23rd July 2021
Securing Industry Resources: Top Tips This document has been designed as a resource for individuals and organisations planning events. If you are already at an advanced stage in the planning process, this will hopefully prove a useful checklist, or if you are new to your event, it should provide a frame of reference to get started. While we all welcome the return of live cultural and spo...
23rd July 2021
AFO launches two new action groups The Association of Festival Organisers (AFO) is very pleased to announce that volunteers stepped up to the mark to form the new Climate Action Group for the AFO. The new group which is currently selecting a Chair will engage with Vision 2025, Powerful Thinking, Eco-Librium, LIVE Green, Julie’s Bicycle, and many others to develop sustainability bet...
21st July 2021
VACANCY: EVENTS PROJECT MANAGER Events project manager required for a live running site with experience of customer facing food and beverage operations on greenfield sites. From now until 30th of August, 5 or 6 days per week, live on site or nearby B&B. Required to manage staff, rosters, customer service, logistics etc. Please Contac...
9th July 2021
Friends, This week I started by visiting Timber Festival in the National Forest, East Midlands. An absolutely unique event only reminiscent of the sadly lost Larmer Tree (where are they now ?). Well done Wild Rumpus (AFO members) on overcoming enormous hurdles to get the event on in a Covid safe way. Test and trace were in place and as everyone approached wristband exchange you were...
9th July 2021
National Lottery joins forces with Music Venue Trust for new £1 million plan to get huge names into grassroots venues The National Lottery has joined forces with the Music Venue Trust (MVT) in a new initiative to boost live music across the UK. The lottery, one of the UK’s biggest culture funders, will contribute £1 million to directly underwrite touring and production ...
8th July 2021
Here at AFO we have been telling members for some time now that if and when you need SAG reference your license to run festivals in 2021/22 we strongly recommend you engage with the Directors of Public Health in the regions. Some of these officers have to cover several counties, others just one portion of a county. They also have a team of representatives. We really do recommend that n...
7th July 2021
The Showman's Show - 20th & 21st October 2021 The Showman’s Show was launched in 1984 and is firmly established as the UK’s original and most comprehensive exhibition of products and services for the outdoor, festival and special event world. Due to the disruption to the events industry caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 edition moved online with a programme of...
6th July 2021
All we can say is we may have a way forward….. For all the detail straight from the Government read this. Particularly note section 5. Here we go…. https://www.gov.uk/.../covi.../covid-19-response-summer-2021 ...
2nd July 2021
For those regular readers of GSW you might notice a slight change. We are going to make these a weekly diary direct from me to you, so you are better informed as to what the AFO Office is doing on behalf of our industry. If you need more detail of any of these points you will probably find it in AFO News on the website www.festivalorganisers.org/news and if it is not there then drop a ...
29th June 2021
Event Cup Solutions has launched the ONE Planet ONE Chance® Reusable Cup System, a fully managed system that dispels the myth that switching from single-use cups to a sustainable reusable system is complicated. The ONE Planet ONE Chance Reusable Cup System® provides festivals, sports & music venues, bar operators and event organisers the complete service which includes the delivery,...
28th June 2021
Beardy Festival 2021 – A Successful Socially Distanced Festival! You might think that it would be impossible to stage a socially distanced outdoor festival where attendees enjoy themselves as much as they would in ‘normal’ conditions and feel totally safe at the same time – but Beardy Festival 2021 has pulled it off…again! Beardy Folk Festival is an expertl...
25th June 2021
NOW is probably your very last chance to acquire Government support for your Festival. CRF3 is launched today 25th June 2021. Over to you…… https://www.gov.uk/government/news/third-round-of-culture-recovery-fund-to-secure-future-of-thousands-of-organisations The fund is made up of several strands, the first two of which share a budget of over £218 million and are t...
24th June 2021
Live music and theatre industries launch legal action against Government to force the publication of Events Research Programme data Sectors also repeat calls for insurance support, changes to quarantine protocols and the immediate publication of post-July 19 event guidance. Today the live music industry body LIVE and a ra...
21st June 2021
AFO INSISTS GOVERNMENT HELP WITH THE REOPENING OF FESTIVALS The Association of Festival Organisers (AFO) has worked tirelessly for the last 18 months through the Covid crisis to try and save, not only festivals within its own membership, but as part of a wider team doing its very best to save the UK’s brilliant events industry from collapse. We have now arrived at a point aft...
21st June 2021
Insurance for pandemic related claims is still hard to get .This is a possible alternative to insurance: Self-indemnity for organisers (a collective solution) Concept To find a way for event organisers to be able to plan throughout the year and cover their overheads so that last minute, for reasons linked to a pandemic, cancellation would not cause un...
19th June 2021
Warwick…..another Covid casualty It is with a heavy heart that I send this message, the announcement below is from the Festival Board and Committee. "Following extensive planning and discussion in light of the most recent government guidelines, with huge regret it has been decided that Warwick Folk Festival, which was due to take place 15 - 18 July, will be postpone...
17th June 2021
DELTA 4 – OUTDOOR EVENTS NIL The 14 June should have been a day for rejoicing for all of us in the outdoor events industry. Unfortunately, the Delta variant has slowed down our charge toward full reopening. Clearly, we cannot hold all our events in what remains of the summer season, especially those that need full shoulder to shoulder capacity. Some of our industry can stil...
16th June 2021
PRESS RELEASE: EVENTS FORUM DELTA blow to outdoor events Organisers of outdoor events suffered another body blow with the announcement on Monday that Step 4 of the COVID lockdown release is to be delayed, at least until July 19. As a result a number of events have had to be cancelled, with organisers facing losses of thousands as they have been unable to secure insurance against just su...
14th June 2021
AFO'S RESPONSE TO THE LATEST ANNOUNCEMENT BY PRIME MINISTER: DELTA sees off more 2021 Festivals 14th June has been carved in the AFO diary as the day our PM would release us to get on with the remaining festival season. The Delta variant is clearly causing some havoc in several parts of the UK, so this del...
14th June 2021
Get READY for World Refill Day ! 🌎 The countdown is on...get ready for the most important day in our plastic-free calendars... 🎉🎉 THIS WEDNESDAY IS WORLD REFILL DAY! 🎉🎉 Yep, that's right, Wednesday 16th of June is the first ever #WorldRefillDay, a global public awareness campaign to prevent plastic pollution and to help people live with less was...
