UK: Peer-to-peer sales software StreetTeam has closed a $10 million funding round led by Spring Partners, Frontline Ventures, Kindred and Backed. Additional strategic investors include Universal Music Group, Saatchi Invest and Peter Davies. StreetTeam is building a global platform that enables advocates to sell the products they love to their friends in exchange for rewards. Over the last 12 months StreetTeam has achieved significant success within the live entertainment industry, tripling revenue by growing from 30 to 170 clients and selling more than 200,000 tickets around the world. It will use the capital raised to continue its global expansion within…
Author: Festival Insights
FINLAND: Flow Festival has revealed that it compensated for its 2016 edition’s carbon dioxide emissions by investing in a Gold Standard certified wind energy venture in China. For the second year in a row the festival also made a donation to the Finnish Red Cross disaster relief fund to help the victims of the Syrian conflict. By doing so, Flow aims to set an example and encourage its audience and partners to contribute to the world in a socially responsible way. The festival’s carbon footprint has been calculated and compensated for since 2009. The carbon footprint is calculated in cooperation…
UK: Emerging talent festival The Great Escape has announced that Switzerland will be its lead international partner in 2017. Working alongside Swiss Music Export, The Great Escape will be shining a spotlight on Switzerland’s music industry with performances from some of the country’s most prominent rising stars. The Great Escape is at the forefront of discovering fresh and emerging artists from across the world and is internationally renowned for breaking new talent in the UK. For 12 years the festival’s international partnerships have reinforced this ethos, enabling new artists from diverse music markets to showcase their talents in front of…
Jonathan Sigsworth is Managing Director of Gallowglass Crewing. With operational bases across the UK, Europe and the Middle East, Gallowglass supplies flexible trained and qualified manpower to venues all over the UK and Europe. The company has experience of over 40 different festivals, from Glastonbury to Eroica Britannia, supplying flexible, fully trained and qualified crews led by experts in logistics and project management. The whole of Jon’s 14 years’ events industry experience have been spent with Gallowglass – beginning when he joined its Northern management team and co-ordinating crewing operations in the run-up to the Manchester Commonwealth Games. Murphy’s law…
Shane Mansfield has worked in online marketing for the last 10 years, with seven of those being in events related industries. He has worked in both business-to-consumer and business-to-business environments with a focus on customer acquisition. He is currently Marketing Director at ticketscript, and is a Google qualified partner. Predicting the future is never easy, but it’s always fun. It allows for daring thought and creativity, and excessive smugness if you’re right. Event technology is a great sector to predict as the pace of change is so fast. One thing to remember is that you must always be sure that…
Vivid Sydney is a 23-day festival of ideas, music and light set in the titular Australian city, and encompasses creative industry forums, a cutting-edge contemporary music programme, and myriad light sculptures and installations. The latter element, entitled Vivid Light, engages lighting artists, designers and manufacturers from around Australia and the world to illuminate, interpret and transform Sydney’s urban spaces through their various creative visions. The Vivid Light Walk is the public facing part of the programme, and has grown from comprising 20 light art installations that attracted an audience of around 250,000 people in 2009 to mesmerising crowds of 1.7…
Jean Blakey was part of the team that founded Halifax Street Angels in 2005 and has since worked alongside husband Paul on CNI Network and affiliated projects. She and Paul have visited many of the 130 projects that make up the Network – offering support, training and guidance to its army of volunteers. The question was asked whether festivals actually need welfare. It’s only a few days and people are looking for a good time – what can possibly happen? Those good time seekers consist of approximately 60,000 people who decide to temporarily live in a field. Imagine a peaceful…
UK: Fineline Lighting recently renewed its long term acquaintance with and commitment to the eco-conscious Shambala festival – a three-day family friendly event featuring a diverse and eclectic mix of music, art, cuisine and culture. The Bristol based lighting and visuals rental company’s association with the festival dates back 12 years, and it was the 9th year for project manager Stu England who led a large crew. Fineline also seized the occasion and the chilled atmosphere of Shambala to celebrate a super-busy 2016 summer festival season. Fineline supplied lighting for the main stage – a Wango’s tensile structure featuring a…
NORWAY: From October 27 – 29, Insomnia Festival will run for the 15th time in Tromsø. As part of the We are Europe programme, the Norwegian event will invite Reworks Festival, Reworks Agora (Thessaloniki, Greece), Sónar and Sónar+D (Barcelona, Spain) to curate artists and panels that reflect their artistic and cultural values. Insomnia festival will be the closing event of We Are Europe’s first year. The invited festivals will present acts that left a mark on their own programmes. On Thursday, Fantastikoi Hxoi, a re-edit project from Athens that draw material mainly from obscure Greek psych and folk tunes will…
UK: Groove Cairngorm will return for its second outing from February 24 – 25 2017, hosted in partnership with CairnGorm Mountain Ltd. Launched last year as the UK’s first resort based snowsports festival, Groove Cairngorm combined winter snowsports with a selection of DJs and acoustic acts performing over two stages up the mountain, followed by an Apres-ski party until the early hours at Badaguish Outdoor Centre. Groove co-founder Dougie Brown said: “We are delighted to be taking Groove back to the Mountain next year. After the incredible success and positive feedback from our inaugural festival we are looking forward to…