“ It was fascinating looking at how the event was organised , the theme of radical selfreliance and ethos around extreme participation .” |
In a career that has straddled academia and the events industry , Dr Roxy Robinson has gone from organising parties as a teenager to completing a PhD and writing a book about music festivals . She is now creative director at From the Fields , the company responsible for awardwinning festivals Kendal Calling ( cap , 25,000 ), Bluedot ( 21,000 ) and a handful of cultural events . After a frustrating year of upheaval resulting from the Covid-19 crisis , Robinson enjoyed being able to focus her energy on Arts By The Sea , which took place in Bournemouth from 24 September to 4 October .
Have you always been interested in festivals ? When I was a teenager I had pretty relaxed parents and used to organise big gatherings at home with mates . As I grew older , I began going to a lot of festivals , including
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Glastonbury , and saw how festivals were blurring the lines between entertainment and social experiment . I became interested from an academic point of view . It took me a good a few years to figure out there were jobs in event management .
When did you first start organising events ? While studying for a degree in philosophy in Cardiff I had about one lecture every two days so had a lot of spare time . I started organising gigs , set up a promotions company and started making money . I thought maybe this is something I can get into .
What led you to do a PhD on the evolution of festival culture and the influence of Burning Man on British festivals ? I had always wanted to go to Burning Man and by the time I went in 2008 I was already working in the industry . I went with Ben [ Robinson ] when we were dating , who is now my husband . It was fascinating looking at how the event was organised , the theme of radical self-reliance and the ethos around extreme participation – the audience are co-creators of the festival not passive observers .
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How did you come to meet and work with From The Fields director Ben Robsinson ? I met Ben in 2007 , he had launched Kendal Calling the year before , he wanted someone to do the art and décor at the festival and it grew from there . Our histories and careers are very entwined , our paths would occasionally cross while working in the industry .
The publication of your book Music Festivals and the Politics of Participation in 2015 was another landmark moment . I adapted my PhD into a book . Once it was done and dusted I wanted to become completely immersed in festival production and to specialise in art curation . I spend a lot of time on art funding bids and working with artists to commission new work and then programming and delivering it at festivals .
Can you give me an example of a recent career highlight ? Last year winning best new festival and best non-music festival at the Festival Awards for the inaugural Festival of the Sky was amazing .
Dr Roxy Robinson will be among the speakers on the Access All Areas stage at the Event Production Show ( 2-3 March ).
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