Committee: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT,
PLANNING, TOURISM AND LEISURE SERVICES SELECT COMMITTEE
Date: 22 AUGUST 2002
Title: The QUEEN’S GOLDEN JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS – ISLE OF WIGHT MUSIC
FESTIVAL
REPORT OF THE MANAGING DIRECTOR,
WIGHT LEISURE
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SUMMARY/PURPOSE
Members are invited to consider some of the key outcomes of the Isle of Wight Music Festival.
BACKGROUND
At its meeting on 13 November 2001, the Executive agreed to celebrate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee with a two-week Islandwide music festival. The festival was to encompass a wide range of music staged at different locations and had to be branded and promoted as one complete event.
The event was organised for a number of strategic aims and
objectives, of which one was to become self-financing by the end of year three.
In total 155 different musical events took place at 85
venues across the Island and it is suggested that this makes it the largest and
most varied festival event held in
England in 2002, and second only to the Edinburgh Fringe in the UK.
The 2002 festival’s expenditure was £676,000 and generated
an income of £377,000, resulting in a net cost to date of £299,000. Options are available to negotiate with
external partners and sponsors to reduce this cost significantly.
The fundamental issue for the Council to address is whether
it considers the festival sufficient of a success to warrant its future
organisation. If so, it must determine
how it would like that organisation to be undertaken.
It would be sensible to come to these conclusions as soon as
possible to facilitate the early organisation of a 2003 event, if that is
deemed appropriate.
¨
85
venues staged performances or workshops (against a target of 75)
¨
156
different events took place (against the target of 100)
¨
58
events were staged completely free of charge for the enjoyment of the public
¨
The
programme was composed of 252 individual performances
¨
There
were ten community music events
¨
50,000
residents, visitors, musicians, supporters and organisers attended or performed
during the Festival
¨
14
youth events, including educational workshops and an “on the road” schools tour
were staged, attracting an audience of approximately 8,678, comprising mostly
Island youths in the under-20 age bracket
¨
The
Youth Music Festival attracted the interest of key music industry players, with
representatives of Sony, EMI, British Music Group and Solo visiting to view the
local talent
¨
Using
Southern Tourist Board’s “spend per head” estimate, the event generated a spend
of £2.5 million into the economy
¨
Effective
partnerships were built and developed with the public, private, voluntary and
community sectors
¨
A
30-minute BBC documentary on recreating the Festival and portraying the Island
in a very positive light has been broadcast once, with plans for a repeat in
the autumn
¨
The
total editorial value of the media coverage collected to date is estimated at
£6,406,500, calculated by using a recognised agency formula to convert the
equivalent advertising rates
¨
Neighbouring
residents to Seaclose Park were fully consulted both before and after the
launch event
¨
The
terms of the Isle of Wight Act, 1990, were complied with in the organisation of
the Festival.
Contact Point : Annie Horne, ( 823838 (Managing Director)
ANNIE
HORNE
Managing Director