£65 million to help ease impact of pandemic Details of a financial package worth £65 million for culture and major events have been confirmed by Scottish Culture Secretary Angus Robertson. The split of the funding is as follows: for cultural businesses, organisations, venues and independent cinema support and grassroots venues – £31.5 millionNational Performing Companies (for Christmas losses and touring fund re-purposing) – £2 millionFreelancers – £10 millionEvents sector – £19.8 millionMuseums, galleries and heritage – £1.7 million Culture Secretary Angus Robertson said: “The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is once again causing disruption and uncertainty in the culture and events sector,…
Author: Andy Lenthall
Up to 50% audience no shows cause huge rise in lost incomeIndustry facing long term impacts as 100% of organisers see drop in ticket salesSector grapples with soaring costs, artist and staff absences and no sign of Government support Up to 50% audience no-shows and widespread cancellations are leading to a devastating rise in lost income for the live music industry, a snap industry survey conducted by LIVE has shown, as the sector bears the brunt of the Omicron wave. The live music sector has today repeated calls for the Government to provide immediate financial assistance to prevent the permanent…
Musician Brix Smith will be interviewed in the headline session at AIF’s 2022 Festival Congress, which will take place at Bristol’s M Shed Museum on February 15. Smith, who was recently announced as President of The F list for Music, will be ‘In Conversation’ with The Guardian’s Deputy Music Editor Laura Snapes, discussing the mission to achieve gender balance at UK festivals. The F-List for Music (thef-listmusic.uk) is a not-for-profit organisation set up to help female musicians gain greater representation and professional opportunities in the UK music industry. The Festival Congress will also feature an opening keynote from Carly Heath,…
Govt has today published the new guidance around mandatory Covid checks in venues and events. The guidance is here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/carrying-out-mandatory-covid-19-status-checks-at-your-venue-or-event Within the guidance, there are a few things to note that may look different to descriptions given at news briefings: The wording on which venues fall into scope or not has changed from “standing/seated” to “standing or moving around”, though someone who stands next to their assigned seat for the duration of a performance is not counted towards a venue being in scope. Certification should be checked via the NHS Covid Pass Verifier app, or a visual check of an attendee’s NHS Covid Pass (or…
Vision:2025 launch a consultation for ground-breaking industry Green Code of Conduct, to provide clear minimum environmental standards for all UK outdoor events. The code has been developed by Vision:2025 member associations, including AIF, AFO, NOEA, EIF, and organisations such as Festival Republic and Julie’s Bicycle, with support from live event promoters across the UK. The online survey is open for comments until Friday 14th January at https://www.vision2025.org.uk/festival-industry-green-code-of-conduct/ Chris Johnson, Chair of Vision:2025, states: “Developing a code of conduct by the industry for the industry has multiple benefits: It will provide standards for sustainable practices that are credible, realistic, and crucially,…
DHP Family has announced two key promotions within the marketing team as it continues its commitment to nurture and develop talent within the company. Following a recruitment process open to internal and external candidates, Anwyn Williams has been promoted to Head of Marketing and Matt Newton is stepping up to become Marketing Manager. Anwyn will lead the team, overseeing marketing output across DHP’s concert and festival roster, including some of the company’s biggest arena and theatre tours working with artists such as James Blunt, The Human League, Sam Fender, Rufus Wainwright and Happy Mondays. Anwyn also manages the marketing for…
Horao Group has partnered with Vidiia Ltd, an innovative medical technology company that specialises in diagnostics within human health, software, and artificial intelligence. Based at the University of Surrey, Vidiia have developed a lateral flow AI recognition system to act as a Covid Passport. The system enables fans, staff and guests to upload their lateral flow test from their mobile or computer and securely check-in to an event or space ahead of turning up. Lateral Go speeds up entry to venues by removing the need to double queue or deliver additional checks at the entrance. The system has been trained…
The Global Crowd Management Association (GCMA) an initiative by leading crowd management professionals in the UK, US, and Canada, to bring together crowd managers and allied trades from around the world, has launched with offices in Brighton (UK), Seattle (US) and Toronto (Canada). GCMA is a not-for-profit organisation which develops and promotes reasonable crowd management and crowd safety practices worldwide, leading to a globally recognised body of knowledge for professional crowd managers. GCMA creates and delivers learning opportunities for crowd management practitioners at all experience levels, geographic locations, and financial means. GMCA Chair Eric Stuart said, “I am delighted to…
Over 4 months after live events were given the go ahead, Government has published its findings from the Events Research Programme, which it claims was instrumental in fast-tracking the reopening of live events sector. Over two million people across 31 events contributed to an unprecedented body of research on reducing Covid transmission riskFindings have informed UK government COVID policy on the reopening of the live events sector The unprecedented programme of research has been instrumental in the successful reopening of the live events sector, allowing audiences across the country to get back to attending live events safely. The findings are…
A further addition to the ‘launched in 2021’ file is the cheekily named ‘Anti Loo Roll Festival’ which saw more than 4,000 guests flock to Lower Castle Park, Colchester in September 2021 and is now set for its second incarnation on Saturday, 10th September 2022. The Festival is the brainwave of the Anti Loo Roll Brigade, a community group that supported vulnerable people at the beginning of the pandemic and throughout lockdown, originally set up by by Peter Dutch as a response to the panic buying during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the initial aim of setting up…