UK: Star Events has invested £500,000 in new equipment, in a commitment to bring next generation products and initiatives on stream ahead of a busy festival season. Specifically, the money provide: PA / screen support towers that set new industry standards in minimising both footprint and sightline obstructions, substantial upgrades to the Orbit and VerTech stage ranges, and state-of-the-art health and safety equipment for the Star crews who build structures and the production teams that work on them. Less visible will be the enterprise and stock management systems that are coming online to improve the accuracy of what Star sends…
Author: Festival Insights
UK: DICE has announced the inaugural Girls Music Day, which aims to inspire more young women to get involved in music. The day of workshops, lectures and discussions will be held at London’s Sonos Studio, shortly after International Women’s Day, on Saturday March 12 and will encourage young women to pursue a career in the industry, whether on stage or behind the scenes. The impetus for launching the event – if not patently obvious – is supported by some vital stats supplied by DICE, namely: Coachella hasn’t had a solo female headliner since Bjork in 2007 Of the 95,000 songwriters,…
Perhaps most renowned for producing the award-winning family-oriented Just So Festival, Wild Rumpus is a not-for-profit arts organisation that also manages the Northern Festivals Network and is responsible for The Lost Carnival, Day at the Lake, and now Just So Brazil. Operating from the Whirligig – an appropriately fantastical sounding stretch of woodland in Cheshire – the small team is dedicated to creating high-quality, inclusive, and spellbinding events for young people and their families. Insights spoke with Sarah Bird from Wild Rumpus about the development of the original Just So, the brand’s impending excursion into South America, and finding the…
UK: Found Festival has announced its 2016 line-up, which welcomes a litany of dance music stalwarts and rising acts to its all-day festivities at Brixton’s Brockwell Park on June 11. Performing across six stages will be such luminaries as Derrick May, Kerri Chandler, Dyed Soundorom, Midland, Leon Vynehall, Sessions Victim, Paranoid London, The Menendez Brothers, Blawan, Surgeon, Rødhåd, Legowelt, The Zenker Brothers, Kassem Mosse, Ron Morelli, Route 8, Ron Trent, Theo Parrish, Marcellus Pittman, Linkwood, Mr Beatnick, and more. In a move back to the egalitarian roots of dance music culture, there will be no VIP area at Found Festival…
UK: Henley Festival, one of the UK’s more opulent festivals, will return to Henley-on-Thames from July 6 – 10 2016. Headlining the event will be Elton John and His Band, joined by Dame Shirley Bassey, BLAKE, Elvis Costello & The Imposters, Bryn Terfel & the Welsh National Opera Orchestra, and Will Young. Will Young said: “I’m really very excited to be closing Henley Festival on the Sunday night. I had such fun playing there last time, it’s such a beautiful setting on the banks of the river Thames, not to mention headlining alongside one of my favourite people, Sir Elton…
UK: The Great Escape has announced its 2016 convention programme, which brings together 3500 music industry professionals from across the globe. With the four full day ‘insight strands’ – taking place from May 19 – 20 – these delegates have access to a timely programme of talks and conversations putting the spotlight on the key challenges and opportunities facing the wider music industry. The first of the strands will be ‘Transparency! Data! Blockchain! Let’s make buzzwords happen!’. Aside from the titular theme of transparency, the strand will tackle the concept of the ‘blockchain’ – a technologically experimental method hoping to…
USA: As reported by Mixmag, the Michigan-based Electric Forest festival has announced a new campsite exclusively for the use of women. The Women’s Group Camp will be available as a ‘safe space’ for female attendees over the course of the event’s four days. Also known as ‘Her Forest’, the campsite requires prospective inhabitants to pay a $40 registration fee and – of course – have a festival wristband. One camping pass will be issued to groups of three, and participants are responsible to coordinate amongst themselves. Electric Forest
UK: Now in its sixth year, London’s Roundhouse will present its Roundhouse Rising Festival from March 17 – 20. Held in the confines of the Roundhouse’s more intimate Sackler Space, Roundhouse Rising presents four days of emerging talent alongside a day of industry panels, workshops, demos and talks that have all been carefully curated to help aspiring musicians find the right path towards their creative careers. Throughout the festival, music will come from The Magic Gang, Black Honey, Kuenta I Tambu, Afrikan Boy, INHEAVEN, Gillbanks, Hannah Lou Clark, Kurb, Roundhouse Choir and Nouria Bah. Kicking off proceedings on the Thursday…
UK: Following last month’s major line-up announcement that included The Coral and Catfish and the Bottlemen as headliners, plus a major new partnership with electronic dance music promoters Freeze, the UK Festival Award-winning Liverpool Sound City has revealed a brand new format for its renowned music industry conference. Rebranded as Sound City+, the conference will be purely artist and industry focused and take place on the day preceding the main festival – May 27 – in the iconic Rum Warehouse at Liverpool’s Titanic Hotel. Sound City+ promises everything previous Sound City conferences offered and more but as a richer, condensed…
UK: Love Saves the Day has announced the line-up for the Arcadia Afterburner stage, in what will be the only appearance of the Arcadia Afterburner in the UK this year. The original Arcadia installation, the Afterburner is a 360 degree stage built around a central flaming spire with dance platforms radiating out to a ring of exploding lamp posts. Having appeared at festivals as far afield as New Zealand, Croatia and the United States, and a staple at Glastonbury, the Afterburner is returning home to Bristol this May. On May 28, the Arcadia Afterburner stage will undergo a Full Cycle…