USA: Intellitix has appointed Carlo Chiarello as its new President and Chief Executive Officer. Chiarello joins Intellitix with decades of leadership experience in global high-growth companies. Serge Grimaux, the outgoing CEO and Founder of Intellitix, commented: “Carlo is a great communicator and has a track record of building and growing focused teams and managing change. This, combined with his international experience and broad industry knowledge, will help to create the next stage of growth for Intellitix.” In his previous position, as Chief Executive Office of the Lazaridis Institute (LI), Chiarello successfully launched the inaugural cohort in the first National Scale…
Author: Festival Insights
CANADA: BreakOut West has launched a brand new website and mobile app for the event’s 15th edition, set to take place in Edmonton from September 13 – 17. “We’re excited to debut a new website along with this year’s mobile app,” said BreakOut West Executive Director Robyn Stewart. “Thanks to support from our funders, BreakOut West’s website has gotten a much needed overhaul, leaving us better able to frame this year’s 15th anniversary event and all of BreakOut West’s activities throughout the year.” The new website features a more sleek and streamlined look, more readily available information and easy navigation,…
UK: Boomtown, the 60,000 capacity Hampshire based festival, has sold out in record time. Set to take place from August 10 – 13, the preternaturally immersive boutique festival will once again play host to an eclectic mix of 500 musical acts across 30 stages and 10 high-concept districts. Said districts include Chinatown, Wild West, Sector 6, DSTRKT 5 and Mayfair, and between them will feature headliners from The Specials and Cypress Hill to MIA, Ziggy Marley and Toots & The Maytals. As ever, Boomtown will boast meticulously detailed sets and an extraordinarily aestheticised site, throughout which an evolving narrative takes…
UK: New Liverpool based festival Hope & Glory will donate all the profits from its debut edition’s ticket sales to the victims and affected families of May 22’s terror attack at Manchester Arena. The debut boutique festival Hope & Glory is taking over Liverpool’s city centre, hosting an array of live music and entertainment from August 5 – 6 with a line-up that includes Manchester headliners James and the 70-piece orchestra Hacienda Classical, with fellow Mancunian special guests Shaun Ryder, Bez and Tim Booth. Hope & Glory Festival Promoter, Lee O’Hanlon, said: “I have lost count the number of times…
USA: Firefly Music Festival, the east coast’s largest music and camping festival, has announced that it will work with payments and point of sale company, Square, and will be using its newest contactless and chip reader to bring Firefly Cashless to its attendees. With the introduction of Firefly Cashless, attendees will be able to pay for all their festival needs electronically via their mobile device, or credit and debit card, at all points of sale. “We’re always looking for ways to improve the festival experience for our guests,” said Alex Yount, senior manager of sponsorships for Firefly Music Festival. “Firefly…
Danny Savage has a wide and diverse background in venue management, bookings and as a DJ. His Leeds-based company, Igloo Disco, is reputed for supplying high-quality temporary structures for parties, events and festivals nationwide. This January, Danny appeared on BBC’s Dragons’ Den in a bid to secure investment for his business. Here, he shares his knowledge of the industry and explains how he has brought inflatable structures into the limelight. My journey into the world of inflatable igloos is an interesting one. It really started out as a progression from my other love, DJing, when I was looking for an…
There isn’t a great deal of orthodoxy in the story of how Samphire Festival came to be. Founded last year by Flora Blathwayt and Josh Beauchamp – both romantic partners and total newcomers to the industry – the festival has already broken a Crowdfunder record, won a NOEA award for Best Small Festival, and enjoyed a sell-out debut edition. Its remote and picturesque site within Exmoor National Park presents a potential for escapism that surpasses most other festivals, and its second edition promises to expand on what made the first so beloved from July 7 – 9. Insights spoke with…
UK / FRANCE: Celtic music festival HebCelt will showcase musicians from the Outer Hebrides to an international audience at a French festival this year. The islands’ language, culture and heritage will play a leading role when Scotland is celebrated at the annual Interceltique de Lorient during 10 days of events being held from August 4 – 13. Scotland is this year’s Country of Focus at the gathering, the largest Celtic festival in Europe, and a team from the award-winning Hebridean Celtic Festival is organising the opening concert on August 5. Details of HebCelt’s role were announced earlier this week at…
USA: The Forecastle Bourbon Lodge, Forecastle Festival’s Kentucky Bourbon Trail outpost, will give fans exclusive access to some rare bourbons this year. The new Rarities Bar, presented by Liquor Barn and curated by category director Brad Williams, will feature some of the most sought-after, limited release Kentucky bourbon expressions, many of which are exclusive to Forecastle. In addition, the Rarities Bar will debut unique, one-of-a-kind blends, crafted by Williams and Forecastle Founder JK McKnight, available for sample only at Forecastle and purchase at select Liquor Barn locations. The Rarities Bar will include the following Kentucky Bourbon Trail offerings and Liquor…
UK: Farr Festival has revealed its new main stage for 2017, dubbed The Factory. The ‘super-size’ stage comprises 52 shipping containers arranged into a rectangle formation that will accommodate an audience of 2500. The Factory will also shelter a custom-built L-Acoustics sound system, apex stage, pulsating LED lighting rods, and a video mapping system. The stage’s dedicated team of designers, made up of BoomTown alumni, is working tirelessly to morph the mundane reality of containerisation into a fully industrialised complex dedicated to unique live performances that will feature the likes of Todd Terje, Booka Shade, Nao, Red Axes, Submotion Orchestra,…