The whole industry got behind Latitude
had just three-and-a-half weeks to get Latitude off the ground .
“ It was really hard to envisage that we would be able to pull Latitude off to the level that we did . The collective effort of my team , but also the whole industry , is the thing that stood out – the whole industry got behind it ,” he says .
Among the supply chain issues that had to be overcome was an extensive search for crew caterers , while infrastructure elements such as portacabins , tents and barriers were in short supply . However , Benn says a shortage of staff was one of the biggest issues : “ Labour shortages seem very significant , there ’ s definitely a mix of people who have moved away from the industry and taken jobs in other industries . They may hanker to come back but they are probably waiting for more certainty before they quit a regular job to come back .”
Rescuing summer The promoter believes the live events industry was in a precarious position and could well have suffered irrecoverable damage if full-capacity events had not been allowed to return this summer .
“ The industry was on a cliff edge , I don ’ t think we realised quite how much of a cliff edge we were on in terms of potentially losing a continuity of skillset that had been built up over many , many , years ,” he
says . “ It would have been lost this summer completely if events were not able to return . Fortunately , we ’ re not going to be in that position – we ’ re going to rescue this summer and we ’ re going to maintain that skillset , but it was pretty tight .”
In terms of the Covid-19 mitigation measures in place as part of the ERP , it was necessary to provide evidence of having had a negative lateral flow test to gain entry and to test again every 48 hours . Workers were also required to complete a daily health questionnaire and take regular tests .
Measures around the site included all bars and food traders being cashless , increased ventilation in areas such as the BBC Sounds tent , and ultraviolet air purifiers used in some of the more enclosed environments .
“ I ’ ve had Luke Cowdell and Ange Goliger working on a Covid plan for me since August last year . They have led the Covid mitigations delivery team
“ The industry was on a cliff edge , I don ’ t think we realised quite how much of a cliff edge we were on .”
Festival Republic MD Melvin Benn alongside John Probyn and Isle of Wight Festival ’ s Caroline Giddings and Dave Steele – they have been at the heart of it and given their time and effort on all our festivals ,” says Benn .
Asked how he feels about independent festivals having been excluded from
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