News

New Tent Watch Initiative

Tent Watch is a creative campaign that has proven to significantly lower theft at festivals. Incubated and honed at Shambala festival over two years, the fun and effective combination of audience interactions, signage and messaging contributed to reducing tent thefts by 90%. The energetic team behind the initiative is now ready to offer their services to other AIF events in…

Falls Festival Crowd Crush – Incident Response

Falls Festival which is owned by Secret Sounds (recently acquired by Live Nation) operates three festivals in three cities simultaneously over the new year period: Marion Bay – Tasmania, Byron Bay – New South Wales and Lorne – Victoria. The success of this year’s festivals was tainted with a very serious crowd crush at the Victorian event. Around 80 attendees were injured…

John Giddings & Lee Denny at Festival Congress 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9JEcuuaFEQ

New Festival For Torquay – Grinagog

The creative geniuses behind Glastonbury Festival’s Shangri-La zone, Bestival’s Caravanserai, Boomtown’s Ballroom Stage and Wilderness’ Carousel have announced the launch of a new festival in Torquay called Grinagog. The event is promising 15 stages and 200 acts across all sorts of genres. The event will take place in various venues around Torquay from  7-9th April 2017. The mayor of Torbay said ‘through…

Cashless Code Of Conduct Consultation

Due to the rapid rise and interest in cashless technology at festivals, NCASS has initiated a month-long consultation for a ‘Cashless Code of Practice, with the aim of getting the COP in place in time for the 2017 events season’. Mark Laurie, director at NCASS said “This code will hopefully provide the clarity and peace of mind required for RFID technology…

More Live Nation Acquisitions

Live Nation have acquired 3 more festivals in the past few weeks including Secret Sounds’ Falls Festival and Splendour in the Grass in Australia and Sweden Rock festival in Sweden. 2016 has seen them publicly announce seven major global acquisitions in territories all around the world including France, Greece, South Africa, Canada and Australia. Their festival portfolio is now comprised of 80…

Festival Congress 2016

Industry Green Survey 2016

Powerful Thinking, with the support of the AIF and the AFO, have launched the second annual industry survey focused on sustainable practices at UK festivals. A year on from the release of the seminal environmental report, The Show Must Go On, and the launch of Festival Vision: 2025, Powerful Thinking will publish a report in December based on the results from this…

AIF announces winners of the 2016 Festival Congress Awards 

The Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) has announced the winners of the 2016 Festival Congress Awards at a packed out ceremony at DEPOT in Cardiff. Hosted by Ben Challis (Glastonbury Festival),the ceremony took place on the evening of the first day of Festival Congress (Tuesday 1st November). Winners included Bluedot (New Festival on the block), End of the Road Festival…

Entry Call For 2017 Event Production Awards

Access All Areas and Mash Media’s Event Production Awards are set to return in 2017, taking place on the 1st March at the Lancaster Hotel in London. They are now accepting entries for all awards which “sees the great and good of the events industry come together to celebrate and recognise the people who keep the cogs turning.” To enter the…

Global Acquires Several Festivals / Edition Capital Announces New Media & Entertainment Fund

In mid 2015 Global dived headfirst into the festival business by acquiring a stake in Broadwick Live- the folks behind Snowbombing and Festival No. 6. Last week Global announced that they have also acquired six more festivals, 4 from Impresario and 2 from Count of Ten and a larger stake in Broadwick Live. Edition Capital who were the investment fund…

Event Tech Live

As Europe’s only dedicated show for event technology, on the 9th of November in London, Event Tech Live will provide a unique opportunity to learn about the latest technologies and software available for organisers of festivals and outdoor events. Throughout the exhibition, panel discussions and keynote speakers take to the Main Stage to deliver content and sessions to inspire and engage the audience. This is…