Latitude proved emotional for both festival-goers and event staff
Alex Trenchard
the ERP , the Live Nation promoter says he pressed the Government to be more inclusive and enable other events to take part : “ I did say to DCMS that every festival scheduled for the weekend of Latitude should be given ERP status , but from their point of view they are obviously focused on gathering data at these shows and there ’ s a limit to what they needed to gather . Every festival given ERP status costs the DCMS money .”
While the highly experienced festival operator has not been told when the data from the latest round of the ERP will be available , he is looking ahead to the company ’ s other festivals with confidence that punters are eager to return .
“ Consumer confidence is not just back but exceeding what it was previously ,” he says . “ The UK festival industry is very sophisticated now and most people have learned to provide something that people want . I genuinely believe we ’ re in a really strong position .”
Standon Calling Located on the grounds of Standon Lordship , near Standon , Hertfordshire , Standon Calling ( cap . 17,000 ) celebrated its 15th anniversary over the same weekend . Among the headliners were Hot Chip , Primal Scream and De La Soul .
While not able to benefit from the assurance of being part of the ERP , the festival ’ s founder and director Alex Trenchard worked closely with suppliers to minimise the financial risk of pressing ahead .
Not having the ERP framework to work within also meant that Trenchard ’ s team was left to develop Covid-safe event protocols independently . The result was its Pre-event Covid Certification Process ( PCCP ), involving a video-recorded testing procedure and the Certific app verifying people ’ s identity and test results .
Trenchard says the system was well received , with 93 % of feedback respondents stating it was easy to use : “ The general feedback was that everyone was very happy that they went through the process , particularly the video certification , because it provided a level of reassurance that meant they could enjoy the festival more freely . The atmosphere was incredible , and I think that was partly down to the fact everyone had been through the same process .”
The promoter says the decision to push ahead with the event was made when the Government delayed the reopening date by a month .
“ That made 19 July much more certain than the previous date . We felt it was one of the safer weekends because it would be very unlikely for things to be opened up only to be closed again within a week ,” says Trenchard .
Supplier support With the timing appearing to favour Standon Calling , there were two other factors that were pivotal in it being able to go ahead – a £ 400,000 Cultural Recovery Fund ( CRF ) grant and the flexibility of its key suppliers .
“ Because of the CRF we were able to say to our suppliers we would use the funds
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