SUMMER | FEATURE
Photography: Luke Dyson and Garry Jones
the agenda for 2020, to make sure we keep
reducing and recycling,” added Tagg.
“The park was spotless for the following
day’s festival, Cross the Tracks. We also
opted for streamers instead of confetti on
the Main Stage, which was obviously far
easier to pick up, and still looked fabulous.”
On top of the new sustainable agenda,
an app ran alongside the event, immersing
the user into the experience ever more. “We
worked with a great team at Second Screen
to develop the app,” says Tagg. “The app
itself was amazing, it allowed people to put
themselves in our site map if they were lost,
alerted them to when ‘favourited’ artists
were about to come on stage, and it allowed
us to communicate with them throughout
the day”.
The use of apps at events isn’t anything
new, but this app hit the ground running. In
allowing the organiser to speak directly to
attendees, any major announcements can be
communicated instantly. Furthermore, the
ability to favourite certain acts and stages
means that visitors can enjoy the festival
without having to keep an eye on the time.
What’s next for Mighty Hoopla? A lot
of events react to popularity through
expansion. But considering the spaces in
London, the safety of the visitors, and the
niche audience demographic, expansion
may not be the correct answer. “As a team
we would love to do some more shows, but
size isn’t what we value,” says Tagg. Well, for
Access that can only mean that there will be
more events to come from the team at East
Creative – so watch this space, because it’s
going to be more fabulous than ever.
Showsec on form
Access sits down with Michael Asimonye of Showsec
> Do you find that security for city- > Being a queer festival, how did that
based festivals is different to other affect the brief you were given?
festivals? The brief that we received did not
Yes, we do, there are a number of differ based on the demographic.
aspects to take into account when However, we were made aware of the
planning for an event that is based in a audience profile which we conveyed
city. Typically, when hosting festivals to the staff alongside with our usual
in the city we would expect customers brief promoting the highest customer
to come from home and not have to service.
stay on site. That generally makes for
Suppliers
a different atmosphere and certain > How was your relationship with the
considerations as a security provider. local police?
> Bars:
The relationship with the local police
Peppermint > Were there difficulties considering was fantastic, this relation has been
bars the extravagant outfits? built upon from previous events and
> Production: For this year, no. Customers came they understand how we work. We
LoudSound to express themselves which was were willing to offer support where
> Artist welcomed by all. At other events we necessary and we felt that this was
Liaison: have encountered hinderances where reciprocated without reservation.
Our Kid the extravagance of some outfits has Brother caused offence with local residents > What do you think was your biggest
> Security: or other park users on the arrival or achievement considering how well
Showsec egress from said events. the event went?
This is a hard one; however, I felt that
the fact that the event was incident-
free from the start of ingress until the
end of egress was a huge success.
The complexities surrounding egress
was a big concern going into this event
however we were able to safely deliver
customers out of the event site through
a closed park and to their relevant
points of onward travel.
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