Ciro Romano |
organisers are having to cope with costs being up as much as 40 % on previous years , coupled with crew and equipment shortages .
While some independent festival operators were fortunate enough to be able to go ahead last year and raise the ticket prices for this year , 53 % of festivals in the commercial market did not go ahead in 2021 . For them it means having to budget for 2022 production costs with tickets sold at 2019 prices .
According to an AIF survey , the average cost of staging a festival is more than £ 6m . It is a high-risk business model at the best of times .
Given the challenges , Reed is understandably concerned by reports that some supply chain operators are looking to take advantage of the situation : “ There are hard costs such as transport , materials and people and those costs have to be passed along , but the sense I am getting from members is that there is increased profiteering in the supply chain , and certain parts of the supply chain are taking a short term view of the situation and ramping up prices because they know they can go elsewhere . I am aware the supply chain was profoundly impacted by the pandemic , as were festival organisers , but there ’ s a creeping sense of opportunism .”
End of the Road managing director Lauren Down says the trauma of staging the event with so many supply chain issues last year led to the festival
Steve Heap
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Green Man festival
team completely revising the usual workflow pattern for this year ’ s event .
“ We would not normally start working on production elements until the January of the year the festival takes place , but we started working on this year ’ s festival back in October ,” she says . “ Our workflow has changed completely because of supply chain issues .”
Independent festival operators are a resilient bunch , known for their creativity and entrepreneurial spirit . A lot of them staged events within the Covid-19 restrictions to keep the cash flow going during the pandemic . Among them was the 17,000-capacity festival Standon Calling , which took place on 22-25 July last year , just three days after the planned Step 4 of the prime minister ’ s conditional reopening roadmap on 19 July . Unlike Festival Republic ’ s Latitude ( 40,000 ) and Superstruct Entertainment ’ s Tramlines ( 40,000 ), which took place over the same weekend , Standon Calling did not have the protection of being part of the Government ’ s Events Research Programme .
“ At the beginning of the pandemic , 92 % of our members said they feared their business would collapse and thankfully that hasn ’ t come to pass ,” says Reed . “ The sector has proven to be
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incredibly resilient – some had support through the Cultural Recovery Fund , with more than £ 11m allotted to our members alone .”
In at the deep end Despite the pandemic restrictions being behind us , it is an incredibly tough time for new festival operators to enter the market .
“ Anyone launching a new festival that thinks there ’ s a real opportunity there is in for a challenge ,” says Reed . “ The margins for most of our members are usually less than 10 %, and this year you ’ re looking at costs increasing by between 20 % and 30 %.”
At the Association of Festival Organisers , which primarily represents the smaller local festivals , its general secretary Steve Heap has decades of experience as an independent festival promoter having been the director of Towersey Festival ( 5,000 ) for 45 years .
Heap says he is not surprised to see so many new festivals launch this year : “ There has always been that desire to have a crack at running a festival – some of them come and go in one year , and others announce and never get off the ground . For every one that drops out or cancels , another two pop up .”
Neapolitan Music MD Ciro Romano says ticket sales for the inaugural Kite
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