within a week and told him , “ We want to believe you but when it comes to it , we are worried we will be let down .” Benn says that following their conversations , Hytner reported back to the prime minister , the DCMS and the ERP Science Board , which consists of a team of scientific advisors led by Tom Rodden .
“ Tom Rodden is absolutely extraordinarily good , he is so committed to getting us open ,” says Benn . “ The whole DCMS team is fantastic but it works within the tight strictures of Government decision-making . Sir Nicholas was able to cut through that with access to cabinet ministers and he came back and said an outdoor music pilot was a good idea .”
Festival Republic MD Melvin Benn
Investing in the future Benn says the event was not cheap to stage and there was no Government financial support , but leading operators including DF Concerts , SJM and Isle of Wight Festival director Caroline Giddings were among the many to assist in making it a success . The Festival Republic boss says he is now pushing to stage a further greenfield event as part of the ERP .
Rich McGinnis , co-founder of club night brand Circus , worked alongside a team including The Events Company UK director Sam Newson and Symphotech safety director Eddy Grant to stage the two ERP club nights .
He also found the ERP events expensive to stage but says that if he were to run them again the learnings have shown they could be done more
“ We prepared for a worst-case scenario but none of the extra measures were needed .”
Circus co-founder Rich McGinnis
Circus co-founder Rich McGinnis
Right : Sefton Park , Liverpool
cost effectively . “ We prepared for a worst-case scenario but none of the extra measures were needed ,” says McGinnis .
Concerned that people might feel anxious being in a crowd again without social distancing or that some might get carried away and overdo it , the Circus events team doubled the number of medics and welfare staff on site . However , McGinnis says there were no anxiety issues and only a couple of attendees were ejected for being drunk – fewer than usual .
“ Compared to a usual event , we had up to 40 % more staff involved , we had back-up for security and crew working in bubbles , as well as back-up bar staff . It was complicated and cost a lot of money , but as a result we have learned smarter ways to do it going forward ,” says McGinnis .
Ticketing was handled by TicketQuarter , and McGinnis says there were no issues with ingress despite the requirement for ID , a ticket and test result to gain entry .
The ERP has also involved the UK ’ s first business festival since national lockdown began . On 28 April , ACC Liverpool hosted The Good Business Festival ’ s launch event , Change Business for Good .
As with the Circus event , the negative test result was integrated into TicketQuarter ’ s platform to verify digital tickets with ingress enabled via a QR code
Faye Dyer , managing director of The ACC Liverpool Group , says that including staff and media , the event accommodated around 550 people and the atmosphere was “ electric ”.
“ It was exciting and emotional
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