Cancellation of Edinburgh festivals puts live events industry on notice

Tomorrow, Edinburgh would have welcomed more than 4.4 million people from across the world to enjoy its five world-leading cultural arts festivals – usually generating over £1bn for the local and wider economy.

The Fringe Festival, combined with the city’s four other major festivals, is the second largest cultural event in the world after the Olympics. Its cancellation is sounding the death knell of the live events industry that employs over one million people – 72 per cent of whom are self-employed freelancers.

The live events industry – the UK’s fastest growing sector (2018) – has now been brought to a halt. The apocalypse of festivals, music tours, and sporting tournaments is putting the industry supply chain at risk of losing their jobs in the next few weeks with a significant skill drain expected.

Industry experts say the live events sector is at risk of irreparable collapse unless the government extends the furlough scheme and tailors its support to keep the entire supply chain afloat. Whilst the government’s £1.57bn support package is welcomed, there remains great concern that the aid will not reach each member of the live events supply chain.

Industry leaders across the UK behind #WeMakeEvents are now signalling a ‘red alert’ for the sector as companies simply cannot afford to cover furlough support for their employees anymore.

Peter Heath, Managing Director of PLASA, comments: “The industry is now at tipping point, with no clear reopening timeline in place and mass redundancies impacting lives across the UK. What we will start to see is an increasingly large number of specially-trained technicians, engineers, designers and manufacturers left with no choice but to permanently switch industries. They will look elsewhere to recover from the loss of income incurred by widespread cancellations such as The Fringe, fuelling a skills shortage that will set the industry back years.”

Peter concludes: “As we enter the end of the summer events season, members of the workforce – who would normally spend months meticulously planning – have now completely lost out on their income for the year ahead. The supply chain to the UK’s best-in-class events industry will not recover and will cease to exist unless sector-specific reliefs are prioritised. With the prospect of a second, and even third wave, we are calling for long-term structural support, which will reassure members of the industry that there is light at the end of the tunnel.”

PLASA is the leading international membership body representing over 1100 companies and individuals that supply technologies and services to the events and entertainment industry. The Association works to ensure that each sector is fully represented and plays an active role in highlighting best practice and safe working conditions. The group is fronting their #WeMakeEvents campaign to bring attention to the critical support needed from the government to prevent the collapse of the UK’s treasured live events industry.