Ciro Romano on launching Kite festival
Launching a new festival has never been for the faint hearted , but few years have been more beset by difficult market conditions than 2022 . Having overcome nerve-shredding , last-minute challenges to stage the debut Kite festival in June , Neapolitan Music MD Ciro Romano is preparing for the return of the event to Kirtlington Park in Oxford next year
Ciro Romano ’ s Neapolitan Music , which also promotes events including the 23,000-capacity Love Supreme Jazz Festival , teamed with production company U-Live , James Harding ’ s long-read editorial platform Tortoise Media and indie label Heavenly Recordings to launch “ music and ideas ” festival Kite on 10-12 June .
Blessed by glorious sunshine , a stunning setting , a high-end production , and featuring a refreshingly diverse blend of music talent such as Grace Jones and Tom Misch along with speakers ranging from Ai Weiwei to Jarvis Cocker , Kite was met by rave media reviews and positive attendee feedback . However , while the punters had been soaking up the atmosphere and entertainment , behind the scenes Romano ’ s team were working flat-out dealing with last-minute changes
Ciro Romano
– the most dramatic being the abcence of the event ’ s main stage .
“ We were like swans , it all appeared calm on the surface but there was plenty of flapping away underneath ,” says Romano .
On the eve of the event the team were told that the main stage was stuck in Brockwell Park where it had been used for the Mighty Hoopla .
“ They couldn ’ t deliver the stage to us because of a lack of crew and transport issues , so on the eve of Kite we had to re-programme the whole event ,” says Romano . “ It was a very difficult time but we have a firstclass production team led by U-Live ’ s Mandy Johnson . You need cool heads when things like that happen and Mandy , who has worked with me since the beginning of Love Supreme , dealt with it brilliantly .”
Prior to the gates opening , Romano had the not inconsiderable challenge of generating awareness and winning over first-time ticket buyers .
He says the hardest thing was conveying the concept : “ It took us a long time to really make people understand what it is , but once they were on site they got it . It is a difficult market at the moment , there are economic factors , and it is always challenging with a first-time event but we did ok , everyone involved is happy with the result .
“ I would not have gone into the market with a new event unless it was a fresh and novel concept ; the way we marketed it and the content was laid out was different to anything else in the market .”
Looking ahead to next year , Romano says the intention is to try for an attendance of 8,000 and follow in the footsteps of Love Supreme : “ Love Supreme had a 5,000 attendance in the first year and now it ’ s almost 25,000 . I would never have dreamed that would have happened when I started working on the first one .”
Having seen the strong reaction to Kite ’ s speaker content , Romano says the ‘ In Conversation ’ strand will be expanded next year : “ We will have more speaker stages because they were all overflowing from the first morning session onwards .
“ When you are launching an event you have to accept it is going to be a challenge , especially if it is a new and novel concept . For us , Kite is about creating an aesthetically pleasing environment and capturing the imagination of audiences . Everyone has been incredibly supportive and we now have a strong platform to build on .”
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