Issue 52 December 2011/January 2012 £4.75
Festivals generate over £200m
Extra £41m for Olympic ceremonies By Christina Eccles EXTRA funding worth £41m has been allocated to deliver spectacular opening and closing ceremonies for next summer’s Olympic and Paralympic Games in London. Figures from the government’s Olympic Quarterly Economic Report show the delivery of the Games is on time and on budget – with the overall funding package remaining at £9.298b. Now with more than £500m of unallocated money available, the extra cash worth £41m – including £7m held in contingency – has been allocated to support LOCOG in staging the Olympic and Paralympic ceremonies, which will showcase the best of the UK to the rest of the world. Minister for Sport and the Olympics Hugh Robertson said: “London’s opening and closing ceremonies are a once-in-a-generation opportunity to showcase the very best of our country to four billion people around the world and have a potential advertising value of £2-5b. “To get the ceremonies absolutely right, and boost the Games business and tourism legacy, we are putting
additional investment into our ceremonies.” £271m worth of funding has also been released for venue security to deliver a safe and secure event, including the recruitment and training of 23,700 venue security personnel for more than 100 competition and non-competition venues across the UK. He added: “The Olympic programme remains on time and within budget. Consistent careful management of the finances has enabled us to fund additional costs such as venue security from within the public sector funding package as well as to invest in projects that will help drive economic growth from the Games. “As was always planned, the Government and LOCOG have now undertaken detailed analysis of the numbers of security staff required to protect the more than 100 Olympic venues. As a result, to ensure a safe and secure Games, they have revised the numbers of trained staff required. We are therefore investing additional funds in providing nearly 24,000 venue security personnel plus specialist security equipment.”
X Factor judge Gary Barlow was among the celebrity guests at a star studded gala dinner held in aid of Children in Need. The Take That singer hosted the evening at the Hilton Deansgate Manchester, organised by locally based event management specialists the Taylor Lynn Corporation. Picture: Featureflash / Shutterstock. com Full story, Page 6
UK independent festivals generate over £200m for the country’s economy, according to research from the Association of Independent Festivals. Over 2400 festivalgoers were surveyed by the association, which represents members including Bestival and Womad. Results showed the 31 AIF member festivals alone attracted about 480,000 people this summer. Spending an average £461 per person on festival costs – such as travel, accommodation and food and drink – they contributed £222m into the UK economy and £17m to local businesses. With over 400 festivals having taken place over the summer, the total amount of revenue generated across the whole festival landscape is projected to hugely exceed that. AIF general manager Claire O’Neill said: "In the face of what has been a challenging few years for many, we are very happy to see these positive trends for the continued steady growth of the independent festival market. Year on year from our audience surveys the impact to the UK economy and cultural significance of these events is confirmed.”