LONDON (CelebrityAccess) — UK music industry trade group, the Association of Independent Festivals, announced that the number of music festivals in that country that have been canceled or closed for good this year now tops 60.
The latest additions to the list includes Cambridgeshire’s Secret Garden Party, who announced that 2024 was the finale for the event, along with Cosmic Roots Festival (Basingstoke) and Witcombe Festival (Gloucester) which were both canceled for 2024.
All told, the AIF anticipates that more than 100 festivals disappear in 2024 due to the pressures of unpredictable rising costs. And that’s on top of the 96 festivals that fell by the wayside amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the start of February, AIF has been calling for relief from the UK government. The AIF’s campaign calls for a temporary VAT (value added tax) reduction for festival tickets that would save many event promoters from closure.
The number of festivals forced to cancel, postpone or shut down entirely in 2024, largely because of unpredictable costs and a credit crunch within the sector, shows no signs of slowing. The urgent need for government intervention through a temporary reduction in VAT on ticket sales to 5% remains. We hope that the new Labour government will take swift action to save many successful festival businesses that are facing this existential threat,” said AIF CEO John Rostron.
AIF’s full list of festivals lost in 2024: https://www.fivepercentforfestivals.com/festivals-lost
