Campus (25 min walk or buses available) there is Red Chilli, Greg's, Papa John Pizza, Cecil's Pizza and a Nisa supermarket

Who can attend

The festival is aimed at university students, but is open to anyone who feels young at heart and who has a spring in their step.

There will be something for everyone, whether you have never danced before or you have cupboards full of previous IVFDF t-shirts. There will be workshops for beginners, "experts" and everyone in between, and there will be lots of friendly faces if you look lost.

We are a welcoming festival which aims to be inclusive and accessible to everyone.

Accessibility information

We aim to make the festival inclusive and accessible to everyone. If you have any questions about accessibility please ask us and we will try our hardest to answer and provide solutions.

We have a quiet sleeping venue at St Lawrence Church Community Hall for anyone preferring an earlier night sleep in a smaller hall.

Sensory

• A quiet crafting room is available in room G/N/010 if you need time and space away from the music and dancing
• With the exception of the Techno contra all venues will be uniformly lit to a suitable level
• The Techno contra will have lighting effects, these may include strobe lighting and haze
• The volume level for all events will be kept at as low a level as is possible given the band and number of people present

Gender and Identity

• Both gendered and non-gender toilet facilities are available at the festival. Unfortunately due to university restrictions some of the non-gendered toilet facilities will be further away from the main venues.
• All calling will be done gender free

Mobility

Ticket desk and reception - V/N/044

Access Guide

Vanbrugh Dining

Access Guide

RKC

This room is wheelchair accessible

D-Bar

Access Guide

G/N/010

Access Guide

G/N/020

Access Guide

AEW/003

This room is wheelchair accessible

E/050

Access Guide

E/058

Access Guide

St Lawrence Church Community Hall

The kitchen is accessible to wheelchairs via an outside path, not via the main body of the Hall. There are three toilets off the Hall foyer, including one which is wheelchair accessible. There are plenty of parking spaces at the Hall, either to the rear of the Hall itself, or behind the Church.

Calling style

(what the people telling you how to dance will refer to you as)

All calling over the festival will be gender free, this has been fairly standard for IVFDFs in recent years.

Pandemics

Sadly Covid-19 is still with us. Please take the sensible precautions that you have been taking for the last few years, hand sanitizer stations will be provided around the festival for you to use and feel free to wear masks if you feel more comfortable doing so.

See our Covid-19 policy.

Policies and Legal Stuff

As required we have a number of policies, some of them are summarised in the information above, but for the full details please see our policy page.