Written evidence submitted by Isle of Wight Independent Festivals & Events
Collective Response to ‘The future of UK music festivals’ DCMS Select Committee Enquiry
Table of Contents Jack Up The Summer Festival...... 2 Isle of Wight Jazz Weekend...... 11 Wolverton Folk & Blues Fair...... 12 Isle of Wight Garlic Festival...... 13 Chale Show...... 14 Royal Isle of Wight County Show...... 16 Cowes Week on-shore entertainment...... 17 Ticket to Ryde...... 19 Harp on Wight International Festival ...... 21 Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra ...... 23 Isle of Wight Bus & Coach Museum Events ...... 25 Jack Up The Summer Festival
Jack Up Events is an event management company and supplier of leisure and hospitality to the general public. We present a range of 'feel-good' decade events for retro music fans throughout the year and organise the annual music festival ‘Jack Up The Summer’ which takes place every August on the Isle of Wight. Now in its eighth year of development and with a licensed capacity of 4,999, our festival is a key feature of the Island’s Summer calendar and a significant contributor to coastal tourism.
We are submitting evidence to this very welcome enquiry owing to the devasting impact of Covid-19 on the UK festival and live music industries and specifically on the Isle of Wight, which is heavily dependent on festivals and events for its tourism economy.
What is the economic and cultural contribution of the UK’s festival industry?
The Isle of Wight is Britain’s festival Island and we have a unique tourism sector supported by events in music, arts and sport.
Our festivals are not just a critical part of our Summer calendar but are economically and culturally significant to Island life.
As well as the internationally-renowned Isle of Wight Festival, the Island is home to a considerable number of small-medium sized independent boutique festivals, food festivals and Summer shows, many of which have been etched in our history for over a century.
They contribute significant economic value to the Island’s economy including:
Employment opportunities / supporting extensive local supply chains: local businesses, equipment & marquee hire, production, security, medics, fire services, crew, prop design, kids entertainers and countless freelancers Supporting the visitor economy: shops, bars, restaurants, accommodation providers; Providing a significant platform for traders, crafters and small Island businesses to make money Supporting local charities and community organisations through donations (more than £62,000 is raised annually on the Island for local charities, community groups, schools and good causes via small independent events)
The economic benefits of festivals ripple throughout the Island’s economy bringing profound benefit to tourism and non-tourism-related businesses alike. As well as ensuring a focal point for residents and the local community, festivals are part of what makes the Isle of Wight a unique holiday destination.
Evidence shows that festivals and live events have a sizeable impact on the Island economy by attracting visitors and helping to ensure domestic tourism.
100% of the smaller (<10,000 attendees) independent festivals spend goes directly to local businesses, contractors and suppliers.
With a collective licensed capacity of over 170,000, small Island festivals and events generate well in excess of 30 million pounds to the Island economy each year and more besides taking into account the multiplier effect on local spending. Nationally, the music festival sector generates an estimated £1.75 billion GVA for the UK annually (Carey & Chambers, ‘Valuing Live Entertainment’, June 2020) with at least 10% of this directly benefitting local businesses and economies according to data accumulated by the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) over ten years of annual audience surveys.1
The festival sector supports 85,000 jobs and according to UK Music’s recently published ‘Music by Numbers’ 2020 report, over £5m people attended a festival in 2019 (in comparison to 2.7m in 2012). 2
Crucially, the sector also provides organised, licensed, regulated and safe outdoor events- the lack of regulated licensed music festivals this summer resulted in a spate of unsafe illegal gatherings that have been filling the void across the UK.
What has been the impact of cancellations on local economies and those who derive income from festivals during 2020?
As festivals are year-long endeavours, by March 2020, the majority including ourselves were already contractually committed to 90% of artists, suppliers and infrastructure. 9- months into our planning, we had already accumulated a range of costs in respect to this Summer’s scheduled event including artist deposits, advertising and marketing, deposits on marquees, fencing, toilets and site infrastructure – fencing and equipment as well as paying site hire fees. None of these costs are recoupable.
All Island festivals and events originally planned for 2020 had to be cancelled on account on grounds of public health, to help reduce the risk of transmission and to protect the Island’s single hospital facility and NHS emergency services. Thousands of pounds worth of refunds had to be issued to ticket-holders, despite festival organisers facing an immediate cashflow crisis and having already lost significant monies previously spent out on deposits.
Communicable disease insurance is a standard exclusion in event cancellation policies. Even if a festival organiser did have this specific extension in place, insurance underwriters were swift in making a global exception to this in January, meaning that if event cancellation was connected to COVID-19, policyholders were prevented from claiming in respect of Government imposed restrictions.
Whilst most other hospitality businesses including bars, restaurants and cafes (all of whom automatically received small business grants) were able to resume trading over the Summer, collectively festivals on the Isle of Wight have three months to earn their living and in those three months, they were prevented from operating.
The vast majority of Event Management companies have had no income at all since early March, which is now 9 months with no revenue. The on-going uncertainty concerning the virus and lack of clarity regarding the restrictions imposed upon events has diminished all consumer confidence and subsequent bookings for 2021. At the end of February 2020 ticket sales flatlined and by the beginning of March, sales ceased altogether.
Our inability to trade this year has had a significant cultural impact, particularly in terms of support for the local workforce and community.
1 https://aiforg.com/wp-content/uploads/AIF-Ten-Year-Report.pdf 2 https://www.ukmusic.org/research/music-by-numbers-2020 In a report submitted to HMG in July 2020 by the AIF, it was projected that at least 50.5% of the skilled workforce were facing redundancy.
These are people with decades of experience with unique skill-sets and qualifications who we will be reliant upon to get the industry back up and running as soon as it is safe to do so.
As Jack Up Events, we don’t just operate an annual Festival but run multiple sell-out events all year round, including during the ‘shoulder period’ specifically to attract visitors to the Island out of season. These events are traditionally widely supported by Visit Isle of Wight and all of the ferry companies. Of the six events we had originally planned for this year, we have only been able to stage one (in February). Our inability to stage events has had a domino effect across the Isle of Wight’s visitor economy from cross-Solent ferry operators to local hoteliers, pubs, restaurants, cafes and other Island attractions.
Our festival provides a significant trading platform for small businesses, market traders, caterers, craftsmen and women, fairgrounds, Island musicians and a multitude of freelancers offering anything from creative children’s activities to prop design and hire.
All of these businesses are reliant on the platforms we provide from which to earn a living, all of whom have lost out this year and many of which are sadly facing insolvency as a result.
The cancellation of events has hit Island charities and good causes which rely on donations to provide essential services, particularly hard.
Unlike other sectors, we rely on mass gatherings evoking a strong sense of community from which to trade and have therefore been unable to diversify our services during this time.
What are the risks to festivals taking place in 2021 and beyond, and how can these be mitigated?
There is deep uncertainty on when the sector might reopen which puts the entire infrastructure and ecosystem of the industry that provides employment to tens of thousands of skilled workers at risk. The industry remains at a standstill because it is not possible to insure shows and festivals against cancellation due to COVID-19.
Uncertainty and reopening timeline:
At present, we do not have a conditional ‘no earlier than’ start date for any live music events- or a clear timeline for Stage 5 reopening. As of 2 December 2020, outdoor events such as concerts and sports will be able to accommodate audiences of up to 4,000 in Tier 1 or 2,000 in Tier 2 when the UK emerges from national lockdown or 50% of an event’s licenced capacity, whichever is lower.
Although the Isle of Wight has remained in Tier 1, reducing attendee numbers to 50% of any festival’s capacity would deem that event economically unviable. Especially given we have all lost an entire year’s trade this year, received no meaningful support to date and have significantly diminished, or in some case, no reserves. For festivals with small (up to 5,000) capacities, breakeven points are very high and we are reliant on the last 15-20% of sales from which to make a profit.
Attendees who have held onto their tickets will understandably be expecting to enjoy the same experience and to see the same acts. As mentioned, festivals are a year-long endeavour. The planning cycle is therefore a critical factor as our lead times are considerably longer than most. The majority of festival organisers will make a determination on their summer events in January to March 2021.
The continued uncertainty surrounding our ability to go ahead next year, both logistically and economically, is putting the entire infrastructure and ecosystem of an industry that provides employment to tens of thousands of skilled workers at risk. Several key suppliers have moved into construction and will not return to the festival industry. This is reducing available inventory and without any income being generated more suppliers could be pushed towards administration. Without a defined restart date, festival organisers are in real danger of losing these essential partners.
Whilst the hope is that gatherings can safely go ahead by next summer, not allowing the sector sufficient time to plan and prepare is a real concern. Given the long lead times, organisers urgently require the confidence to start planning their events and we need to get the events industry here on the Island back up and running as soon as it is safe to do so to enable it to be marketed to essential visitors.
With no Winter reserves to speak of, Event Organisers need to know their limited finances are secure before committing yet more funds to a second wave of deposits. We also need to give confidence to existing and would-be ticket-holders.
As outdoor events, we are more expansive and therefore likely to be safer than those held in public arenas or theatres. We each have a fundamental part to play in the Island’s recovery programme, therefore unless there is a national directive, we would urge the local authority and licensing officials to support our events going ahead next year, working with us to ensure that necessary public safety and social distancing measures are implemented.
Lack of working capital:
Festivals will clearly need the working capital to stage their events in 2021. Having lost thousands of pounds in deposits and paying out similar in ticket refunds on account of being forced to cancel in 2020, small independent festivals including Jack Up The Summer, who applied to the Cultural Recovery Fund and despite fully meeting the criteria weren’t subsequently offered a grant, do not have sufficient funds to stage our events next season.
Although most established festivals will have sufficient audience loyalty and brand equity to return beyond this in 2022, mothballing or hibernating, for seasonal event companies, for an additional year essentially means shutting down operations, with a very real risk of not returning. Without question, there will be a much higher % of refund requests in the event of 2021 festival cancellations.
Issuing a voucher or credit to be used for a future event within a period up to a year would afford some breathing space and capacity to cashflow and more time to liaise with customers about the 2022 event - this is especially important for seasonal businesses dependent on the delivery of a single large event. A solution is already operational in both Italy and Germany to offer a voucher for future events instead of a cash refund so a customer can then choose to go to an alternative event but the money stays in the business. We would urge the UK Government to endorse a similar scheme.
We would like to see essential funding ring-fenced for areas of high cultural significance, like the Isle of Wight, and distributed at a local level to more grass roots events. This would enable the monies to penetrate further than a national scheme would do and be allocated to those longstanding events known locally to play a fundamental role in contributing to the Island’s economic agenda. This will ensure that those areas of the country which really do rely on festivals for their coastal tourism, have their events safeguarded.
Insurance:
The industry remains at a standstill because it is not possible to insure shows and festivals against cancellation due to COVID-19. Without insurance, it is hard to see how the sector can rebuild and give economic confidence to participants, supply chains and audiences.
We have seen how a Government-backed insurance scheme has been used to support film and television to get back operating again. Insurance is equally essential to the live music and events industry. Without live shows going ahead, HMT faces lost tax revenue, mass unemployment in the sector, and widespread insolvencies.
An insurance scheme will kick-start the workforce by ensuring companies are able to start planning for shows and signing contracts, providing stimulus to the multitude of self- employed workers and small businesses that support the live events industry.
Given the timeframe for when large financial decisions need to be made, if there is no Government-backed reinsurance scheme before the New Year then festivals and events will simply not be able to go ahead in 2021, even if the health circumstance improves dramatically from Spring 2021.
As Britain’s Festival Island we are leading the way in championing the need for a Government-backed insurance scheme to provide the Music and Events Industry with the necessary confidence to reopen, ensuring the long-term survival of our once vibrant Island community.
An insurance solution will provide the essential confidence to festival organisers to prepare for next summer. Without insurance, many smaller events in particular that choose to proceed will face bankruptcy if they are subsequently then forced to cancel due to Covid closer to the event.
When the nation emerges from this crisis, it is clear that all industrial sectors will need to rebuild their confidence. Islanders will need something to look forward to and visitors will require incentives to travel to the Island. Festivals and events will be a critical component in rebuilding our local community and the regional economy, it is therefore essential that they are safeguarded.
What measures are needed for audiences to attend festivals without social distancing, and how realistic are they?
It is accepted across the industry that the vast majority of festivals are not viable with social distancing in place, either on a logistic or economic level. For a small, locally-run micro- businesses like ourselves, the implementation of social distancing measures would mean significantly increased costs. Including but not limited to; increased fencing increased staffing - security/stewards, cleaners/heightened hygiene, the provision of hot running water, increased toilets, increased hand sanitiser stations, new/additional signage. All of this against the backdrop of a potential 50% reduction in capacity should the current Tier 1 and 2 restrictions remain in place, meaning 50% fewer ticket sales.
Development of festival specific guidance: We require clear direction on how both immediate and future restrictions will affect the events industry including any social-distancing protocols that will need to remain in place.
In drawing up their indicative roadmap for the coming months the Government need to present a set of commonly agreed measures for the events industry to remove ambiguity and uncertainty for licensing authorities, organisers, attendees, traders and the extensive supply chains surrounding these events.
There is a tremendous need for advice regarding how small events can reopen as safely as possible under these difficult circumstances.
The AIF has created a sub-group to led on the publication of festival specific Covid-19 guidance with input from across the festival industry. This is aimed at assisting festival organisers, safety advisory group (SAG) members, local directors of public health and other industry parties in assessing risk levels and planning festivals based on a flexible, pragmatic and realistic approach to the pandemic. It covers eight key themes and Covid-19 safety measures, and these are medical and welfare arrangements; Command, Control, Communication and Coordination; Response Plans, Specific Mitigation Measures; Crowd Considerations; Security; Site Adjustments; and Accreditation and Ticketing Strategy.
It is of paramount importance that Local Authorities adhere to the same guidance, ensuring a consistent approach, given the running of a safe event in a post-Covid environment is likely to be as challenging for regulators as it is for Event Organisers. We, therefore, need to work together and support one another for the benefit of all concerned.
Rapid testing regimes:
We are aware that work is being done on testing and pilots in addition to vaccine development and the rollout of national testing programmes which are likely to supersede any industry developed schemes. Alongside guidance, pilot events and research are vital to developing a proposition of how festivals can safely and viably operate.
To enable full capacity events, the only two options are testing on entry or a vaccine.
The price point regarding on the spot testing is critical – it must not be inhibitive. A national directive must be set as to whether such a cost gets passed onto the customer or is the responsibility of the festival organiser. At, for example, £25 per head, organisers such as ourselves could be faced with an additional £124,975 in expenses for testing kits alone, without the additional staff required to manage this process, signage, fencing etc, all of which would render the festival completely unviable.
What has been the impact of the temporary VAT cut and Culture Recovery Fund on festivals and their supply chains, and what else can the Government do to secure their futures?
We have seen no benefit as a result of these two schemes.
Impact of Culture Recovery Fund (CRF):
The aim of the Cultural Recovery Fund was 'to save organisations that were at risk of failure before the end of the current financial year.' As our MP rightly stated when initially raising the need for support for festivals in Parliament back in May, "The Isle of Wight is Britain's festival Island and we have a unique tourism sector supported by events in music, arts and sport."
However, in awarding CRF grants the Arts Council failed to take into account the unique circumstance of the Island, it's heavily dependent tourism economy and the fact that we are renowned for staging multiple much-loved, well-established music festivals. Each event offers a very different cultural experience, attracts completely different audiences and makes a genuine difference to peoples' lives. Despite this, the allocation of funds was distributed on a 'one of each discipline' basis across our region:
1x Heritage Centre 1x Carnival Centre 1x Theatre 1x Visual Arts Centre 1x Event Supplier 1x Amateur Dramatic Group 1x Live Music Venue 1x Independent Festival
For only one festival to receive considerable support at this devastating time feels very unjust. Especially given all independent festivals have encountered the same hardship (i.e. postponement in 2020 leading to a full year's loss of income) and face identical challenges and cost implications relating to social distancing measures and ensuring public safety moving forward. This is the equivalent of awarding support to a single theatre in the West End when each of them offers something completely different and have all suffered the same plight.
Of all the independent festivals which applied to CRF, 97% of those who were successful were offered the full amount applied for, leaving other established festivals to fail without any support at all. This will result in untold damage to the social fabric of the Island community and our ability to attract visitors here.
Of those who were unsuccessful, 100% of them do not have sufficient funds to stage their festivals next year. Some are on the brink of imminent collapse and have exhausted (or being rejected for) other options including repayable finance such as CBILS and Bounce Back loans.
Significantly, these festivals are collectively holding over £10m in drawn down ticket retention income, over £800k per festival on average, illustrating the extent of the detriment to the consumer. If these businesses collapse, it is unlikely that refunds will be issued. These funds also cannot be used as working capital and are ring-fenced in the event that further refunds are required.
It is critical that those who were unsuccessful or remain eligible for any future rounds of CRF grants and that their applications are duly prioritised.
The timeframes for both application and distribution of funds urgently need to be brought forward as many events businesses are already facing collapse.
Impact of VAT reduction:
Although this measure was greatly welcomed by the sector, as 2021 festival sales have flatlined due to ongoing uncertainty and low public confidence, seasonal events such as festivals have yet to recognise any benefit. We would like to see this measure extended to three years as per the DCMS Select Committee’s recommendation so that it may make a positive contribution in enabling us to rebuild our businesses.
Some festival companies have also highlighted that an extension to VAT deferment beyond April 21 to March 22 is essential in terms of maintaining cash flow and working capital to stage their events in 2021.
How has the structure of the UK festivals market evolved over recent years, and what has this meant for consumers, artists and the wider industry? What further changes might be anticipated?
In 2019, AIF festival ownership maps highlighted that just under 30% of UK festivals over 5,000 capacity are owned or controlled by two US-headquartered transnational companies (Live Nation and AEG Live), with Live Nation owning and operating just under 23% of festivals over 5,000 capacity calculated via capacity. 3
For the sake of its future health and diversity, the UK’s live music sector must remain open and competitive as it enables entrepreneurs to operate in a climate where they can launch new and exciting events.
Allowing vertically integrated major companies to dominate festivals, and the live music sector, in general, could block new entrants to the market and it results in strangleholds on talent with exclusivity deals at increasingly lower levels stifling competition. Beyond the issue of immediate survival that the sector is facing, if independent festival businesses become vulnerable to collapse due to Covid-19 it may increase acquisitions and further consolidation across the UK festival sector. This would, in turn, further concentrate power and ownership of the supply chain into the hands of a small number of major companies, which could significantly affect the sector's autonomy and therefore UK's position as a world leader in cultural output.
Whilst all live music and festival companies have been profoundly affected by Covid-19, small Limited companies like ourselves with no fixed premises and seasonal trade are far less financially resilient. Before Covid-19, on the Isle of Wight new music festivals would emerge without the necessary financial backing and disappear a year or two later, often leaving a trail of creditors, many of whom are small local businesses in their wake. This had negative repercussions for the sector as a whole, both reputationally and in terms of public opinion and supplier confidence. It also led to saturation and confusing marketing messages in geographical locations which, like the Isle of Wight, are already rich in cultural activity with an above-average number of music festivals taking place annually.
This became confusing for customers and lead to agents increasing artist upfront deposits to 50% of the total fee on signature of contract, to protect themselves against agreements being forfeit as a result of insufficient funds.
How can festivals be supported to reduce their environmental impact and tackle the dangers of illegal drug use?
As members of AIF, we are seeking to adopt their initiatives to reduce the environmental impact of festivals. This includes the ‘Drastic on Plastic’ campaign to bring about awareness
3 https://aiforg.com/aif-publishes-updated-uk-festival-ownership-map-for-2019/ of the devastating effects of single-use plastic. One of the key messages is to promote reuse as opposed to single-use and to illustrate the footprint of festivals.
All participating festivals committed to banning the use of plastic straws on-site in 2018 as a minimum first step and pledged to eliminate all single-use plastic at their events by 2021 (now pushed to 2022).
It is a condition of trading at Jack Up The Summer that no polystyrene or plastic products are used as food or beverage containers. All catering packaging (plates, cutlery, cups etc) should be biodegradable and suitable for a commercial composting facility. No single-use plastic bottles may be sold (with the exception of water) – all beverages must be in cans, cartons or cups. No plastic straws may be used.
Waste-water must be disposed of responsibly and must not be poured onto the ground, nearby pond or river. Any trader found to be disposing of wastewater by any other means will be asked to cease trading.
Caterers leaving any rubbish, hazardous waste, furniture, equipment or structures will be charged for the cost of cleaning/waste disposal and will not be invited to trade at future festivals.
We are a non-camping festival so don’t encounter any issues with tents being discarded on- site.
Local authority support would be welcome to help promote the benefits of keeping our Island as green as possible by encouraging attendees to leave their cars at home and using public transport.
All AIF members take the dangers of illegal drug use and harm reduction strategies for audiences incredibly seriously. At Jack Up The Summer we work with private security, police and other relevant agencies to prevent illegal substances from entering our site. We employ a professional event security company for the duration of the festival to provide us as with detailed plans of their measures to reduce the chances of crime including an anti- drug policy.
Jack Up Events has a zero-tolerance policy concerning drugs and a clear message outlining that illegal drugs will not be tolerated is carried in event literature and on our festival website.
Additionally, we have introduced a passive detection dog unit, as both a deterrent and a preventative measure.
Police opinion is that the profile of attendees at our retro festival translates into a low probability of significant criminal activity from any section of the public. Indeed, we have never encountered any issues relating to drugs or weapons of any kind in the past.
Sarah Moss Event Organiser
Jack Up The Summer https://jackupthesummer.co.uk/
30 November 2020 Isle of Wight Jazz Weekend
The Isle of Wight Jazz Weekend is one of the UK’s most popular small jazz festivals and attracts top class musicians and jazz fans from across the UK and further afield, each year. The festival started in 2012 as a three-day event on a low budget, but soon became a five-day event featuring some of the biggest names in the jazz world including Stacey Kent, the BBC Big Band, Ian Shaw, Liane Carroll, Derek Nash, Alan Barnes and many others. The total audience over the five days, has often reached 2,000 to 2,500. Perhaps the greatest benefit of the festival however, has been its effect on the local jazz scene. Within a year or two, a number of local musicians were appearing at the festival itself, and a substantial “fringe” of local musicians including open-air performances and youth bands, became part of our annual event. In 2017, the Isle of Wight Youth Jazz Orchestra started up, and has since performed at the main festival itself. A number of the young musicians within the Orchestra have now reached great heights in jazz, and are set to pursue careers in music. None of this would have happened without our festival to stir local interest in jazz.
The festival is run by volunteers and on a “low overheads” basis so that all PA and sound engineering, stewarding, ticket sales, the website and graphic design, is carried out free of charge by volunteers who are local jazz fans and musicians. This enables us to keep our costs down and therefore offer good price tickets in what is a disadvantaged area of the UK with a low average household income. We have tried to make live jazz accessible to as many people as possible at low cost or no cost.
Our event uses existing local venues such as Arts centres, churches and theatres, many of whom are also charities or operated on a not-for-profit basis. Our audiences eat and drink locally, and those who travel from the mainland will stay locally often for 4 or 5 days. It all contributes to a substantial effect on local income and the local arts scene.
Covid-19 has had a substantial effect on us, and we had to cancel the 2020 event. The difficulty for us now is planning for 2021 because if we fail to sell around 75% of our tickets for any one particular gig at the festival, then that results in us making a loss. We use local Theatres, churches and Arts Centres which have audience capacities of around 120-150. If there is any element of “social distancing” then the maximum audience will be reduced to 50-70 which guarantees we will make a financial loss. With the relative lack of local sponsors (and the amount of sponsorship income will surely reduce rather than increase as a result of Covid-19), we really want to run our event in 2021 without having to dilute its quality or reduce its length. In order to do this, ideally, we would want to have a refundable “safety net” by way of a small grant which would come to our assistance in the event of the event making a loss due to covid-19 restrictions. Otherwise, an event such as ours is a substantial risk in the current climate, and the only way to guarantee not making a loss (which would have to be borne by the organisers personally) would be to not put the event on at all.
Jim Thorn, IWJW organizer Wolverton Folk & Blues Fair
Wolverton Folk & Blues Fair is a one-day festival of Blues and Folk Music set in the grounds of Wolverton Manor, Shorwell, Isle of Wight. Usually held on the 2nd or 3rd Saturday of May and this year would have been the 10th anniversary of the event, had it not been cancelled due Covid-19. The event is run voluntarily with all profits to aid Leukaemia and other blood cancer research, the chosen charity of Dr Mark Patterson, owner of the Manor.
Economic & Cultural contribution This annual event is small in comparison to other music festivals but is firmly fixed as a highlight on the Isle of Wight events calendar with average attendance of 1200 each year. The cultural contribution is, however, widely acknowledged with Isle of Wight residents benefitting from performances of national and international artists from the Folk & Blues genre as well as local artists.
Impact of cancellation Many local businesses benefit from the event. Marquee Hire, Sound production/PA, Stage equipment hire, Toilet hire are all Island based. Local caterers are also involved with around 4 or 5 foodstall ‘pitches’ plus beer tent selling local ales. Another beneficiary is the local school, Brighstone Primary, who run the tea tent and provide activities for children attending the event. This is their biggest fundraiser of the year. With the event growing each year, there are now may attendees from further afield. This provides income for local B&Bs and campsites.
Risks for 2021 These are uncertain times, so planning the event for May 2021 is not without risk. Artists need to be booked in advance as well as deposits for marquee hire, Sound production/PA, Stage equipment hire, Toilet hire etc. Also advertising and poster/flyer/ticket printing. Event insurance is already a massive cost and does not cover restrictions due to Covid-19.
To socially distance at this event would reduce numbers attending plus measures required to be in-place would be an additional cost.
Without a vaccine rolled out by May 2021 or any government assurances, it is difficult to ascertain whether the event would be viable in 2021.
Tim Hollis Wolverton Folk & Blues Fair www.folkandblues.org.uk [email protected] Isle of Wight Garlic Festival 1st December 2020
The Times, Telegraph and most other national media regularly describe the Isle of Wight Garlic Festival as ‘one of Britain’s best food shows.’ Now in its 36th year, the Garlic festival can attract up to 20,000 people annually. It’s a blend of theatre kitchen, county show and 60’s pop festival with lots of family fun thrown in. In recent years many of Britain’s best- known chefs have appeared here, Nadia Hussein was a particular favourite. Local Michelin Award winning local chef, Robert Thompson regularly cooks alongside national foodie names too, always using our wonderful seasonal local produce, seafood, venison, tomatoes and of course, garlic!
The show attracts a huge number of local producers, food, jewellery, clothing and more. If you can eat it, they can flavour it with garlic and sell it to you! Many island charities use the event as a significant fund raiser, entertaining the crowds or selling all kinds of locally made things. Our Arts and Crafts marquees can host up to 150 local vendors. To quote just one example, the charity producing our delicious hot Garlic sweetcorn has raised nearly £100,000 since the show’s inception.
The Garlic festival is the island’s biggest summer show with a 60/40 split of visitors and local families attending. Hundreds of dedicated local volunteers make it all happen, but in 2020 due to Covid, they stood down, not a single penny was raised. Our small team usually work on the festival for most of the year and we’re mostly just family and friends. We press gang everyone we know in the build up to the show - which always takes place on the third weekend in August.
The original shows were staged by the Newchurch Parish sports and community association, but the event has been run commercially since 2006. Our traders begin booking space in January, deposits are taken, and entertainers are booked. They too require deposits and signed contracts but in 2020, not only did we have to refund our traders who had already paid, we refunded ticket holders who had paid us too. The cost of these transactions was drawn from our very limited reserves which are now exhausted. The land where our show takes place is rented, and that rent was still due and payable to our landlord, the IW Council. We did write asking for help but received no reply. They also demand that our licensing fees are paid, and the water rates are due. To add insult to injury, the ‘Wight Bid’ tax is also due. Generously, that organisation has offered a 20% reduction ‘due to Covid pressures.’ Where will the money come from, our income in 2020 was zero, nil, nothing but as you can see, some costs remain, and it seems desperately unfair that only one single festival on the Isle of Wight has been given anything to help them get through. Without guarantees, it’s impossible to see why the Garlic Festival will take place ever again and certainly not in 2021. We desperately need help, a grant or something that will enable us to plan the 2021 show with certainty. Everyone loves the Garlic festival, it’s world famous, the very best of British and the island people. Please, help us save it.
David Holmes Chairman IW Garlic Festival Chale Show
The absence of the Ever popular Chale Show this year was a huge blow to not only the local community but the wider charitable sector on the Isle of Wight.
The event is run completely by volunteers and this year would have been its 94th annual event.
It is a 2-day event traditionally on the first weekend of August and has been at its present site for almost 20 years.
The event attracts between 12,000-14,000 people each year which is roughly a 70/30 split of island people against visiting mainland tourists.
In addition to this we have over 120 traders both locally and from the mainland including around 35 Charities at the event.
We also have a range of island and mainland catering services and have a bar which we operate ourselves to use for charitable funds.
Mainland attendances often tie it in with their holiday which we know due to the large influx of enquiries of dates so people can book accommodation and ferry travel.
The event is run by Chale Show Ltd - a non-profit making company for and behalf of the Chale Horticultural Society, a registered charity however no persons either for the company or charity takes a payment of wages or such kind - we are so fortunate that because of this we can donate all our profits each year and have a small amount of reserves as our event can of course be damaged in terms of attendance by inclement weather however the reserves are only really equivalent to one “lost weekend”.
We usually donate around £15,000 per year to local organisations and charities. However, we set a project around 15 years ago to purchase the land for the benefit of the local parish at Chale and at a cost of £48,000 we were able to purchase the land and give it to the local community. We also donate and run a scheme for every school on the island to have a gardening club and benefit from growing and then showing their own fruit, flowers and vegetables this is around an additional £3,500.
In addition to this we offer all charities a low rate £35 for the whole weekend to trade/raise funds at our event which makes a cheap opportunity to raise funds. Most charities report to take around £500 over the weekend as a minimum. With 35 sites sold to charity that equates to an additional £17,500 as a minimum. Over the past 10 years we predict that we have donated in excess of £200,000.
Without the event not only can we not raise these funds we actually have a loss on the year and cannot provide a platform for local businesses and charities.
Although we have had some positive support from suppliers - there have been some non-recoverable costs such as insurances, subscriptions and affiliations and items we had already purchased for the upcoming show. We also had 2 deposits we were unable to claim back. It is likely the net loss on the year is around £10,000 but the true figure of losses is much more.
The other concern we have is majority of our volunteers are of retirement age and naturally are concerned with assisting in these times and I fear the momentum has been lost to a certain extent with some suggesting that they think they will “retire” and have thanked us for good years. There is of course naturally each year a change in volunteers due to various reasons however if the event had paid staff then we would certainly make very little profit or we would have to increase charges significantly which is not in the ethos of the event.
We receive no grants or support from any organisations and very little support of sponsorship, and this will be even harder I think looking ahead. The council charge us for everything we do and we get no discounts for being a charitable island event.
We have also not received any government support for the year in terms of any grant, mainly due to not having a rateable premise.
January marks the start of planning for the upcoming 2021 show but we are naturally extremely cautious and unsure how much financial commitment we can make.
We pride ourselves on being a fun filled family day out and have a long established relationship with local supporters and tourists which will be much harder moving forward.
Andrew Woodford Show Manager Chale Show Royal Isle of Wight County Show
- Like many of the festivals and events on the Island the Royal Isle of Wight County Show (RIWCS) has been an integral part of the Island’s cultural and community landscape over many years. The 2020 show was to be its 122nd. The continued existence of shows like the County Show encapsulates a rich cultural and social history and is integral to the wellbeing of the island’s community. - The County Show is considered to be a key economic enabler, providing many businesses a platform to trade and it is a vital source of business. The show’s aim is to inject £250,000 per annum into the Island’s economy. - At the 2019 show, 290 businesses or individuals exhibited or competed, 103 business traded, and 9,842 people attended. A quarter coming from the Mainland. - The 2019 show secured services from in excess of 20 businesses. - The range of businesses who benefit from the show included specialist marquee hire, equipment providers and entertainers, and more generalised traders such as caterers, printers and electricians. Many of these specialist businesses rely on the festival/event sector to derive a living. No shows or festivals mean no business. - The show’s adoption of an Island only policy in its Food, Arts and Craft areas, and the prioritisation of island businesses in other areas, means the beneficial impact on the local economy is pronounced. It is recognised that for every pound spent locally the true impact is fivefold. - The County Show is one of many festivals and events which comes together to create a unique offering to attract visitors to the Island. Events and festivals are a core component of the Island’s visitor economy. - We are a charity and the net proceeds of the show are used to further the Society’s objects to include the provision of bursaries and scholarships to young people. Scholarships and bursaries in excess of £20k have been awarded during the last 6 years from the income generated by the show. - The County Show facilitates the Island’s community coming together to celebrate and showcase their skills and way of life. - Events and festivals such as the County Show are underpinned by the voluntary sector. For many the show provides social cohesion to help to address the mental health issues associated with rural isolation.
In summary the Island’ well developed and extensive festival and events sector delivers tremendous economic, cultural and community benefit, which extends significantly beyond the immediate holding of an event.
Graham Biss Chairman Royal Isle of Wight County Show November 2020 Cowes Week on-shore entertainment
My name is Simon Ledger and I am a born and bred resident of the Isle of Wight. I run a small business from Shanklin on the Island and I have been a musician/entertainer for over 27 years and been a promoter/booker and events manager for the last 15 years.
I currently book all entertainment for Shanklin Conservative Club on the island and spend around £40,000 a year supporting mainly local artists and performers just from this one small venue.
Some of the events I have worked on include: Winter Wonderland Hyde Park (The last four years). On shore entertainment for the 2012 Olympics, (Weymouth Sailing). Kings Cup 2019 (Supplying local acts for Prince William and Kate Middleton) Cowes Week (15 years supplying entertainment and production).
Cowes Week is one of the longest running events of all time and is normally held at the beginning of August and its dates revolve around the tide. It attracts over 100,000 people for the seven days it runs and features over 8000 competitors. Locals rent out their houses to crews for the week of racing and most shops in Cowes make most of their revenue during just that week! I estimate that this event alone must bring in somewhere in the region of £15,000,000 to the local economy. The event heavily relies on sponsorship, which will obviously decline due to the pandemic. I look at this event as an investment for the government because of the revenues from alcohol VAT etc. that is generated. Approximately £50,000 is paid out to local musicians alone during Cowes Week over just two venues and I use as many local contractors as possible such as security firms, stage crews, etc. These small businesses just like myself have lost tens of thousands of pounds from Cowes Week not being able to happen this year and I can see a lot of businesses that rely on this event happening, going under if it doesn’t happen next year. The on-shore entertainment for Cowes Week is a vital part of the event featuring prize giving’s, dancing and family entertainment, food courts, bars etc. We have about 10,000 people passing through per day and in front of the stage we can have around 2000 people dancing singing along etc. This part of the event is entirely free to the public and cannot be ticketed as it’s a huge public area and this would be a major problem for us when it comes down to social distancing.
Being a tiny business on a small island has been extremely tough this year for me and I have had over 300 performances cancelled and several events. Although I have received the local covid grant for my shop of £10,000 I have had no support whatsoever for the event side of my business and all of the contractors I use normally are suffering the same way. What we are asking for is some financial support to underwrite these events and the workers further down the chain especially!
For instance, I would normally start booking acts/bands in January for an event in August and will have to pay out deposits to these people and then deposits for staging, screens etc. and I do not have the capital to do this now.
Simon Ledger, Ledger Music Entertainments Ticket to Ryde
2 December 2020
Now in its 6th year, Ticket to Ryde provides entertainment for both local people and visitors to the Island attending the International Scooter Rally.
The event has a stage, where live music is performed along with recorded music. The event is a key opportunity for local bands to showcase their talent, including students from Platform One, the Isle of Wight’s very own independent, not for profit Music College.
The stage brings to life and showcases the wealth of talent that exists on such a small, yet musically vibrant Island and features a diverse and eclectic mix of music over the duration of the 3-day weekend festivities. Island Ales, the Island’s family-run brewery operate a bar and we invite local traders to sell items such as records & CD’s, hats, sunglasses, badges, hot food and coffee.
The event takes place on Eastern Gardens, which is council owned, public land and an open park space located right on the beach so there is constant footfall morning to evening. People tend to like to grab a drink and something to eat and stay to watch the live music. As soon as the annual scooter ride-out finishes at Sunday lunchtime the masses of spectators out on the street immediately come flocking in!
The event is completely free to enter and has a lovely atmosphere and family friendly vibe.
Each year the event is held in aid of a charity with fundraising taking place on-site. In previous years the event has supported Cancer Research UK Relay For Life, the Isle of Wight WI's, this year we would have been staging the event on behalf Beaulieu Respite and Children’s Home.
Ticket to Ryde originated in 2014 owing to concerns that Ryde was beginning to lose the scooterists and the essential business they bring to the town, to Brighton, on account of rising ferry fares. Fearing the worst, the Town Council threw its support behind the event in the first year to help get it off the ground and it has evolved year on year to become a regular feature in both the town (and the Island's) event calendar. Both the brand and the show itself are gathering momentum.
Pre-Covid, we were due to stage a secondary edition of Ticket to Ryde in May of this year with the support of Visit Isle of Wight, as one of the few organised events on the Island to mark the 75th Anniversary of VE Day. We also had plans for another edition in later months.
The event embraces the 60's and the mods - Ticket to Ryde in August is predominantly for the scooterists and provides Islanders with a taste of the scooter weekend enabling them to mix with visitors.
The event is small compared to other music festivals but attracts a continuous flow of people throughout, with in excess of 1500 passing though. It is gratefully received by both scooterists and visitors to the Island – many of whom head straight to Eastern Gardens and spend the majority of their weekend there. We also have a big screen showing custom-made footage of the Island the 1960’s.
Numerous local businesses benefit from the event including stage/audio production and equipment hire, local caterers and traders, generator hire, Island fuel, kids entertainers, Island security firms, charities and Island Ales, with residual benefits to local shops, hoteliers, B&Bs, campsites, cafes and restaurants.
Some of our usual suppliers have unfortunately already faced insolvency as a result of the Covid-19 crisis.
Despite being a professional Events business and willing to comply with all the necessary safety measures to ensure the event was Covid-Secure, Isle of Wight Council prevented us from holding our annual community event Ticket to Ryde over the August bank holiday weekend this year by capping the upper capacity on council-owned land at 30, thus making the event, which is staged to raise money for charity, completely unviable. So many people were left bitterly disappointed.
We are now incredibly apprehensive about committing further time, effort, resources, artist deposits to this small, but much-loved event moving forward until a clear timeline is drawn- up and published by Government and Government-backed insurance can be made accessible to organsiers to protect them from further losses on account of Covid-19 and locally enforceable safety measures.
Monies have already been lost in respect to deposits, land hire and insurance cover last year which have put us massively on the backfoot, especially given we have been unable to obtain financial support as do not have a rateable premise.
Without any reserves or working capital and assurances around next year there remains considerably uncertainty as to whether the event can survive the considerable challenges it currently faces.
We would ask that some funding be set aside specifically for Island events to help safeguard their futures and ensure that we can continue contributing to our local economy and attract visitors to the Island in such a positive way.
Alex Dyke Promoter Harp on Wight International Festival
7/12/2020
Harp on Wight International is an annual five-day festival which celebrates the music of the harp and other related stringed instruments. The event takes place in Ryde at the end of October and the principal venue is Ryde Methodist Church where the majority of the afternoon and evening concerts are held as well as the teaching workshops and an exhibition of harps made by national manufacturers. At the same time as the main festival, a six-day course to make a 26- string harp is held at Quarr Abbey under the tutelage of a luthier from Brittany. The first festival was took place in 2014, so six successful festivals have been held to date before the cancellation of the 2020 event due to the virus. The festival operates as a not for profit organization. Any profits are carried forward to the following years event. The festival is managed by a team of seven who meet monthly throughout the year.
Although, on the scale of the other outdoor festivals held on the Island, the festival is only a small, niche event, it is significant in that it is one of only two annual harp festivals held in the UK. The other is the long-established Edinburgh International Harp Festival which is held in April and has been running for forty years. More on that later. The interesting thing about the harp is that it comes in many different shapes and styles. For example, the music can be classical, Celtic, jazz or Latin American. Often the festival concerts feature duo’s or groups of the harp together with other instrument such as a flute, a cello or with percussion. In 2019 the word ‘International’ was added to the festival’s name. This was to reflect that in the six years to date leading harpists from a diverse range of countries such as Paraquay, USA, China, Singapore, Italy and Spain have been booked to perform and to teach workshops.
Being small scale, the impact of the cancellation of the 2020 event is minimal when compared with the much larger outdoor festivals. It is estimated that ticket sales for the concerts would have been in the region of £8,000 with a further £2000 of income from teaching workshops. It is estimated that the festival would have attracted approximately 100 people on each of the five days from the mainland. Many of these would have booked overnight accommodation in Ryde and spent money in cafes, pubs and restaurants. Many Island residents visiting the festival would also have eaten out in Ryde during the day.
The dates for the 2021 festival have been fixed for 22nd- 26th October inclusive. The festival team plan to invite as many of the international harpists as possible who were booked to perform and teach this year. This includes musicians from Scotland, Ireland, France and Spain. The main risk to the festival would be if social distancing measures were still in place. Ryde Methodist Church only has a maximum capacity of 140 and the current requirements would reduce that to a level where it would not be viable for the festival to take place. Under present arrangements, the Methodist Church would require the Church to be deep cleaned at the end of each of the five days at a cost of £200 per day which is a significant extra cost. Earlier, I referred to the Edinburgh International Harp Festival. That is normally held in a large private school for Boys about twenty minutes outside of Edinburgh. The school did not give permission for the festival to take place this year, and the same situation will apply next year. As a result, Edinburgh will only be holding a virtual online festival. This means that Harp on Wight International will be the only five-day harp festival to be held in the UK in 2021. We held a successful online festival over four days during October this year at the that our festival would normally have taken place. The four concerts and two teaching workshops can still be viewed on the Harp on Wight International Youtube channel and on the Harp on Wight Facebook page until the end of December. The main reason for doing this was to try to spread the word much further about our event, and with no Edinburgh Harp Festival taking place it is hoped that our number of visitors will increase in 2021.
Vic King Secretary Harp on Wight International www.harponwight.co.uk Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra
The Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra (IWSO)is an amateur symphony orchestra based on the Isle of Wight. It has presented the Island’s only regular programme of classical music, from its home venue at Medina Theatre in Newport for over 40 years. Two of each season’s concerts take place during the summer festival season and the season finale has a distinct ‘pops’ flavour programmed to coincide with a major national or international event (for example anniversaries, jubilees, Festival of the Sea, etc). The Orchestra is a registered charity with a membership of 292319. Members pay to play and the income is supplemented by ticket sales. We perform in the Island’s only suitable venue, a 420 seat theatre. Concerts have almost all been sold out for several years.
Economic and Cultural Contribution The orchestra receives no subsidy from the public – it is entirely member and audience funded with a contribution to travel costs donated by WightLink (a ferry company) in return for ‘sponsored by’ label in our marketing. Without the orchestra there would be no regular symphonic music performed on the Island. Music lovers would have to travel to the next nearest venue in Portsmouth with significant travel cost and inconvenience. Island musicians would have nowhere to play and perform. A very large proportion of the orchestra’s players are music teachers at Island schools and there is a chance that the lack of such a music-making opportunity might reduce the ability of schools to recruit to music posts. Young Island music students progress to the orchestra from youth ensembles, typically at age 16. This gives them an opportunity to play in a large symphony orchestra and learn repertoire they would otherwise not be able to experience. This stands them in good stead if they leave to study at university or music college. They orchestra usually employs around 20 professional musicians in each concert. Typically this will be to make up numbers in string sections and to provide parts for instruments which we don’t have players for locally. Economic impact of cancellations As of November 2020 we have cancelled five concerts, with our next scheduled for May. This has resulted in lost income: ticket sales of approximately £27,000 20 professional players amounting to around £17,000 theatre hire of around £4,500 Concert soloists approx £4000 rehearsal venue hire of around £1700 Mitigation of risk associated with COVID-19 outbreak Our major obstacle against which we cannot mitigate is the closure of the theatre. We located a rehearsal venue prepared to host us and managed to hold one rehearsal prior to Lockdown 2. We are hopeful if restrictions are lifted to the same tier as before Lockdown 2 we can implement all the cleaning, distancing and ventilation mitigations we put in place to allow rehearsals to recommence. While the indoor distance restrictions remain in place we would not be able to afford to perform. If external distancing restrictions are lifted, we would endeavour to find an external venue for the two summer concerts. VAT and Culture Recovery Fund This has had no impact on our finances. Further government aid Increase to Orchestra Tax Relief would benefit the orchestra and allow us to offset losses and perform to smaller audiences.
Tim Isard
Chairman Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra Isle of Wight Bus & Coach Museum Events
Thank you for allowing the opportunity to share some of the logistics and planning that have to be undertaken for our own major events, together with those where we have supported other organisations in the past.
RYDABUS. The first of our two major weekend events. This would normally occur the weekend after 'Walk the Wight'. The logistical planning would be fairly well complete by the end of February, to enable promotion, printing of programmes and pre-event selling of these by mid- March. Unless there is a dramatic change in the transmission of Covid-19, the event on that date will not be possible. Our event has to be co-ordinated with retailers in Ryde, partners such as the Donkey Sanctuary, Sandown Airport, Isle of Wight Steam Railway, Dinosaur World, Monkton Arts, the Boat Museum in East Cowes. The list goes on. Our own volunteers have to co-ordinate a timetable to encompass and work with the above supporters. Vehicles have to come from the mainland, so bookings have to be made with ferry companies. Our own vehicles, as well as visiting vehicles, require testing and running before they can be considered for use at a public event. Restrictions on the use of buses by the public need to be adhered to government guidelines, which will make the event untenable. Event insurance may alter significantly, again rendering the event unviable. And then we have the safety issue of crowd management within a confined area. Our event planning for 2020, prior to cancellation of Covid-19, envisaged a possible attendance of well over 5,000, many being day trippers from the mainland. With restricted seating on the Hovercraft and Catamaran, again, is this viable? Finally, our events, in similar vogue to many others, only operate with the unstinting help of volunteers. Many of these are retired folk, almost all of whom would be considered to be in the vulnerable category as regards Covid-19, and at the moment, we could only speculate as to whether we would have the sufficient volunteers to hold this event.
CLASSIC BUSES, BEER AND WALKS. Our major event in October, which attracts up to 20,000 people, many of which are 'long weekend' visitors from the mainland- and beyond. Organised in conjunction with the local CAMRA branch, this is now a well-established, big draw to the island. Again, the event is organised wholly by volunteers and again many, possibly the majority, can be classified as being in the vulnerable category. Early additional logistical planning with Isle of Wight Council (for use of Newport Quay), Island Roads, Southern Vectis etc, has to take place. Apart from the licenced trade, which as you are aware has been decimated by Covid- 19, the event supports the local tourism and the island economy in a major capacity. But the logistics to organise this are huge. Planning starts in January and the basic shape of the event needs to be in place by April. Unless mass testing for Covid-19 has significantly brought 'R' under control and restrictions on the use of public transport (for example, only 35 seats are currently to be used on an 80-seat double decker) have eased certainly by the end of April 2021, it would be impossible for the event to take place. Given that the event contributes somewhere between £500,000 and £1million to the island economy over the weekend, this will be a massive hit. It may regrettably prove to be the final straw for some licenced premises. We hope not.
Apart from the above, we also support the following events/festivals throughout the year;-
Age UK- Wolverton Manor Fair, September.
Classic Car Show, Newport/Ryde- September.
Mary Ellis Day- Sandown Airport.
Garlic Farm Festival- August.
Chale Show- August. Festival of Transport- Isle of Wight Steam Railway
Again, the list of events goes on. Carnivals- all of which were cancelled this year.
Brian Dicks Honorary Secretary Isle of Wight Bus and Coach Museum Ltd