The festival became an annual event in 1989 following an agreement with directors of Festival Norwich (FN). FN was started in 1986 as the first annual festival of arts and music in Norfolk devoted to organising a wide range of activities embracing art, music and industry in Norfolk. The directors of the Triennial were approached with the proposal that FN would run for two consecutive years with the Triennial continuing every third year. However, the Triennial decided that it should be an annual event itself and it was agreed that in this case FN would cease functioning after only three years.