Melissa Welch’s Post

The UK’s 2024 festival season is off to a rocky start, with over 40 events either cancelled or postponed this year already. This is perhaps unsurprising with the many unknowns that festival organisers face; just think of the good old British weather! Considering the level of uncertainty faced by festival organisers, there has never been a greater need for cash reserves. It is little wonder, therefore, that Glastonbury Festival’s Company Accounts showed cash reserves of over £6 million last year. However, for those businesses not holding an outdoor event for over 200,000 people who are quite literally “saving for a rainy day”, then having too much cash on the books can be problematic as far as inheritance tax is concerned, thanks to the restrictions on inheritance tax relief that apply to “excepted assets”. Read the full article here https://lnkd.in/eW5qMM6r #PrivateClient #PrivateWealth #InheritanceTax #Estates #Trusts #Wills

You want to choose the RIGHT city to live in! Here are a couple things you want to consider: (1) What is the crime rate? (2) What does the city have to offer? A downtown? Events? Festivals? If you want your home value to boost, you have to look at the potential growth of the city! 🏙️ #realestate #homeprices #firsttimehomebuyer #livermore #michelettimedia

If your community or organization hosts an annual event or festival, this free webinar will provide an overview of provincial, federal, and even corporate programs that can help offset costs and scale up experiences. And yes, this does include Canada Day celebrations! Click below to register. #funding #events #festivals #celebrations #communitygroups #fallfair #musicstage

An amazing result by the wonderful Sussex Dolphin Project team. ✊👏 This issue moved quickly, but here's a quick recap (full details here: https://lnkd.in/eb4xuvy5) We were shocked to see the Faroe Islands announced as lead country partner for The Great Escape Festival last week. https://lnkd.in/efSAaT7t Why is this an issue? The Faroe Islands are infamous for their cetacean drive hunts, known as the grindadráp or Grind. The Grind is a violent killing method🩸of driving a pod of cetaceans to shore using power boats, where people await in the shallows with blowhole hooks,🪝spinal lances and huge knives to hook, stab and hack at these creatures, bringing unimaginable pain and fear. Besides the physical injuries, there is also the emotional torment and stress of seeing their families die in front of them, with no possibility of a great escape. Six drive hunts have occurred so far this year alone, causing the unnecessary death of 592 long-finned pilot whales and 150 white-sided dolphins. So, on Friday, we issued a letter to The Great Escape (detailed in the original post) outlining our concerns about this partnership. As we state in the letter, we know that many people find the Grind abhorrent and, like us, believe partnering with the Government of the Faroe Islands is entirely against the cultural heart of Brighton and the wider Sussex community. We urged The Great Escape to reconsider its partnership with the Faroe Islands and explore alternative partners or use this as an opportunity to make a public statement about the ethical and moral wrongs taking place on the Faroe Islands. To be clear, this is not an issue with featuring bands from the Faroe Islands. Although one of them has since reached out to us, and to say they support the Grind would be putting it mildly. Our issue is with The Great Escape partnering with the Faroe Islands via the Faroe Islands Government-funded FMX Faroe Music Export. The Government of the Faroe Islands not only allows the Grind to continue but also regulates the hunt and refuses to listen to concerns about animal welfare. We believe the Faroe Islands are using The Great Escape for Artwashing. We followed this letter with media conversations, knowing those contacts would go to The Great Escape for comment (which they duly did - thank you!) and social media posts to mobilise our amazing Sussex Dolphin Project community. They did not disappoint! The pressure was ramped up, and we received an email from the Great Escape confirming they had withdrawn from the partnership (see image). Thank you to all of my Sussex Dolphin Project colleagues who were involved. We couldn't stand by and let this go unchallenged. Sadly, the Grind continues, but The Faroe Islands Government doesn't get to use the Great Escape Festival for Artwashing. #Brighton #faroeislands

Planning a festival is always a monumental task. From securing sponsors to getting all the relevant licences, you'll need to cover all the bases so your festival goes off without a hitch. To smoothen the process, here are the top 10 must-have items to include in your festival planning checklist: https://upsg.me/festival #UnearthedProductions #WeCreateExperiences #FestivalPlanning

Watch out! There will be some noise about. Great article Ben Adler! SLR Consulting

It has been great to work with our policy group over the past few months to co-produce this report on accessibility in venues for people with visual impairment. Find out more by downloading our report below and spread the word using the hashtag #AccessibleVenues. 

Tata AIA Life Insurance LIFE INSURANCE May these auspicious festivals bring secure beginnings and prosperity for your loved ones. T&C apply - https://lnkd.in/gAPSbMB #TataAIA #TopicalSpot #NewBeginnings#ramdan

The Monday Memo is out. The Adelaide fringe festival may be over but the real estate market is still very much in full flight. #adelaideproperty #adelaidepropertymarket #adelaiderealestate #adelaiderealestatemarket #buyersagent #buyersadvocate #invest #propertyinvestment #adelaidebusiness

While updating all those spreadsheets, checking and double-checking the details until your brain hurts, do you ever think there must be a better way to plan events and festivals? Do you ever wonder if other planners are doing the same thing or have a better way: Do they know something you don't? What you are feeling is FOBO - fear of better operations. Suffering from FOBO? https://lnkd.in/gWtByZ7r #eventplanners #eventprofs #conferenceplanners #eventplanning #joievents #eventproduction #independenteventplanners #festivalplanners #festivaldirectors