3rd December 2020
I know it’s too early to get excited but you have to admit after 8 months of worrying whether our festivals will ever see the light of day again the possible prospect of the early season festivals being able to run perhaps in a limited covid safe way and the mid season and later ones getting back to near normal does begin to look promising. So whilst you ponder that bold ,and perhaps cauciou...
27th November 2020
Today, 11 November, DCMS have launched an inquiry through its select committee. They are looking into “the future of UK Music Festivals”. They would like written evidence by 9 December! AFO members are welcome to send evidence direct to DCMS and copy in the AFO office. OR send just to AFO and we will collate all responses into one report. We have been lobbying a...
26th November 2020
After some considerable time colleagues at EIF have now got this valuable support group up and running again. The date for the first meeting of the APPG for Events is now scheduled for Tuesday 8th December. The first meeting is to activate the group. There are 30MPs who have signed up for the group. And there will soon be further meetings to brief the Chair on the events sector....
25th November 2020
Music By Numbers is the flagship annual economic study by UK Music and its members that shows the UK music industry continued to grow in 2019 across every sector before the Covid-enforced shutdown hit in early 2020. The report measures the health of the music business by collating data about its contribution in goods and services to the economy. That economic contribution is known as Gross Valu...
23rd November 2020
The Government has issued its Winter Plan, which states that outdoor events such as concerts and sports will be able to accommodate audiences of up to 4,000 in Tier 1 and Tier 2 areas when the UK emerges from national lockdown on 2 December. It said in Tiers 1 and 2, live events can now resume inside and outside with capacity limits and social distancing in place. In Tier 1 the capacity limit w...
23rd November 2020
The All Party Parliamentary Group for Events (APPG) has now been re-established as an official APPG in Parliament following the appointment of a new chair and vice chair. The Rt Hon Theresa Villiers MP, Member of Parliament for Chipping Barnet, will be the new Chair of the APPG. Villiers takes over from James Heappey MP, who was Chair for four years, until his appointment as Minister for the Ar...
23rd November 2020
Government officials have always tried hard to be clear. Ministers will often be heard saying "let me be very clear". So if you fancy a sing here is the clear guidance. o Singing takes place only in larger well-ventilated spaces, or outdoors. o Performance or rehearsal is for limited periods of time at a reduced level of loudness, using microphones for amplification if available. o ...
21st November 2020
Join Chiara Badiali from Julie’s Bicycle as she explains the what, how and why of the circular economy with plenty of stories from the creative community, with guests Patricia Yagüe, Head of Sustainability, Live Nation Europe speaking about some of the projects her teams around Europe are working on to close different material loops and Paul Schurink f...
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20th November 2020
Field work for the latest consumer sentiment tracker was conducted last week 9-13 November, in this we can see the negative force of England’s lockdown, but also the positive news around the prospect of effective vaccines being available in the near future. Some key points include: People’s moods have received a lift – there is a very significant decline in the proportio...
18th November 2020
Some festivals especially green field sites will in recent years have had notification of a charge for business rates either from the landowner or direct from the local authority. A revaluation exercise is now underway and will result in a Revaluation of all business premises , including festival sites on 1st March 2023. The key valuation date for this review is however 1st April 2021.&nbs...
16th November 2020
We are presenting a series of webinars and safety support for AFO Members to manage COVID 19 safe festivals, with event safety specialists, Symphotech, to run December 12th, January 9th and at our member's conference on February 20th. Specifically, the legislative area will be England. Producing our festivals will be complicated in 2021. These free to attend Recover & Reopen webinars ai...
13th November 2020
....and so the pandemic goes on! Who would have thought back in March that this beast would survive ‘til Christmas and beyond? Who would have though virtually the whole 2020 festival season would be postponed? Who would have thought our Festival industry would be so creative as to lead the way in getting festivals and events moving again? We are still amongst the few that have actuall...
13th November 2020
The UK’s leading live event industry exhibition, the Event Production Show (EPS), has announced its decision to secure new dates for 2021 and a new venue that will allow it to take place before next year’s outdoor event and festival season in a COVID safe environment. EPS will now be hosted at the Farnborough International Exhibition and Conference Centre as part of a partnership wi...
9th November 2020
There are grants and support packages coming out of our ears these days. Along with several other organisations, AFO has been lobbying HM Gov. for funds in all quarters, some we have been successful others not so. This one MAY be of use to some of our AFO members. Read more here...
5th November 2020
FUNDS ARE NOW AT YOUR LOCAL COUNCIL OFFICE Guidance has just gone out on accessing the £1.1bn of funding to Local Authorities to support businesses during lockdown. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-restrictions-support-grants-lrsg-and-additional-restrictions-grant-arg-guidance-for-local-authorities?fbclid=IwAR0El71Y9l_rGzqP5ow0Gl3yCpf...
27th October 2020
The "Working Safely During Coronavirus Covid 19" guidance for people who work in performing arts, including arts organisations, venue operators and participants has been updated https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/performing-arts?fbclid=IwAR19e7rj9XuE--LrbVXAxX2RVpjWAshVTLdRoAi5xiY45is2q5NWsAMSusY#arts-3-2 ...
22nd October 2020
Project Simply's: 2019 Digital Marketing Festival Insights Report In addition to the Insights Report Project Simply have developed a festival website framework called 'Plot' , which allows festivals to vastly reduce cost and time to market of their festival website and hosting needs, without scrimping on quality. It's geared up for simple, powerful and flexible administration a...
21st October 2020
Hello all. This one is a bit long so a coffee and a comfy chair may be needed. I thought it was time to pull together all the political and government departmental stuff that has been going on over the last few weeks. The order may be a bit random but worth a read. Here we go… Read the full article here...
21st October 2020
For those of you who have had the experience of a Larmer Tree festival you will be very sad to hear that although 2020 was clearly never going to happen, the organisers have decided that 2021 will also be put on the backburner. Clearly some re-thinking of how the festival is managed and run is going on down there on the Wiltshire/Dorset border. To that end Lucy Babb, the General Manager o...
21st October 2020
Join the movement and let's create a sustainable industry together! For more info visit https://www.vision2025.org.uk/ ...
