EUROPEAN FESTIVALS says Huber . “ We initiated a lot of projects on our own before we had any kind of money from Brussels , but the funding has given us more options and means we can do better work .”
Paradigm pains At YOUROPE-backed meetings , including the European Festival Summit , and in the results of its European Festival Survey that involved 222 events , festival operators have emphasised that they have faced a paradigm shift in festival economics .
Among the financial pressures are higher production costs , rising fees for artists , increasing marketing costs , and the need to invest in mitigation measures to cope with ever more frequent extreme weather events .
YOUROPE ’ s survey saw 67 % of respondents state that rising production costs will be the biggest challenge facing their festivals this year . Among the attempts to address escalating costs and balance the books , that were outlined by the survey ’ s respondents , have been a reduction in the number of event days and less headline acts booked , while one festival operator cancelled its late-night programming altogether last year and was pleased to find there was no reduction in attendee satisfaction scores .
“ Since the pandemic , costs have increased drastically ,” says Huber . “ Before Covid-19 hit , it was always the artist fees that was a major financial issue but now it ’ s everything . We have seen so many cancelations of festivals . A lot of established brands in key markets including Switzerland , Germany and the UK are fading away .
“ I ’ ve been running festivals for more than 30 years , and it has always been a high-risk business , but it ’ s more difficult to make a profit now than ever . There has always been sleepless nights , while other years it went really well , but getting a decent margin from a festival is very difficult now .
“ The problems are hitting independent festivals hardest but you also see big
Hungary ’ s Sziget
“ I ’ VE BEEN RUNNING FESTIVALS FOR MORE THAN 30 YEARS , AND IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN A HIGH-RISK BUSINESS .”
companies closing festivals . They may be major operations , but they still want to make a profit , and so we are seeing mid-sized festivals such as Melt and Full Force [ both 20,000 cap and promoted by Live Nation-owned Goodlive ] in Germany being cancelled or postponed .
“ With my festival , St . Gallen , we had a sold out edition last year but we had six weeks of rain before it , and so the costs of staging it were dramatically higher than in previous years . We have had to raise the ticket price this year because we need to invest further in infrastructure , including better flooring ,
to be better prepared for the possible weather conditions . We are doing this because we are convinced it is worth the investment but not everybody is able to .”
It ’ s going all right Another key issue that Huber says is worrying everybody in the European festival community is the changing political landscape across the continent , which in recent years has seen a sustained shift to the right .
In 2024 , European elections and polls in France , Portugal , Austria and Belgium saw a move toward right-wing and extreme right-wing politics , and in the June European Parliament election , the right-wing European People ’ s Party made a breakthrough winning 188 seats .
“ There is a real sense of solidarity and togetherness among European festival operators and many people are afraid , not just those living in the countries that already have a right-wing government ,” says Huber . “ I am also seeing that fear among our audiences , particularly the younger generations . The current atmosphere in Europe is worrying .”
Among the countries most impacted is Hungary , which has a far-right government that has been led by accessaa . co . uk 29