OCTOBER | REVIEW
What
makes
Malta a
festival
Mecca?
What makes Malta so attractive for
events/festivals?
Geographically Malta is very
accessible and almost everyone
speaks English and Italian! Due
to the fact that English is Malta’s
second official language helps
tremendously as therefore tourists
do not have to encounter a language
barrier. Malta offers a whole range
of activities that attendees can
benefit from such as; Malta’s rich
and turbulent history, beautiful
beaches, 365 days of sun and so
much more. Malta is also said to be
one of the best places in the world
for scuba diving. Also, due to the
fact that Malta is relatively small
one can do a lot in one week with
good value for money.
What were the main challenges
logistically and organisationally
this year for Summerdaze 2019?
This year reducing the impact on
the environment played a big part
for us as we reduced single use
28
Access talks to Gerry Debono, events director
at 356 and co-founder of Summer Daze festival,
about why the island is taking off for events
plastic by 70% by using branded
cups. All proceeds from every cup
purchased went towards charity.
Unfortunately, this years
unforeseen weather conditions
affected the second day of the
festival which meant it had to be
moved to another venue in just a
couple of hours. But, we managed
to achieve this thanks to the great
team effort from all our teams.
Another challenge we
encountered is the lack in numbers
of trained security available locally.
Having had double the capacity
and venue wise increase we
struggled to find adequate security.
Therefore to be sure that we had all
security necessary we hired three
of the biggest companies available
locally as well as Showsec from the
UK to manage the teams.
How do you attract the top artists?
We have been booking top
international artists locally and
internationally for the past 20 years
and have always made sure to keep
a very good working relationships
with major agents and agencies.
What audience research do you
carry out?
Research was carried out prior to
the Summerdaze event to see what
artists are mostly in demand as
to see the demographics of people
applying for tickets. Feedback is
also gathered through social media
together with strategic meetings
carried out all year long with our
core team members.
Summerdaze 2019 was the
largest musical event ever held in
our country and we achieved this
on our second year so I’m sure that
the future is bright for the legacy of
the festival in Malta.