APRIL | THE COLUMNISTS
As the coronavirus
causes an
unprecedented
crisis in the festival
industry, Access talks
to three of the sector’s
leading voices...
Pulling together
Gill Tee, co-founder, Black Deer
Festival Clarity call
Paul Reed, chief executive officer,
AIF The waiting game
Ella Nosworthy, co-founder,
Nozstock
We need to pull together to help
our industry get through this. And
this falls on all of us, particularly the
big conglomerates who have more
reserves to carry them through this
time, and need a thriving supplier
network as much as we all do. The
aim is to band together and emerge
stronger than we were, but this is
much easier said than done with so
much uncertainty.
I love this industry and will do
anything I can to support it, being
both a festival organiser, and a
supplier through Entertee Hire,
I have a foot in both camps and
understand the issues on both sides.
I want to encourage the issue of
PO’s and make deposit payments on
time to assist with suppliers cash
flow, and keep business as usual,
but as an organiser there is caution
paying deposits knowing that many
businesses may not survive.
Organisers also have to carefully
look at their own cash flow to
ensure they are getting the balance
right. I think honesty is imperative.
We need to work together to ensure
we are all here for years to come. For AIF and its member festivals,
the health and safety of the public
is a top priority. It is therefore
important that the latest medical
advice around social gatherings is
heeded.
However, AIF echoes wider
industry calls for urgent clarity
from Government on whether there
will be a formal ban on events, when
that might come into effect and
which events will be impacted.
The Prime Minister’s
announcement amounts to a
ban on live events and while we
understand the measures taken,
we also urge the Government to
classify it as such.
The lack of such clarification
creates widespread confusion and
greatly harms promoters’ efforts to
weather this unprecedented storm.
Our members have already
spent millions of pounds in
non-recoupable costs and there
is no safety net. We also call for
immediate, decisive action to
support these businesses and help
minimise the lasting effects this
crisis will have on the livelihoods of
those working in the independent
festival sector and beyond. At Nozstock Festival, we realise
that the coronaviruses’ longevity
remains an unknown, but
precautions and planning are vital.
We are planning ahead,
and keeping tabs on the latest
Government advice and taking
guidance from the AIF. Currently
the festival will run beyond the 12
week recommended isolation period
and anticipated peak of the virus.
But we’re taking more practical
considerations on board with our
planning, like adding more hand
washing facilities on site. We
remain cautiously optimistic, with
the event being 5,000 capacity and
timed at the end of July.
We’re really sad for a lot of our
colleagues who are having to cancel
events that fall within the advised
closure period. However, as we’re
later into the summer, we are
carrying on as normal, planning a
great event.
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