Over 200 UK festivals have “disappeared” since 2019, report reveals
A new report from AIF shows that the number of festivals cancelled from 2023 to 2024 has doubled.
More than 200 festivals in the UK have “disappeared” since 2019, a new report from the Association for Independent Festivals (AIF) reveals.
According to the report, the number of festivals that have been cancelled, postponed, or completely shuttered from 2023 to 2024 has doubled. Last year, 36 festivals in the UK were cancelled, up this year to 72.
The total number of UK festivals to have disappeared since 2019 is now 204, the report shows. AIF also noted that 96 events in the UK were lost to COVID.
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“This has been a devastating period for the UK’s festival organisers,” says AIF CEO John Rostron. “Ours is a highly important sector that offers opportunities to artists, audiences, and develops creative skills and volunteering opportunities across all of the UK.”
AIF has campaigned for a “temporary lowering” of VAT on festival tickets since the beginning of the year, calling on rates to be lowered from 20% to just 5%.
This proposed reduction aims to encourage more people to purchase festival tickets, claiming that it “would have saved most of the events that have closed this year”.
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“The festival sector generates significant revenue in and around local economies as well as to the Treasury every year,” Rostron says. “We have campaigned tirelessly for targeted, temporary government intervention.”
“It is sad to see that this erosion has been allowed to continue under this Government. We have great events, with great demand, and we’re doing all we can. They need to step up, and step up now.”
Over the summer, UK festivals including Riverside Festival, Standon Calling, El Dorado, We Are FSTVL, and NASS all cancelled their 2024 editions, many of which due to rising costs and financial issues.
Read the full report from AIF here.
Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Assistant Editor, follow her on Twitter.
