SKILLS QUEEN MARGARET UNIVERSITY


Alex James’s Big Feastival combines music with Jamie Oliver’s food


Downsizing for big effect


Smaller, more localised open-air events are the way to stand out in a crowded market


BY WILLIAM PEAKIN E


vents management stu- dents from Queen Marga- ret University, Edinburgh, staged their own confer- ence earlier this year, with


speakers exploring trends in the events industry. Te Universities of Scotland


Events Conference featured special- ists in event creation and funding, festival production, international events, policing, regulation and public safety. Te keynote speaker was Pete Irvine of Unique Events. With the Isle of Skye as his back-


drop, Irvine reflected on what the future held: “Skye, very solid, will be there forever. It’s what people come to Scotland for; the landscape, the scenery, the history. Festivals and events? Well, what might flour- ish and what might flounder? Tere used to be a manageable number.”


Irvine had in his hands the


proofs of the latest edition of his book Scotland Te Best (which, he noted with a hint of frustration, contained an error which meant printing would be delayed beyond the period for which publicity had been arranged). In it, there is a sec- tion devoted to his pick of the best annual events. “Tey are what I consider to be


the most notable, the most expe- riential. In the last edition, a few years ago, there were four pages, now there are seven. It is remark- able that we have all these incred- ible events to go to. But. It’s also a problem – and a challenge.


“THE EVENT LANDSCAPE IS


“Te event landscape is crowded


and highly competitive. It’s very difficult to be original. Everyone has a book festival; there are about 300 in the UK. Tere are loads of film festivals. And, how do you make events add up? How do you get funding to take them forward, to fill in the gaps? “Public money is drying up;


people see festivals as a luxury. But in Edinburgh, we have been suc- cessful in making festivals count for something; they have an economic, as well as social, benefit.”


CROWDED AND HIGHLY COMPETITIVE. IT’S VERY DIFFICULT TO BE ORIGINAL”


Pete Irvine of Unique Events 40 | EVENTSBASE | SUMMER 2016


IRVINE WONDERED whether some of the big music festivals are sustainable in the long-term as the rising cost of headline acts begins to mirror that of footballers’ transfer fees. If promoters then cut back on other things – spectator amenities, stewarding – then the experience is diminished. “So there’s a question in my mind; are they like dino- saurs?” He did think, however, there was


a future for medium-sized festivals such as Latitude, the mix of music, theatre, dance, film, cabaret and literature staged in Suffolk, Bestival


on the Isle of Wight, and Wicker- man in Dumfries and Galloway. Combination events, such as Te Big Feastival, with Blur’s Alex James and Jamie Oliver, where music is mixed with good food on a more manageable scale, are also a trend.


MORE LOCAL open-air events, par- ticularly involving lighting, such as Botanic Nights (which Irvine’s com- pany runs), and the Tweed Valley Tunnel Trail Run (described by the promoters as a “beautiful off-road run through a stunning natural environment – with an awesome ‘son et lumiere’ twist in the tail”), are also on the increase. Good ideas don’t always survive,


though; Irvine’s Outsider Festival in 2007, which combined music with exploration of the outdoors cost more to produce than it took in, but he looked back fondly on the occasion. “I remember after the event, sitting on a hill overlook- ing the site with a couple of the producers and a bottle of wine, and there wasn’t a single piece of litter left; this crowd were in to the out- doors. It was a special moment.” www.qmu.ac.uk


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