Smaller festivals being cancelled

[lauraclaire87]

I'm writing a piece about smaller festivals being cancelled this year. Have any of you guys noticed an increasing number of smaller festivals not going ahead this year? Has your fave small festival been cancelled. Perhaps youf eel there are actually more small festivals this year. I'm looking for anyone with an opinion on the subject, particularly anyone with insight into why so many smaller festivals are going under.

Thanks,

Laura

[hoils]

I'm writing a piece about lazy undergrads and/or journalists asking for help from forums without doing any of their own research. Has this happened to you? Perhaps you feel they should just piss off or actually contribute a bit to said forums before asking for help? I'm looking for anyone with an opinion on the subject, particularly anyone with insight into who else thinks it's just a tad cheeky.

Thanks,

Hoils.

[elfweirdigan]

I'm writing a piece about lazy undergrads and/or journalists asking for help from forums without doing any of their own research. Has this happened to you? Perhaps you feel they should just piss off or actually contribute a bit to said forums before asking for help? I'm looking for anyone with an opinion on the subject, particularly anyone with insight into who else thinks it's just a tad cheeky.

Thanks,

Hoils.

[joe1990 fresh account]

i dont no of any, if anything there's more festivals now than ever before.

[jump]

It's not the small festivals that are being cancelled, it's the medium sized ones that are. The major fests of Reading & Glasto will always do well and the small fests know their target audience it's seems to be mostly the medium ones who don't know if they should be trying to get bigger or stay as they're struggle as they seem bland and daon't stand out.

I'm writing a piece about lazy undergrads and/or journalists asking for help from forums without doing any of their own research. Has this happened to you? Perhaps you feel they should just piss off or actually contribute a bit to said forums before asking for help? I'm looking for anyone with an opinion on the subject, particularly anyone with insight into who else thinks it's just a tad cheeky.

Thanks,

Hoils.

[lauraclaire87]

Alright, fair point I am being cheeky, but how else am I meant to find out about public opinion? You don't have to answer me if I offend.

Thanks for the replies. From what I have gathered from the people I've talked to so far, it is the festivals that have experienced unexpected growth that are being cancelled or having years off.

Which to me suggests bad organising and a lack of understanding of festivals as a business, or that the business itself is changing so dramatically that many organisers are having problems catching up.

Just my thoughts on what I've found so far. Thanks for the replies - very helpful and interesting. Still very interested in what anybody has to say on the subject so please keep discussing it. Or, alternatively, keep insulting me for daring to ask a question without knowing all you vital statistics first - whichever you prefer.

[5co77ie]

I would say that a lot of County Council/Arts Council funded festivals are being/about to be hit by funding cuts and have decided to scale back this year, or take a year out. Many others whilst surviving this year are taking a pragmatic view of budgets and looking at 2012 being the make of break year. How unemploymet rises will effect people buying tickets for the more commercial festivals, hasn't become clear yet, what is clear is that most people will have less money for travel due to rising fuel/public transport prices and less money to spend at festivals - how well traders and caterers do this summer at festivals will also prove interesting.

[elfweirdigan]

I would say that a lot of County Council/Arts Council funded festivals are being/about to be hit by funding cuts and have decided to scale back this year, or take a year out. Many others whilst surviving this year are taking a pragmatic view of budgets and looking at 2012 being the make of break year. How unemploymet rises will effect people buying tickets for the more commercial festivals, hasn't become clear yet, what is clear is that most people will have less money for travel due to rising fuel/public transport prices and less money to spend at festivals - how well traders and caterers do this summer at festivals will also prove interesting.

[rabid]

And then... Mass unemployment/redundancy means... more people have more time to go to more festivals??? No longer on the treadmill of work and restricted holiday time - give up your house and live in a series of fields for a few months??? In this case, the big ones will be too expensive but your dole/redundancy money will stretch to a fair few small ones

[elfweirdigan]

Really can't see that being the case. Give up your house? Dole stretching to a fair few smaller ones? Maybe for a few but not the vast majority.

[Bisque]

If you could possibly try & get hold of the guys who run BEACH BREAK LIVE they could help you. Their festival has done extremely well catering to a niche market of students (it's a student only festival) & having a unique setting (located next to a beautiful beach).

You might have heard of this festival before as it was featured on Dragons Den & won the dragons over. They however chose to go ahead with Outgoing who specialise in student holidays.

In 2009, they manage to relocate their 10,000 people festival from Cornwall to Kent in just 2 weeks due to a huge f$%k up with the council & planning. This proves that new small/medium festivals are doing well & I have never seen so many around. It's getting difficult to choose which ones to go to.

Guilfest too is seemingly doing well despite the many problems they are facing with underage drinking, theft etc due to the festival being so close to the town centre.

I'm not sure if this helps but could help towards bulking up an argument.

[Medina]

I agree with most of the other comments here, especially those from 5co77ie and elfweidigan.

Speaking to other festival organisers and infrastructure suppliers there don't seem to be many cancellations as yet, indeed, infrastructure suppliers say they're getting more requests to tender than last year.

However, expect many local authority events to be cancelled as spending cuts start to bite. Councils will be approving their budgets during the coming month so things will become clearer then but wearing my 'hat' as a Borough & County Councillor in Hampshire I know that spending cuts will hit several Council-run events here - the free admission Gosport Waterfront Festival down my way is being axed as are several other local authority events across Hampshire.

Most Music Festivals get little or no public funding so the cuts won't directly affect them except (i) charges for local authority sites and services (inc. policing) may rise and (ii) many festival-goers work in the public sector - if they fear for their jobs they may cut back on spending and attend less events.

P.S. Wearing my other 'hat' as organiser of the Wickham Festival www.wickhamfestival.co.uk and the Gosport & Fareham Easter Festival www.eastfest.co.uk, our 'earlybird' ticket sales are actually up on the same time last year. Also, having spent the last two weekends at the Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow, attendances there seem very healthy with no sign of the recession hitting ticket sales.

[Paul ™]

I think there was more cancelled in 09/10 than so far this year. Not sure on the figures, but am pretty sure the amount of festivals actually going ahead has increased. Perhaps 5co77ie or Neil have figures for their listings year on year?

[Rich BT]

Government funded festivals being culled is a good thing. One in Nottingham charged £30 a ticket and for that you get Glasto headliner material - how are we supposed to compete with that?

I know free festivals/gigs are good for communities etc but on a selfish note I am glad they won’t be happening in 2011.

[elfweirdigan]

Government funded festivals being culled is a good thing. One in Nottingham charged £30 a ticket and for that you get Glasto headliner material - how are we supposed to compete with that?

I know free festivals/gigs are good for communities etc but on a selfish note I am glad they won’t be happening in 2011.

[5co77ie]

I think there was more cancelled in 09/10 than so far this year. Not sure on the figures, but am pretty sure the amount of festivals actually going ahead has increased. Perhaps 5co77ie or Neil have figures for their listings year on year?

[5co77ie]

Government funded festivals being culled is a good thing. One in Nottingham charged £30 a ticket and for that you get Glasto headliner material - how are we supposed to compete with that?

I know free festivals/gigs are good for communities etc but on a selfish note I am glad they won’t be happening in 2011.

[elfweirdigan]

A lot more already saying a fallow year for 2011 - than anytime since I've been doing the festival listings for eFestivals. We're currently around 400 down on how many we listed last year.

Last year whilst listing more than in 2009, when I added them most of those had happened previous years but hadn't been brought to my attention. I'd say, although I having nothing to prove it in terms of concrete figures and because we list a lot more than we did, that 2008/9 had the most festivals happening. 2010 had slightly less,

Anyway, there's a lot gone from the calendar taking a year out in 2011, and many of those that did in 2010 haven't announced a return yet in 2011 - Glade being the most obvious exception although that's halved in size.

[PastCaring]

Government funded festivals being culled is a good thing. One in Nottingham charged £30 a ticket and for that you get Glasto headliner material - how are we supposed to compete with that?

I know free festivals/gigs are good for communities etc but on a selfish note I am glad they won’t be happening in 2011.

[Rich BT]

You say our markets are different but locally they are not. We sell a proportion of tickets to band fans, festival fans and a good percentage to the local public. If I was someone living locally that wasn’t a massive fan of the bands at Bearded or the festy in Notts, I would want to go to a festival with the best value and seeing the likes of Madness, Ocean Colour Scene, Athlete and the likes for £30 is a good deal rather than a strangely named festival that programmes cult underground acts for £65.

[si_t]

let's not forget, in all the excitement, that the Pet Shop Boys are absolute turd.

How they headline anything at all is beyond me.

Thanks.

[Paul ™]

let's not forget, in all the excitement, that the Pet Shop Boys are absolute turd.

How they headline anything at all is beyond me.

Thanks.

[si_t]

yes - fair point.

Remarkable really.

According to the Guinness book of Records they are "the most successful duo in UK music history".

Words fail me.

[si_t]

Thinking about it - presumably, that includes Chas and Dave too.

Conclusive proof, if ever it were required, that there is no justice in this world.

[Medina]

2012 will probably see far more cancellations than 2011. By then public sector spending cuts and job cuts will have taken hold. Add in the effect of the London Olympics (including its effect on infrastructure supply and costs) and I suspect 2012 will be a much quieter year on the festival front.

Those of us whose festival dates clash with the London Olympics have to decide whether to move our dates, take a year off, or go head-to-head with Lord Coe.