Belladrum festival
“ People are being understanding and accommodating , everyone knows we are all stretched and trying to achieve a lot .” – Geoff Ellis
and that may continue into 2023 . In 2023 and 2024 show numbers are shaping up well , so it is certainly not all doom and gloom .”
Stout was impressed by the level of Government support throughout the lockdown period . With the pandemic wreaking havoc , the industry formed the Scottish Commercial Music Taskforce which went on to forge a stronger relationship with Government . Both Regular and DF were among the founding members .
Stout says an ongoing concern is the impact of the pandemic on grassroots talent : “ There was a lot of time lost for artists and they needed the live income . It would be good to see further support for artists to help them create new material and get back out on the road . We don ’ t want to see that impacting in two or three years ’ time when perhaps there are not as many artists coming through . Without new artists there is no industry .”
Highland spirit
Inverness-based Dougie Brown is the event producer at Kilimanjaro Live-owned Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival , and co-owner and promoter of The Gathering Festival .
Brown has worked on the Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival since 2005 and seen it grow from a 1,500-capacity event to hosting 25,000 . He launched The Gathering in 2019 . Located in Northern Meeting Park in the centre of Inverness , the one-day festival has a capacity of 6,000 and last took place in May .
The biggest festival in the Highlands , Belladrum takes place at the Belladrum Estate in Kiltarlity near Inverness . This year ’ s 28-30 July event will involve headliners including Nile Rodgers , Van Morrison , Emilie Sande and Sam Ryder .
“ I came to Belladrum as a punter in the first year and fell in love with it ,” says Brown . “ Over the years I have worked on everything from artist liaison to the management of press to taking over the event ’ s production and programming .”
He works closely with event manager Lesley Strang and the team at Kilimanjaro to produce the event . The DEAG-owned promoter purchased the festival in 2018 , having helped to programme the festival for the previous eight years .
Brown says that the support from London-based Kilimanjaro complements the core team ’ s local knowledge : “ Every successful festival across the UK has a unique identity and local knowledge is key to maintaining that , especially when
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