HOUSTON, TX (CelebrityAccess) — Day for Night, the Houston-based arts and music festival, appears to be headed into liquidation.
According to the Houston Chronicle, creditors who had a stake in the festival announced this week that they will sell the event’s branding and intellectual property, along with other “assets and financial interests” of festival founder Omar Afra.
The festival, which took place for three years in Houston, featured multi-genre performances from the likes of Thom Yorke, Nine In Nails, St. Vincent, and Tyler the Creator.
The festival, which failed to turn a profit in its three years, attracted more than 20,000 fans to Houston for the 2017 edition of the event, the Chronicle reported.
Afra told the newspaper that the festival cost about $6 million a year to produce and that he had incurred significant debt over the past three years.
“Is it a bunch of money? Yeah, it’s way more than I have,” Afra told the Chronicle. “It’s also par for the course for building and launching something of this scope.”
“Typically, your hope is to launch a great festival and hope it becomes profitable in three to five years,” Afra added.
Afra’s financial challenges were exacerbated by a #MeToo moment. In August, Afra was accused by two women of sexual assault, with one woman alleging he assaulted her in his apartment in 2017 and another making a similar claim dating from 2010.
No criminal charges have been filed against Afra in either of the two alleged assaults, but the damage was done and on August 12th, creditors for the festival announced he had been removed from “any ownership or involvement in Day For Night.”
Afra has denied the allegations against him, writing: “To be clear, I did not sexually assault these women and their complaints were immediately disposed [of] by law enforcement because they lacked veracity.” He also contended that the claims against him were part of a “coordinated campaign” against him and that he would be exonerated of the allegations in court.
