Festivals’ environmental impacts and ways to address the climate crisis were in the spotlight at The Showman’s Show last week. Speakers from across the festival sector were brought together by live events sustainability campaign Festival Vision: 2025 to share climate-related insights—including Chiara Badiali of environmental charity Julie’s Bicycle, who updated attendees on the state of the climate crisis, what the new Climate Change Act means for the festival scene and how organisers can use their platforms to effect change. “There are two levels that we can work on and they both amplify each other,” she said. “The first is working…
Author: Festival Insights
UK: Creative event safety specialist Tess has partnered with Music Support, to further enable the mental health charity’s ambitious training program, and further its work with individuals in the UK music industry suffering from mental, emotional and behavioural health issues. Tess director, Simon James, commented: “With three decades working in live events I have too many personal experiences witnessing people suffering with mental health issues without adequate support. We work in a pressured environment and we’re very proud to do what we can assisting Music Support to bring empathetic, professional help into the music industry.” Music Support offers a confidential helpline…
Steve Jenner is PlayPass’ Managing Director for the UK & Ireland. This summer was our busiest yet at PlayPass, with RFID & cashless deployments at more than 250 events across 22 countries and 5 continents. All in all, we processed 12.82 million cashless transactions, worth £72 million. Globally, we increased our event count by 40% and, here in the UK, we delivered more than 80% of all commercial activations that used this tech. These are the 10 that I was the most proud of, in date order from first to last. 1. We Are FSTVL became the UK’s first…
UK: The UK Festival Awards has extended its deadline for entries until 11pm on October 4. For those who have yet to apply, the main entry form allows you to nominate your festival for Best Major, Medium-Sized or Small Festival; Best New Festival; Best Overseas Festival; Best Metropolitan Festival; Line-Up of the Year; and the Grassroots Festival Award. The UKFA’s specialist categories need to be applied for separately, and are as follows: The Women in Festivals Award (new for 2019) Best Festival Production The Innovation Award Marketing Campaign of the Year Best Non-Music Festival Best Family Festival Concession of the…
CGA has conducted research into festivalgoers’ level of demand for more sustainable events, as well as their preferred modes of transport to festivals. Surveying approximately 6500 festivalgoers in the October 2018 UK Festival Awards Census, the findings reveal that 72% of festivalgoers claim to care about the environmental impact of festivals, although only 24% said they’d be more likely to attend a festival if its carbon footprint were demonstrably lower than its competitors’. The public’s prioritisation of environmental policies overshadows other ethics-based issues, such as a festival’s philanthropic efforts (40%) and commitment to social justice (22%). Perhaps owing to the…
UK: This year’s Showman’s Show will see the release of a 100% recycled and 100% recyclable plastic cup. The Rubbish Cup is the UK’s first zero waste, carbon neutral plastic cup, and will feature on Grist Environmental Event Service’s stand at the exhibition. The rubbish cup is the first innovation from UK based company The Rubbish Project, which is a collaboration of specialists in the recycling field and sustainability pioneers. Jonathan Taylor, of Grist Environmental, said: “We are excited to launch this innovative new product at the show. The rubbish cup is not only a sound environmental solution; it is also commercially…
UK: Cashless and NFC specialist PlayPass enjoyed a record-breaking summer, operating at over 250 events across 22 countries & five continents, and processing 12.82 million cashless transactions, worth €78 million Euros. Globally, 2019 has seen the company grow its event roster by 40%. The UK has seen the sharp end of this growth curve, with a 400% increase in events embracing the company’s event tech solutions. This year saw PlayPass deliver more than 80% of the UK’s commercial cashless and RFID festival activations. Whilst many implementations focused on going fully cashless, some events used the technology to combat accreditation fraud,…
UK: Truckfest, the annual exhibition and festival of trucks and trucking, has agreed to extend its agreement with the East of England Arena and Events Centre, following its 35th consecutive year at the venue. The extension will take the long-running event to its 40th anniversary in 2024. Truckfest has grown steadily since its first edition at East of England Arena in 1984, and features live monster trucks and motor stunt shows, movie-star trucks, 3000 trucks on display, and many major manufacturers exhibiting. Truckfest 2020 will coincide with the VE Bank Holiday celebrations from May 9 – 10, before reverting to…
UK: The UK Festival Awards will welcome back Doc Brown to host this year’s ceremony, which will take place at the Troxy in London on December 5th. Beginning his career as underground rapper Doc Brown, Ben Bailey Smith has since diversified – moving into mainstream TV and film acting, stand up, screenwriting and children’s books. He has a host of television performances under his belt, including a starring role in ITV’s Law & Order, C4’s The Inbetweeners and Derek, BBC thriller Hunted, BBC comedies Rev, Miranda, Fleabag, Russell Howard’s Good News, Live at the Apollo and ITV’s Midsomer Murders, and is highly regarded for his ongoing work with Ricky Gervais. Tickets for the UK Festival…
NETHERLANDS: With a month to go until the Amsterdam Dance Event, the festival’s sustainability-centric ADE Green component has unveiled the majority of its programme. The line-up comprises a mix of national sustainability heroes and global game changers, such as Soul Clap’s Eli Goldstein, who will talk about responsible travel and climate action, plus Groove Armada’s Andy Cato, who will speak about his experience as nature-inclusive farmer. ADE Green will also share plenty of practical guidance, both in plenary panels on plastic use and an exclusive workshop, dealing with circular material management. Read the full programme and get tickets here.