Connect Festival Cancelled

[Kintyre Forum News]

Perhaps not local news but thought it should go in here. I am sure a number of hoteliers etc will be disappointed at this news...

Source: Sunday Herald on-line 1.2.09

CONNECT FESTIVAL CANCELLED, BUT RETURN IS PLANNED IN 2010

Fears over economic downturn forces organisers to pull plug on Inveraray Castle event
ORGANISERS OF the Highland music festival Hydro Connect have cancelled this summer's event amid fears that the financial demands of staging it would not be sustainable in the current economic downturn.

Concerns that audience numbers and sponsorship would decline, and the cost of covering policing and the diesel to transport equipment to the Connect site at Inveraray Castle, has led DF Concerts to put the festival on ice, with a planned relaunch in 2010.

Although they would have received some £80,000 in public funding, the organisers said the subsidy would not have been enough to cover the losses of a seven-figure event hit not only by the credit crunch but also hampered by a remote location and the demographics of its audience.

advertisementThe site was originally picked for its unrivalled beauty. However, Argyll's small population meant organisers had the task of attracting a brand new audience to the area, with about half the core clientele during the past two years travelling from England.

High infrastructure and servicing costs, combined with an older audience more likely to have been affected by expensive mortgages and redundancies than the typical 18- to 25-year-old festival-goer, has prompted the organisers to temporarily pull the plug rather than "compromise the festival's high standards and disappoint fans".

Connect creator Geoff Ellis said he was taking a "pragmatic and positive approach"

He said: "We still want to do the event in future years, but our business plan was always to build on the audience year-on-year, and last year we didn't really see any increase on the year before. It would be foolish for us to expect the growth necessary to help Connect thrive in 2009. To go into something knowing you're going to lose a great deal of money, and therefore risk people's jobs, just isn't worth it."

In the meantime, they plan to organise a series of smaller, "intimate" gigs under the Connect banner. The line-up is still being finalised but members registered on the festival's database will be given priority for tickets. Organisers hope the tactic will help them maintain loyalty with their audience ahead of a 2010 comeback with a "reshaped format" which might include reducing the timescale from three to two days and moving it to earlier in the summer.

The loss of the award-winning and critically acclaimed event will come as a blow for the local tourist industry. During the past two years, the eclectic mix of acts ranging from Björk, the Jesus And Mary Chain and Bloc Party to the Beastie Boys, Franz Ferdinand and Glasvegas, besides adding a unique flavour to the festival scene, had offered local traders the opportunity to pair up with Connect in order to supply music fans with locally produced food and drink.

In 2008 alone, Connect contributed almost £1.5 million to the local economy in Argyll, particularly as people drawn to the beauty spot for the music often stayed on afterwards to do some sightseeing.

The festival also paved the way for local farmers and food producers to link up and create the Food From Argyll project by inviting them to cook and sell their wares at the first Connect Festival in 2007, which was a huge success.

Since then, Food From Argyll has rolled the concept out at other events and festivals to generate revenue and increase the profile of Argyll produce.

Original article at http://www.sundayherald.com/news/her...ed_in_2010.php

[elainemck]

Real shame for local businesses and for local people -was really looking forward to it this year

[Hels]

I doubt if we will see it back in 2010. I've been both years and thought it was excellent - brilliant atmosphere despite the weather - but ticket sales were poorer in 2008 than 2007 and I think if the decline in numbers continued then the losses are just too much for any company to carry - and that's pre-recession!

I hope that they are made to pay back some of the grant which I believe was for a 3 year committment!

Goes to show how tough times are for events organisers and again heightens my admiration for the organisers of the local event.