UK: The National Forest Company and Wild Rumpus – the promoters behind Just So Festival – have announced a new festival for 2018 called Timber. Taking place over three days from July 6 – 8, the festival promises to weave together music, art, philosophy, and sustainability – and lays claim to being the only ‘international forest festival’ in the UK. Ahead of the full programme reveal in early 2018, the festival organisers have released a taste of what attendees can expect. The experiences on offer at Timber include a curated programme of talks and discussions exploring the interface between humans…
Author: Festival Insights
UK: This week’s Festival Congress, AIF’s annual flagship event for independent festival promoters, saw team members from Ground Control, Broadwick Live and FGH Security present a cheque of £11,700 to Attitude is Everything CEO Suzanne Bull MBE, following the completion of a 140-mile fundraising charity cycle ride. The Coast to Coast challenge was undertaken in September this year by a 16-person team, consisting of employees from Ground Control, Broadwick Live, FGH Security and Attitude is Everything. The entire team completed the iconic coast to coast route, travelling more than 140 miles from Whitehaven to Tynemouth and climbing more than 1500…
Duncan White is part of Symphotech’s team of health and safety experts and has over 30 years of experience as a former fire officer with Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service. Duncan was chair of the Chief Fire Officers Association Event Safety Group and worked with the HSE to produce the fire safety chapters for the new Purple Guide. Here he discusses Safety Advisory Groups and explores if they’re being misused. Event organisers (and more often than not their safety advisors) are facing an increasing demand on their time attending SAG meetings. It has been a number of years…
NETHERLANDS: The 22nd edition of Amsterdam Dance Event, which took place from October 18 – 22, was attended by a record number of 395,000 visitors. With 7,200 representatives of the worldwide electronic music industry attending the conference and people from over 90 countries enjoying the festival as a whole, ADE has further cemented its position as a leading force in electronic music. Morocco was under the spotlight in this year’s ADE Global View, highlighting the region’s growing electronic music scene. Morocco occupies a unique cultural position – a nexus between Africa, Europe and the wider Islamic world, with an ancient…
UK: Tramlines, the UK’s biggest metropolitan music festival, has signed a new three-year deal with national ticketing agent Gigantic. As plans begin to take shape for the biggest ever Tramlines to mark its 10th anniversary next July, the organiser has renewed its deal with existing ticketing provider Gigantic to once again supply its innovative total ticketing solution. The new contract ensures the organiser benefits from event support throughout the entire weekend from Gigantic, including its queue-busting wireless access control, as well as customer service and marketing support throughout the event campaign. Gigantic has been the exclusive online ticketing agent for…
The UK Festival Awards – set to host its 14th edition on November 30 at Troxy in London – has revealed all of its shortlists for 2017. They are as follows… The Innovation Award Bearded Theory for The Bearded Theory Festival School Bluedot Festival for The Cosmos Project Crowded Space Drones at Wireless Festival Kendal Calling’s Virtual Tour with Google Maps Lost Village’s 360º Experience The Loop for its MAST harm reduction service Best Hospitality Barclaycard Presents British Summertime Hyde Park Breaking Bands Camp Bestival Samphire Festival We Are FSTVL Wilderness Concession of the Year Cheezy Vinyl Bar Goan Fish…
FRANCE: Created in 2010 by the city of Le Havre in France, the world music festival moZ’aïques is now firmly established as a major event on the regional music scene – taking over the stunning Les Jardins Suspendus site every summer in the middle of a former military fort overlooking the city. 40 concerts were planned for the eighth edition, with 100 musicians performing across two stages. The festival offers an eclectic programme over five days, encompassing jazz, soul, reggae, Latino and African music, with the organisers mixing headline acts with upcoming talent and local artists. To host the event,…
UK: Elrow Town London will return to the capital on August 18 2018, following a hugely successful debut edition that saw 25,000 people flock to London’s iconic Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park from August 19 – 20. Promising to raise the bar even higher for 2018, the immersive inaugural festival saw the likes of Seth Troxler, Jamie Jones, Idris Elba and Hot Since 82 play to a packed out crowd from a colossal multi-story tower-block stage, while giant puppets, enormous inflatables and even a 20ft high mechanical camel dazzled party-goers beneath a monsoon of streamers and confetti. In true elrow style,…
Jon Newman is a project manager at Utopium, a Bristol based lighting and rigging company that has 25 years’ experience delivering bespoke lighting, rigging and technical support to creatively enhance events and venues. Modern LED lights, digital desks and vast experience equip Utopium to supply the most technically challenging projects within the music, sport, corporate, conference, education, and broadcast sectors. Here, Newman discusses designing creative lighting solutions at Boomtown Fair. After a run of sunny years, 2017 was Boomtown Fair’s turn to face bad weather. Whilst other festivals closed their doors, Boomtown overcame multiple logistical challenges to soldier on through…
UK: Artists can now apply to play at Sound City 2018, which will take place from May 4 – 6 in the heart of Liverpool. Voted the UK’s Best Metropolitan Festival and Best Festival for Emerging Talent at the UK Festival Awards, Sound City combines two days of live music and arts with a one-day music and digital industry conference. The event has grown over the past 20 years into one of the most important events on the music calendar, attended by 20,000 music fans and industry players. Thousands of artists apply to play the festival every year and the…