Dealing with disaster
By their very nature, something always goes wrong on a festival, but what happens when it’s outside your direct control?
Welcome to the fifth edition of my newsletter all about arts festivals. Thanks to my new subscribers for joining and to my existing subscribers for sticking with me.
As we squeeze out the last few days of summer in the UK after yet another storm, my thoughts turn to what happens when things go wrong.
Months and years of planning, long working hours and sleepless nights go into making a festival happen. I remember when I was working as the Marketing Director on the first Manchester International Festival, I bumped into a friend at the railway station whilst waiting for a train home at about 9.30pm one autumn night. He asked what I’d been doing that evening. When I replied that I’d just finished work, his response was:
‘why are you working late now when the festival’s not till next summer?’
He had no concept of what is required when working on a major new festival, and to be fair, why should he? We work so hard behind the scenes to hide what goes into making a festival run smoothly.
Now I’m absolutely not advocating for working long hours for months on end. Let’s face it, it’s not good for anyone’s health and wellbeing. I’ve experienced festival burn out and seen too many colleagues suffer too. However, for anyone who has worked on a festival, especially if you’re creating one from scratch, you know that it usually takes a monumental team effort to get through to the opening deadline. And then of course when you’re exhausted you’ve still got to deliver the festival. That’s when adrenaline kicks in and carries you through.
Refract Festival launch 2024, Waterside Arts Centre, Sale, Greater Manchester
For those of us with responsibility for marketing and communications, our deadlines start much earlier than festival colleagues, especially if you have lots of tickets to sell in advance. The pressure doesn’t ease up till the festival finishes and then there’s the final evaluation report to tackle. There never seems to be enough time, money or people but somehow everything aligns at the last minute. That’s down to the power of planning, processes, protocols, partnerships and praying to the festival gods.
So when I saw the news coverage last weekend of Storm Lilian wiping out the launch of this year’s Bolton Food & Drink Festival and tents being uprooted and flying through the air at Leeds music festival, my heart went out to the festival organisers. Even with good contingency planning in place, I knew what they’d have to do to adapt quickly, safeguard their teams, artists, suppliers and festival goers and ensure that the appropriate messages were communicated effectively.
We’ve all seen the video clips of plucky festival goers wading through mud at summer outdoor festivals - including Cheshire’s Bluedot last year - that have been flooded causing either cancellations, postponements or last minute changes to schedules. In contrast festival organisers at this year’s inaugural Bludfest were criticised for leaving people queuing for hours in extreme heat. Years ago, my friend and I (with our fair complexions) remember only too well queuing for what seemed like a lifetime to get into Nice Jazz Festival and worrying that we might pass out with heat exhaustion before getting to the entrance.
In the UK we like to talk and joke endlessly about the weather - it’s a national pastime - but it’s no laughing matter for festival organisers programming outdoor work dealing with the impact of climate change on our weather patterns. Storm Lilian is the twelfth storm this year and we’re only in the eighth month of 2024. However, the weather is not the only potential disaster for festivals to deal with, in fact the potential risks are almost endless.
Lightwaves Festival 2023, MediaCityUK
Building a robust risk register covering what might happen and how you can minimise risk is one of the most important elements of festival planning and that also needs to inform crisis communications planning too. I wrote an article for Arts Professional on crisis communications last year following my experience of working with Walk the Plank on Green Space Dark Skies as part of the UNBOXED festival in 2022. The one thing I hadn’t thought about in my crisis communications plan was what to do if the reigning monarch died. Clearly an oversight, so when HM The Queen died in September that year, the country went into ten days of official mourning. I and colleagues, like many others around the UK, had to make multiple, difficult and respectful decisions on the hoof whilst waiting for government direction as a publicly funded festival. At the same time, we had to respond to public enquiries about whether the event was still going to go ahead, without being able to use social media due to the national mourning regulations applicable to publicly funded events.
I’m currently working as part of a team on an exciting new festival which I can’t talk about yet but will be announced soon. Developing an arts festival inspired by the heritage of a place through a contemporary lens inevitably throws up challenges, difficult conversations and potential risks to address. Nothing gets local people motivated to comment and act - positively or otherwise - than starting a debate about their place, their histories, their cultures. This feeds directly into social issues that are often political hot potatoes. And now that means fuel for social media and all that brings with it.
Whilst it’s not the job of the arts to solve these societal problems, it can be part of a wider joined up approach to bring people together through creativity. And festivals can play a part in providing safe spaces to play, learn, make, create, talk and share experiences that can have lasting, positive impacts on individuals’ perceptions and behaviours.
Women of the World (WOW) Girls Festival, Aviva Studios, Manchester 2024
Festivals News
UK
Light up the North launches the Illumine Commission open call for Black and POC artists.
Applications are open for the latest round of the British Council’s Biennials Connect grants to support visual artists to participate in UK and international festivals and biennials.
New Director and board appointments at Norfolk & Norwich Festival, Canterbury Festival, Hull’s Freedom Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival, Gloucester’s Three Choirs Festival, and congratulations to an old friend of mine Rosa Corbishley who becomes the new Executive Director at Wiltshire Creative (including Salisbury Festival).
Kris Nelson is leaving LIFT. Job opportunities at Cheltenham Festivals and Brighton Early Music Festival.
Actors are now recognised as workers at Cambridge Shakespeare Festival. And the boss of the festival responds here.
Fringe by the Sea festival is up in arms about Creative Scotland’s funding process and Edinburgh Festival Fringe is one of many Scottish arts organisations along with individual artists criticising Creative Scotland for the recent closure of its Open Fund for Individuals.
The Scottish Government has pledged to support Edinburgh festivals though no further information has been released.
Camp Bestival is taking a break in 2025.
Launch of North West England’s first Neurodiversity Arts Festival.
Into the Wyld is a new festival of contemporary art on the Wirral, Merseyside that explores the legacy of the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Milton Keynes International Festival announces its 2025 dates.
There’s a new creative neighbourhood being planned for Salford which will include a ‘festival yard’.
International
UK Producer Tom Curteis has helpfully put together a handy resource for arts producers looking to visit and connect with international festivals in the UK and Europe.
Willie White announces his departure from Dublin Theatre Festival.
Whitney Museum picks the curators for the Whitney Biennial 2026.
Cunard launches a Film Festival at Sea in partnership with the BFI London Film Festival and Turner Classic Movies announces its lineup for this year’s already sold out TCM Classic Cruise.
Staying with film and travel, Virgin Atlantic and the Women over 50 Film Festival have joined forces to screen a short dance film Haud Close Tae Me directed by Scottish Ballet’s filmmaker Eve McConnachie as part of the in-flight entertainment.
This year Argentina’s Chaco Biennial in the north of the country, described by its organisers as the ‘World Cup of Sculpture’ attracted nearly 1m visitors, and Latvian artist Solveiga Vasiljeva is the first woman to win the competition in its 36-year history, via Arts News.
We Invented the Weekend festival, MediaCityUK, 2024
Festival Highlights for September
UK
There is still plenty of free outdoor arts to enjoy across the country with Encounter Festival in Preston, Arts by the Sea in Bournemouth (a place I hold dear as it’s where I studied for my Tourism degree many years ago), Whirligig Festival of Outdoor Arts in Weston-Super-Mare, The Full Shebang Festival in Mansfield and To the Sea in Penarth, Wales. Artichoke is producing a new event Babylon Gamelan in Bedworth, West Midlands as a pilot event to explore the potential for a festival to celebrate local industrial heritage and culture. The Midlands’ biggest free street arts festival returns with a scaled down version – Arts Fresco Lite in Market Harborough.
Bath is one of the places that rightfully lays claim to the author Jane Austen and attracts fans from around the globe to its annual Jane Austen Festival. Plus, there’s the Bath Children’s Literature Festival.
For adult literary fans, there’s also the Cliveden Literary Festival in Berkshire, Morecambe Poetry Festival, and if you’re interested in history too, Gloucester History Festival features many well-known historians and writers. And Edinburgh’s festivals continue with the Curious Festival of knowledge bringing leading thinkers and curious minds together for two weeks of free events.
If like me, you like jazz, then you’ve got a choice of Lagavulin Islay Jazz Festival in Orkney, or Lancaster Jazz Festival or Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music.
Also up in Orkney is the Orkney International Science Festival including music, exhibitions and film. Still in Scotland there’s the Dundee Design Festival which aims to be the world’s most sustainable design festival.
I like how Leeds Piano Competition has developed the Leeds International Piano Trail Festival across the city with public pianos, piano planters and sculptures and even theatre made from recycled pianos, plus an Artist in Resonance – and that’s not a typo.
In the neighbouring city of Bradford, the Science + Media Museum presents the annual Widescreen Weekend film festival.
If your music and culture tastes verge more towards the experimental, there’s Creekside electronic music festival in Deptford and Birmingham’s Supersonic Festival.
In terms of visual art, there’s an eclectic choice between the London Mural Festival, the Lakes International Comic Art Festival and Artwave Festival which takes place across the Lewes District and is one of the largest visual arts festivals in the South East.
Góbéfest in Manchester celebrates the little-known culture and traditions of the Szekler people – ethnic Hungarians living in Transylvania, Romania, and La Feria in Liverpool is a celebration of the diversity of Latin American Culture. Also in Manchester is the Alternative Pride Festival with arts, crafts, music, walks and talks.
For theatre lovers, why not try Oxford’s Offbeat Festival which provides a platform for new voices and new performances, and YEP Directors Festival showcases new talent at Liverpool’s Everyman Theatre.
This year’s b-side festival in Portland, Dorset explores stories of migration through walks, talks, artworks and experiences. The Staithes Festival of Arts and Heritage draws on the social and industrial history of the town located on the coast of the North York Moors National Park.
Unlimited at London’s Southbank Centre showcases dance, performance, comedy, music, poetry and visual art by disabled artists. Also in the capital is the Open House Festival opening up all sorts of buildings and studios for you to look round, plus walking and guided tours. Totally Thames celebrates the River Thames with arts events, active adventures, environmental initiatives, heritage and education programmes. The Urban Elephant free festival of diverse art, music and dance takes over the Elephant and Castle district.
The Festival of Thrift, the national celebration of sustainable living returns to Billingham in Country Durham.
For free dance performances across three days in three different locations across East Sussex follow Journeys Festival of Dance.
International
One of this year’s European Capitals of Culture, Bodø2024 hosts a new festival – the Arts of Democracy focusing on culture, debate and safe meeting places.
It’s another big month for film festivals with Venice Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival – both on my bucket list! Venice also hosts the 68th International Biennial of Contemporary Music.
Other music festivals include Musikfest in Berlin with almost 400 concerts, Broadway’s festival of music – Elsie Fest in New York and the Flanders Festival Ghent.
For lovers of the countryside, STROOM festival in the Scheldt valley between Ghent and Antwerp in Belgium uses the river, nature and sustainability as its core themes with events taking place in stunning outdoor locations.
Also in Toronto is the Toronto International Festival of Authors and Berlin stages its International Literature Festival. The Hay Festival has two editions: Hay Festival Queretaro in Mexico and Hay Festival Segovia in Spain. Also in Spain is the Firatàrrega festival of outdoor arts, theatre and circus.
It’s a busy month for festivals in Berlin as the city also celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Festival of Lights.
Sydney and Dublin host their Fringe Festivals. Amsterdam plays host to the Netherlands Theatre Festival.
And finally, Arts Electronica, the festival for art, technology and society takes place in Linz, Austria.
P.S. If you liked this post, please click on the heart at the bottom or top of this post. It helps others to discover PalmerSquared on Festivals and I’ll be very thankful.
See you next month for more festival news, stories, and insights.
All photos taken by me.
So true Helen. Those long hours and you can never plan enough for unforeseen events. I felt so bad for BlueDot last year, and was very thankful I was there for just 1 day and not camping. I'm looking froward to finding out more of what you've been working on when the time is right.