Richard Lobo’s Post

🚨YOUROPE has developed and released the “3F Diversity & Inclusion Toolset” for the European festival sector. The Toolset 🪛🛠🔩 is a curated collection of resources that can help festival organizers make their events more diverse and inclusive – for their visitors, artists and staff. YOUROPE is proud to present the toolset as part of its three-year project “Future-Fit Festivals” (3F). It is full of resources that can help festival makers create more inclusive and diverse festivals – for the audience, artists and their own team. Resources include guides, tests, checklists, interviews, databases, other toolkits, roadmaps, reports, games and action plans. Most were created by different expert organizations all across Europe and sometimes even beyond. The toolset is public and free to use for any festival or cultural event. Other contents were created by the project team, e.g., 13 stories of festivals and projects that have implemented measures for more inclusion and diversity. The team wrote these stories, so that festival makers can find inspiration and learn more about good-practices that they can replicate at their own festivals. 💛🖤 #yourope #festivals #europe #3f #futurefitfestivals #diversity #inclusion #takeastand https://lnkd.in/eb7tY9Di

"Just like the toolset you keep in your supply closet, this toolset is supposed to help you build something. Only, we’re not talking about assembling shelves and wardrobes here, but festivals. More specifically: festivals that are for everyone.  On paper, most festivals already seem to be open for everyone. But if we are really honest with ourselves, we know there are still people who don’t come to our festivals, although they would like to." This is why in YOUROPE we have created this Diversity and Inclusion toolset, that covers strategies to counter ableist, racist, sexist and gender-based discrimination, and that wants to raise awareness on diversity topics. It's been months of work with some of the most amazing professionals I've had the pleasure to work with – Katharina Weber, Fabienne Wolfschläger, Isabel Roudsarabi, Mika Christoffersen, Maiju Talvisto, Ola Krakowska and Fine Stammnitz , you are superstars–, and I couldn't be prouder of the result. This is a little reflection I wrote when I was asked to deliver some quotes to present the project: "Something stuck with me after a short conversation with the Awareness Team at Reeperbahn Festival in 2023. They handed me a little sticker, a perfect form of a circle made with these words: "It's a process it's a process it's a process." And indeed, making our festivals better, safer, more diverse and more inclusive IS a process: the more you know, the more you realise the things you still don't. And if you are just getting introduced to these concepts, finding where to start can feel overwhelming, even if you might sense that the moment to begin is now. This is the main goal of our toolset: if your festival is already doing great, but you'd like to get inspiration and ideas to do even better, this is for you. And if you want to start somewhere but you don't know how... this is for you as well. Remember: it is a process, and doesn't matter where you are, as a circle doesn't have a beginning or an end. Everyone is welcome in it, as long as you decide to join. Welcome aboard.”

77. CANNES FILM FESTIVAL🎥🌟 Why should we celebrate festivals in the Growing AI ERA ? 🤖 Should next generation also experience the significance of #cannesfilmfestival or AI Festivals are more Climate Friendly☘️🌎??? #I #MEAN ☝️#Harnessing #DEI through establishing physical arenaes and celebrating multicultural festivals as #CannesFilmFestival serve important purposes in society and individual lives🎥🌟 By facilitating intercultural dialogue and interaction, helping to break down stereotypes and prejudices, #CannesFestival fosters a shared sense of identity and belonging. #The #inclusive #nature of #CannesFestival bridges social divides and strengthens the social fabric of communities. It focuses on the need for continued support to enhance social cohesion and cultural understanding in #multicultural #societies. #CulturalIdentity: Festival helps preserve and promote cultural heritage, traditions, and values. It reinforces a sense of belonging and identity within communities. #SocialCohesion: Festival brings people together, fostering community spirit and strengthening social bonds. It provides opportunities for social interaction and collaboration. #JoyandCelebration: Festival is the occasion for joy, relaxation, and celebration. It offers a break from routine, allowing people to enjoy music, food, art, #EconomicBenefits: Festival boosts local economies by attracting tourism, supporting local artisans and businesses, and creating jobs. #EducationandAwareness: Festival includes educational components, teaching participants about history, culture, and social issues, promoting awareness and understanding. #TraditionandLegacy: Celebrating festivals helps pass down traditions and stories from generation to generation, ensuring that cultural practices are not lost over time. #Overall, festivals enrich our lives, promote community harmony, and contribute to the vibrancy of societies🎥🌟🩷What is your opinion? #BTW: 1 or 2? 🙋🏻♀️ #dei #internationalfestivals #knowledgesharing #culturalexchange #traditionandheritage

I really enjoyed reading this year's Bolster Group and Tixel "Front Row Centre" report. There were a few interesting takes which I wanted to share... ENCOURAGING EARLIER TICKET PURCHASES 1. Knowing friends have tickets to events (32%) – Startups like Like Minded Global and Paysquad are working on this. 2. Offering exclusive perks or access (17%) – For example, meet headliners with holograms through Proto Hologram, Holoconnects, and local manufacturer DreamGlass. MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF FESTIVALS 1. Crowd experience ranks highly (63%), just behind atmosphere (75%) – What does a Hackathon look like where we brainstorm ideas for improving fan experiences at festivals? HotHack AUDIENCE INSIGHTS 1. For 18-24-year-olds, the cost of living impacts their spending on experiences at twice the rate of those 51+. Are there new models that could bring together different generations? I went along to the Archibald Closing party at Art Gallery NSW, which was a great example of bringing together different generations. INDUSTRY SHIFT More broadly as CAST - Centre for Arts, Sports and Technology, we’re working towards a change that would add two additional elements to industry reports: 1. Highlighting Innovation – Shining a light on companies already solving some of the industry's key challenges outlined in reports. 2. An Invitation to Innovate – Opening up discussions on opportunities for innovation based on each report's findings/data. What do the contributors to each report see as the next big opportunities for the industry?

Time Warp marks a monumental 30-year milestone. We used Booking Agent Info to research the agencies behind this years lineup of TimeWarp 2024 happening in Mannheim, Germany. Dominating the agency representation is the 'Others' category, holding an impressive majority of 51%. This isn't a mere statistic; it's a powerful statement about Time Warp's commitment to a broad spectrum of talent, including a wealth of independent and local agencies that have a significant impact on the lineup. At the helm of the agency lineup is William Morris Endeavor (WME), claiming a solid 15% of Time Warp's talent representation. Carving out a substantial 9% is Paramount Artists, an agency renowned for its influential presence within the electronic music scene. Wasserman comes in with 7%. The festival's alliance with Berlin-based agencies—Apelago, Circle Booking, Triangle Agency, and Temporary Secretary—each with a 4.5% stake, is particularly telling of Time Warp's roots in the techno capital. The robust presence of Berlin-based agencies at Time Warp is not merely a business decision; it's a reflection of the festival's soul. The diversity and specialization of the agencies behind Time Warp are indicative of a festival that is deeply interconnected with the global and local scenes It should be noted that we excluded 3 artists from our dataset who we did not have any data. Please follow Booking Agent Info for more insights like this #TimeWarp #MusicIndustry #ElectronicDanceMusic #EDMFestival #BookingAgentInfo

Having spent a good chunk of last week judging 100+ entries from formidable organizations around the world harnessing the power of music to bring people, cities, and even nations together... I'm finally ready to talk about the 3 biggest things I observed from representing Hong Kong as a Juror for the 2024 Music Cities Awards! Thanks Momentual (formerly Music Cities Events) for having me. 🇭🇰 🎶 1️⃣ CREATING OPPORTUNITIES FOR MUSIC EDUCATION IS KEY Globally, non-profits, community groups, corporate sponsors and government organizations are recognizing the importance of music education as a tool for youth empowerment and community bonding. Whether that's in lowering the barrier to entry for a child to pick up an instrument, or giving them an orchestra (or even a practice room) to connect at outside of home and school - making music education more accessible is something we should collectively rise to the challenge for. 2️⃣ CULTIVATING A CULTURE OF MUSIC APPRECIATION STARTS GROUND-UP In busy, developed cities, how many times do we walk past a street performer without the headspace to pay attention to their craft and joy? Building a city as a cultural destination and hub starts by creating a culture where people know to stop and appreciate art, culture, and music. And it doesn't have to be Taylor Swift performing at your biggest sports stadium - but cultivating a culture where people will take off their headphones to listen to a busker on public transport. 3️⃣ WE MUST EMPOWER ARTISTS TO CREATE FREELY AND SUSTAINABLY This comes in both hardware as much as it does in software. Grants, fellowships, residencies are great. But it's refreshing to see those who understand the need for networking with labels, connections to venues, mentorships with industry veterans as the necessary soft skills that artists need support with as much as the financial and infrastructural support that gives them the peace of mind to create. So that's it for now! Excited to see what R2 will bring, and again, thanks to Cheryl Kwok, Jett Glozier, and Cristina Peregrina for having me here. Hong Kong is a cultural capital of Asia, and it's an honor to be able to represent this corner of the world! 👏 #MusicCitiesAwards2024 #MusicCitiesAwards

‘Futures of music’. This is the title of a very interesting panel that our CEO Wilbert Hirsch will be moderating this Friday in Kiel at the shore of the baltic sea.  https://sched.co/1dMB6 :) Music as part of our life together and always new opportunities to discover and utilise your own musical talents. Despite A.I. - making music together and experiencing man-made creativity is becoming increasingly important. And there are new ways to discover - also or especially with A.I. An interesting panel with artists and inventors of new musical instruments... #music, #AI, #society

The business that has possibly given me the highest high as an entrepreneur who is a music-lover at the very core is The Festival. I started it when E365 India Pvt. Ltd. and BandEdge Talent Agency both were decently stable names in the small market of Kolkata. What mattered to me personally at that moment was to build our own IP business the moment I knew how to do events and artiste management. It was not even a word that was cool to be dropped around back in 2012, as everyone would say "Paisa barbad kar raha hai tu." Frankly speaking, I was actually putting in the profits of our events and artistes businesses into it- I would jump on any opportunity to get our favourite band to my city and call it our IP business. But there was no business sense in it then- we were merely risking our whole year's blood, sweat and tears into building THE Festival, and unknowingly inspiring a lot of IP businesses to be born here, or to travel to this part of the world. There would be years when I didn't draw a single penny from the company for 2 years, because an Infected Mushroom on a NYE in Kolkata got washed out by rain so badly that it brought the city to a standstill. We needed 2 years to repay our losses to all the vendors who had worked, and I must also mention here that we were lucky to get the support of everyone in all our initiatives. Even today, many people ask what is THE Festival? Does it have any valuation? Does the PNL of 12 years make any sense? I can only say that I'm a very simple man but with a very very big dream- I don't even know how to draw up the perfect valuation, but I know how to dream and achieve. And I know that we are not stopping. I know we are investing the heaviest on THE Festival, and you will find me being the busiest with the next edition every time you meet me. We shall be breaking all boundaries of genres, we shall be breaking all records of numbers, we shall not focus on a single genre or a single TG, we may not have a business plan for the next year, but we shall be getting the best of the entertainment to Kolkata, to Siliguri, to Guwahati, to Shillong, to Imphal, to Tura, to Dhaka, to Kathmandu, and next year onwards to India, for you, for us, for them, for all. Last but not the least, we shall never be the copy-paste guys, let everyone else run after stolen dreams, stolen business plans, stolen CRM data and stolen identities, you can safely come to us if you want the original and unadulterated musical experience that you have never dreamt of before. ❤️ Some of the upcoming editions of THE Festival, both big and small, both with and without external brand sponsorship, some are fruits of 18 years of manifestation while some got planned overnight for the belief in the content, but all are genuine efforts for people of all stratas of the society, and all guaranteed paisa-wasool experiences, where you can invest as a brand, perform as an artiste or buy tickets as a fan: https://lnkd.in/gWFT8jin

"The festival of Hosay is more than entertaining – it is unifying. Apart from the benefit to the business owners in St James, how does this festival add value to the community and ultimately, society? What is required to move it to a viable venture that can support communities like Cocorite and St James that are already so vulnerable? For data-gathering to be relevant, not only must these questions be answered, but we must have clear and actionable next steps." Festivals are central to the soul of the people of T&T. In this piece, I share my awesome experience at the Muslim festival of Hosay and explore how we can create more sustainability in the creative sector through data-gathering. #writeconnectdara #hosay #festivals #communitydevelopment #supportthearts #beawsome https://lnkd.in/eSPWMyi7

Imagining May 30th, 2025 🌎🥳🌿 The date of the first Naturefests, around the world 🌎🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳 (at least one :)) Improv 🎸 🎵 Imagining May '25 Sittin around The campfire Solving words Left and right Working together With an appetite To solve Local problems That have long Been forgotten In the busy world We're livin in With time Escaping Temperatures rising And it's our Generations That are alive Right now That can figure out How We can Do magic things Transition To better livin At speed Simply needs a plan And a roadmap That's grand So I Invite you To bring Your mind to The mastermind Sessions for Naturefests and supporting Initiatives, that together can Accelerate everything 🎵 If you would like to be a part of Naturefest's monthly mastermind group zoom 🌎🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠 where we strategise about scaling festivals, sponsorship and other related initiatives, just say hi 👋 or connect 🤸♂️ If you would like to have a dedicated folder on Naturefest's YouTube channel, for your music 🎶 comedy 😄 or other art 🎨 just say hi 👋 or connect 🤸♂️ In support of creating #Naturefest in 500 locations, by 2030 🌎🥳🌿🤸♂️ Ps. Have now spoken with 3 festival founders, to gain some knowledge and support 🥳. 17 to go, as per a previous post 🤸♂️ please reach out if keen to share any thoughts or wisdom:) #Naturefest #nature #festivals #climateaction #education #imagination #community #mobilise #initiatives #climatech #musicians #music #movement