British Arts Festivals Association (BAFA)’s Post

One of the highlights of my entire year is heading through to Edinburgh to enjoy the city during festival season. Nothing says ‘it’s summer in Scotland’ quite like wandering through the streets of the capital, indulging in the eccentric lineup of performers that come here to celebrate the very best the global arts and culture scene has to offer. However, as the curtain prepares to rise on this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the question looms over whether Scotland’s largest arts festival can maintain its glittering reputation against a backdrop of funding cuts and delays. While being celebrated globally for its vibrant performances and eclectic programme of events, The Fringe is a vital economic driver for not just Edinburgh, but the country as a whole. In fact, according to the latest figures from VisitScotland, the festival – including The Fringe – has contributed a staggering £367million to our economy. Its impact is felt across various sectors too, from hospitality to retail, with the figures showcasing that visitors splash out around 51 per cent of their total spend on accommodation, 25% on food and drink and 19 per cent on shopping. But despite its significant contribution, the road to this year’s festival has been rocky. Last year, the Scottish Government pledged £100million to support the country’s arts and cultural sector in an attempt to reverse the damage caused by historic funding cuts that date back to 2008. The announcement provided a beacon of hope for many in the arts community, signalling a commitment to revitalising a sector that has faced significant financial strain over the last five years. However, the key to ensuring the successful delivery of these funds in a way that will provide tangible support and prolonged benefit to the sector is through a comprehensive plan – and unsurprisingly, that’s something which is yet to be seen. The chief executive of the Edinburgh International Festival, Francis Hegyi, is among those who have voiced concerns, warning that the lack of a strategic delivery plan may force the organisation to take drastic measures. She said that could look like anything from increasing ticket prices to shortening the duration of the festival, or even overhauling its entire business model in order to make ends meet. And it doesn’t take a genius to work out that changes like this could alter the very essence of the festival, making it far less accessible and potentially diminishing its cultural and economic impact. Click to read the full column : https://lnkd.in/eQdkUpa6

Last year 36 festivals cancelled in total. This year 28 Festivals have now cancelled, postponed or are making 2024 their last edition. We've not even made it to the end of March. High supply chain costs - which in some areas remain unpredictable - combined with lack of liquidity post pandemic - means many festivals cannot ride the bumps they used to be able to pre-pandemic. Until the supply chain settles (and that's a way off - they have their own complex problems to battle) the silver bullet solution is for the UK Govt to temporarily lower VAT on ticket sales from 20% to 5%. Every single festival at risk that we've surveyed confirms a VAT reduction would turn the dial from 'at risk' to 'not at risk'. Go to https://lnkd.in/djz-4qv5 to write to your MP and ask for action.

"The festival of Hosay is more than entertaining – it is unifying. Apart from the benefit to the business owners in St James, how does this festival add value to the community and ultimately, society? What is required to move it to a viable venture that can support communities like Cocorite and St James that are already so vulnerable? For data-gathering to be relevant, not only must these questions be answered, but we must have clear and actionable next steps." Festivals are central to the soul of the people of T&T. In this piece, I share my awesome experience at the Muslim festival of Hosay and explore how we can create more sustainability in the creative sector through data-gathering. #writeconnectdara #hosay #festivals #communitydevelopment #supportthearts #beawsome https://lnkd.in/eSPWMyi7

Three interesting reads out this week focusing on festivals - how one started, the importance of smaller independent festivals and the challenges the sector is facing right now. "According to the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF), it is expected that the UK will see over 100 festivals disappear without intervention. In February, AIF launched a campaign asking for a temporary VAT reduction from 20% to 5% on festival tickets that it says would save many event promoters from closure." you can find out more about the campaign here: https://lnkd.in/esp46c_X The Fair launched Your Festival Needs You pre-season to celebrate the industry and to highlight the very real challenges the sector is facing - you can find more and how to support the campaign here: https://lnkd.in/e5UC2sU3 How one festival got started: https://lnkd.in/ehZUP_C8 The importance of smaller independent festivals: https://lnkd.in/edTmsVPu The challenges the sector is facing right now: https://lnkd.in/e_iFGKnV

New Post: “A devastating period for the UK’s festival organisers”: More than 200 UK events have disappeared since Covid - Since the pandemic, 204 UK festivals have closed, cancelled, or disappeared, according to the Association for Independent Festivals (AIF). This number has doubled from 36 cancellations last year to 72 in 2024, highlighting a worsening crisis for festival organizers. AIF CEO John Rostron attributes this decline to factors like inflation and the cost of living crisis and advocates for reducing VAT on festival tickets from 20% to 5% to stimulate sales. Despite the festival sector's economic importance, many promoters are struggling, with several notable festivals already cancelling their upcoming editions. Read the full article here https://lnkd.in/ddhZ2EMt #Venturecapital #VC #investment #LP #Limited Partner

🇪🇺 Preparing with Nele Hertling two sessions for the European Festivals Association summit in Usedom, here are some of the questions we will address: 🌳 *Mon. 13 May: Denis de Rougemont Lab: Experimenting democracy* Why do we choose to create a festival? To promote an artistic form, to respond to a local need or commission? How does an idea, vision, desire germinate? How does a founder (a person, a group) mobilise around this idea, analyse needs, find resources and strengths? How is the festival project organised over time, and what are the consequences for the group in terms of its composition, skills, mode of action and governance? What weakens the core group or, on the contrary, makes it more robust? 🏡 *Tue. 14 May: Festival Cities and Regions Workshop* ❓ What is new in your relation between cities and festivals that you think is relevant to share with the other cities and regions? ❓ What are the methodologies used by cities and regions to consult their festivals: How do cities and regions initiate and strengthen their dialogue with their festivals? How do cities ‘value’ their festivals - in which policy areas and actions do they address festivals? How do festivals define their relation with their cities beyond funding opportunities? We are tapping into the variety of experiences and political ideas of relation ❓ What is the state of play of the work in progress of the EFFE Seal for Festival Cities and Regions focusing on Environmental Sustainability. 😎 Hope to see you at the Baltic Sea! (or in Berlin 15-16 May) ➕ Programme of the summit: https://lnkd.in/gRSw9K-V ⚡ The EFFE Seal for Festival Cities and Regions: https://lnkd.in/eHjbhp4R #culture #festival #europe #germany #berlin 👀 Nathalie Perrin-Gilbert Jochen Schäfsmeier Elisabeth Champollion Jorge Losana Jochen Christian Sandig Martin Bailly Pascal Keiser

With the sun shining there's one thing on my mind- FESTIVAL SEASON. But with ticket costs at record high, and 36 festivals cancelling/postponing in 2024 so far, with ~100 predicted, the crisis has been cited as worse than Covid (John Roston, AIF CEO). To quell the doom and gloom I wanted to highlight a few campaigns aiming to buck these alarming trends, interested to hear of any others too! Drop the Headliner is one such campaign that's gained some traction, with SGP adopting the scheme this week . When one headliner can easily cost £100,000+, dropping just one big act can either save money or allow for better allocation of funds to improve experience. UK Music, a collective industry voice, are urging the UK government to cut VAT on tickets from 20% to 10% to bring them in line with the average EU rate. Whereas the Association of Independent Festivals is calling for this to drop to 5% for 3 years to offer a relief buffer. https://lnkd.in/eTDPCX-y. https://lnkd.in/eXWXJVXW https://lnkd.in/e3sUtqsj

Adelaide Fringe 2024 was a massive season and it took herculean efforts from everyone to get through! Incredible numbers attended, just over 1 million ticket sold and 4.6 million attendances .. (if anyone has questions about the difference between those numbers please ask! It's quite simple, there's lots of ways to attend that doesn't involve a ticketed show) it was fantastic to see so many tourists come to Adelaide for Fringe 2024 - they bought huge numbers of tickets and spent big in local hotels and restaurants. in many ways a big triumph, but of course there is more to the story and one of the scariest elements is the fact that festival presentation costs have gone up by about 30% in the last year or so .. the ticket sales were up by around 4% (1,040,305) and the average ticket price remained the same around $33. So it doesn't take much to look at the sums and realise it is very tough to make it all balance. Lots of festivals have cancelled and closed down in recent months because of these rising costs in the supply chains. We are going to work harder than ever to try raise enough money to shore up the Fringe in future - Adelaide Fringe is a precious jewel of the nation and we need all the help we can get to survive this storm.

I've written today in the Evening Standard about the difficulty of securing sufficient capital investment for those of us in the performing arts sector who are required to manage important, beautiful, heritage buildings. The issues facing us at the Southbank Centre are big and urgent, but many other heritage performing arts venues are also struggling to keep their venues relevant and fit for purpose. Many of us operate in historically significant and iconic buildings. In our case, the Royal Festival Hall (just one of our venues) is a Grade One listed postmodern masterpiece. It's also the only remaining symbol of the 1951 Festival of Britain and it will be 75 years old in 2026. It hasn't received any capital investment since 2008 and it desperately needs attention. Those performing arts organisations funded by Arts Council England (like us) don't receive any funding for the upkeep of their buildings. The funds we do receive are solely for the production of our artistic programmes: the plays, concerts, gigs and events we present and produce. The first ever Chair of the Arts Council of Great Britain, John Maynard Keynes, made it clear that the body would never be able to afford to contribute to the arts sector’s capital needs on a regular basis. There has never been a consistent, reliable and sensible solution to the issue for performing arts venues that Maynard Keynes identified. We need a coherent investment plan that will help the Arts and Heritage sector across the UK. Many of us are very willing to match fund through fundraising any public funding we receive, so that we maximise the public pound in the sort of public/private partnerships that we're all very well equipped to deliver. We all care very much about the extraordinary buildings we look after and are united in wanting the very best for our heritage and arts sectors. Harnessed, this creative energy could help provide the solutions, if the Government would join us at the table to close the gap that John Maynard Keynes identified all those years ago. 

Springtime is the kick-off of the festival season. Check out this interesting read on how the Glastonbury Festival impacts the local economy. How do YOU measure impact? https://lnkd.in/gu4BW2St #festival #article #economicreport