UK: The United Kingdom Crowd Management Association has released a report that reveals an industry-wide reduction in the number of security and stewarding personnel available for events. The finalised report, delivered by the University of Derby, has been corroborated by the Football Safety Officers Association and the Security Industry Authority. Supporting data was provided by the SIA regarding the number of licence renewals, which has seen a reduction of nearly 40% since 2013. The aim of the survey was to gather more detailed factual evidence to explain this trend. Both buyers and suppliers in the security industry were invited to…
Author: Festival Insights
In its grand return to two of Newquay’s most idyllic locations from August 9 – 13, Boardmasters’ 12th edition continued to establish the festival as the UK’s preeminent celebration of surf lifestyle and music. Organised by Vision Nine Group, the five-day event this year welcomed a record 50,000 daily visitors to Watergate Bay for an array of international musical talent, while its site at Fistral Bay once again played host to the best in competitive skating, BMX, and surfing. Insights was onsite at Boardmasters to speaks with Vision Nine’s Head of Marketing and Comms, Levi Jackson; Group Account Director, Paul…
SPAIN: DGTL Barcelona’s third edition took place from August 11 – 12 in the city’s Parc del Fòrum, and welcomed 35,000 revellers for an especially environmentally conscious outing. With a 5,000 increase in attendees, the festival received visitors from 53 nationalities including France, Holland, Germany and Belgium. There was also a sizeable increase in national support, particularly from Madrid, plus a lot of new visitors from Israel – where the first edition of DGTL Tel-Aviv will be held this autumn. The line-up’s 60 acts were spread across four stages, and included Jeff Mills, Maceo Plex, Marcel Dettmann, Solomun, Seth Troxler…
UK: Now in its third year, the three-day Ramblin Man Fair is an annual music festival celebrating classic and contemporary rock, progressive rock, blues and country music. Promoted by Spirit Of Rock, the event is billed as ‘a rock festival designed for rock fans by rock fans.’ Set in Maidstone’s familiar Mote Park, sound production company Capital Sound was contracted to provide the audio infrastructure for the first time this year, and were eager to show off the power of Martin Audio’s MLA PA to Kent’s rock community. Project Manager Robin Conway was himself responsible for winning the contract after…
Tim Collett is Head of Live Events at WRG. A graduate of Event Management, Tim has over 15 years’ experience in the live events industry, including over 11 years at Jack Morton as an Executive Producer. Collett has led the creation and delivery of brand experiences across many industry sectors, and has operated around the world; from product launches, to roadshows, conferences, and meetings. In addition to his work in the corporate events arena, Tim has been instrumental in the coordination of some of the UK’s largest public events and spectacles. As festival season nears its summer conclusion, we can…
UK: The independent ticketing platform Citizen Ticket has successfully completed its public beta testing phase, and hopes to revolutionise the market through its use of tout-hostile blockchain technology. Blockchain technology was originally developed for cryptocurrencies, using a network of computers to maintain a publicly available collective of book keeping scores to mark the time, date, amount, participant of the transaction and number of tickets. The system is built on the blockchain, meaning information for every ticket sale is publicly verifiable. The blockchain locks and guarantees the value of a ticket in a way that is unmatched by private databases and…
WORLDWIDE: Dance For One Meter (D41M) – an organisation dedicated to combatting rainforest deforestation through partnerships with festivals, nightclubs and events – has launched its global campaign. By simply attending a D41M partnered event, guests have the opportunity to save one square metre of rainforest when purchasing their tickets. By using Satellite and Google Earth technology, each guest can redeem and zoom into their coordinates on the Cuipo Foundation Rainforest Preserve in Brazil. The Dance For One Meter (D41M) project was founded by Ricardo Porteus and Tom Murray. The pair met at Burning Man, and both saw the potential in…
UK: Event sound monitoring and health and safety expert, Symphotech, was brought in to help Scarborough Borough Council expand its successful Open Air Theatre summer concerts this year. Working with promoter Cuffe & Taylor, the council wanted to more than double the number of shows held in the town centre venue and turned to Symphotech to help them meet new licensing conditions relating to noise levels. Previously the Open Air Theatre had only held 12 shows a year and Scarborough Borough Council, which owns the site, wanted to expand that to 30 shows a year as part of a long-term…
UK: Since launching back in 2011, the London based promoter Unconscious Archives has established itself as a leader in London’s leftfield arts and music circles, welcoming over 70 artists across 25 events. The brand has now announced its advancement to the next level with the first Unconscious Archives Festival, comprising four shows from September 20 – 30. The 10-day programme was curated by UA founder Sally Golding, and incorporates both experimental live film at Shoreditch’s intimate Close-Up Film Centre and electronic explorations at the beloved South London club, Corsica Studios. Breakout artists will merge with established names from the noise…
UK: Attitude is Everything, the UK’s leading authority on live music accessibility for deaf and disabled people, has revealed a new Grassroots Venue Charter of Best Practice. This new Charter is part of the charity’s Breaking The Sound Barriers programme, funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. The initiative is targeted specifically at small and independent music UK venues with the aim of implementing low or zero-cost access solutions that will help boost the growing audience of deaf and disabled music fans who wish to support their local venues and catch emerging artists close to home. It is also designed to…