24
TECH FOCUS
THE EVENT SAFETY SHOP REFLECTS ON FORMULA E CULTURAL BOUNDARIES EXPAND ACROSS THREE NIGHTS OF GROUNDBREAKING MUSIC IN SUPPORT OF THE INAUGURAL FORMULA E RACE IN RIYAD, SAUDI ARABIA. DIRECTOR TIM ROBERTS OF THE EVENT SAFETY SHOP TALKS TO TPMEA ABOUT ITS ROLE IN THE PRODUCTION...
The Saudi General Sporting Administration (GSA) commissioned the inaugural Saudi Ad Diriya E Prix Festival celebration, featuring three nights of concerts running alongside the Formula E track and eVillage offering. This was a multiple first time event - in that it was Saudi Arabia’s first large outdoor multi-day concert, and more so. The GSA and higher Saudi authorities were determined to provide a concert spectacle with mixed audience and full cultural content. The Event Safety Shop (TESS) has supplied qualified health and safety professionals across the globe to sports, music and cultural events since 2000. This event highlighted how its service has expanded, becoming interwoven into the
ME
production fabric and cultural wellbeing of an event, to ensure its success. Director Tim Roberts was the company’s lead on this event. “This was the first race of 2019 season and the first time Formula E had been to Saudi,” he told TPMEA. “It featured a new course, new car designs and new sponsors, which all brought additional complexities for the race organisers, such as the new street-race track waiting for motorsports’ governing body, the FIA, to authorise while we were undertaking the production build. “That was a considerable congregation of firsts, all part of the cultural progression being encouraged by the Crown Prince to liberalise the country, which is particularly relevant against
the current international backdrop of political scrutiny. Bringing electric cars to oil rich Saudi reflects suggests leaders looking to the postcarbon economy. To complement the circuit action, we supported the local promoters and helped create an arena for 22,000, with extensive technical production for an event that had no predecessor in the country.” TESS was contracted to provide a range of event health safety and production assistance services, working very closely with Jim Digby of US company Show Makers – the overall show producer, looking after artists and technical production. Roberts continued: “Jim is a stakeholder in TESS USA, so we are used to
