Christopher BarrettTwo years on from the launch of Project 30, its founder Craig Mathie (pictured centre) and new business director Paul Ashurst (left) reflect on the production company’s expansion while working across a broad range of events including London Marathon, RideLondon, Tramlines and We Out Here festivals, and brand activations such as Vodafone at Glastonbury Festival and HSBC at Goodwood Revival.
With a combined 20 years of experience working at Bournemouth 7s Festival, the duo have found that the multifaceted experience gained at the sports and music event has benefitted Project 30’s work across event planning, project management and live event delivery.
Criag, you were at Bournemouth 7s for more than a decade before launching Project 30 in January 2023. What was your vision for the company?
Project 30 was a few years in the planning before we launched. Having done 11 years at Bournemouth 7s, which I loved, I was ready for a new challenge. I wanted to share the knowledge and the approach that we had built up over the previous decade and take it to new environments, and to challenge the status quo.
It’s not been an easy few years for festivals, we have seen some very well established and much-loved festivals fall. Has that wider financial climate impacted your progress with Project 30?
When we launched, I thought we’d do more work in festivals than we’ve ended up doing. I am proud of how many different types of events we’ve been involved in. One of the things that Covid taught me was around divesting your interests because it is so challenging out there in the independent festival market. Festivals represent around one third of our business. We have worked on sports events such as the London Marathon, which are facing the same cost challenges as festivals but do not seem to be facing the same narrative challenges in terms of how the events are running, and their success. We’ve also done a host of work for large corporate brands including Vodafone and HSBC, but I think festivals will always remain a really important part of what we do. Last year, we worked across more than 30 projects, including 12 live onsite phases, and some of that was around safety, documentation and planning. We finished the year working on Christmas in Cambridge [pictured below], which was a great new event offering for Cambridge, delivered by Seventa Events. We’ve really tried not to put all of our eggs in one basket, and as a result we ended up being busy from January through to December.
Paul, you spent nearly nine years at Bournemouth 7s before joining Project 30 in January this year. Where do you see the opportunities being for the company?
With rising costs and ticket sales getting later and later it has become increasingly challenging for festivals. I genuinely believe Bournemouth 7s wouldn’t be here right now if it wasn’t for the sport side, that is definitely holding it up, and that’s a credit to the festival. I see the opportunities for Project 30, moving forwards, being in mass participation sports events because that’s what’s growing. We’ll continue to work in festivals, it’s a challenging market and the events are going to have to evolve but I’m sure they will.
“It’s a challenging market and the events are going to have to evolve but I’m sure they will.”
Craig, in terms of team building and the service set you offer, what have been the key focus areas since you launched Project 30?
One of the things we’re really keen to do is make sure we up skill our team, there’s only a few of us but we’ve made sure that people have health & safety and crowd management qualifications. I very much consider myself, and really want Project 30 to be, the hub around which great events are delivered. Most frequently, we do live event delivery and event operations, engaging stakeholders, speaking to local authorities, and all those component parts. I have found our reputation has enabled us to make some real progress in particularly difficult spaces where events were facing considerable challenges before we got involved.
Among the many projects you have worked on is We Out Here Festival. What did you bring to the mix?
That festival is really defying market conditions and growing year on year, and really establishing itself as a powerhouse in the space. We’ve been really involved in establishing that in Dorset, working closely with all the key players. We Organise Chaos’ Clare [Goodchild] and Tom [Wilkinson] are the lead production agency on that.
“I want Project 30 to be, the hub around which great events are delivered.”
Is it challenging teaming up with other production companies?
One of the things that I’ve really loved since we started Project 30 has been the collaboration with other production companies. There hasn’t been any kind of tribalism. We worked on Tramlines with Method. Everyone’s been incredibly supportive, and I think that reflects the industry, people want to work with good people and they’re prepared to give new guys, like us, a leg up, which has been really lovely. We want to be able to turn our hand to lots of different things. Reflecting on Paul and I’s background at Bournmouth 7s – small independent businesses give you an amazing opportunity to know bits about everything within an industry, and while we were there we looked after sales, marketing, promotion, event operations, event delivery, and health & safety. That’s a really unique skill set, which I’ve found has benefited us greatly as we’ve gone out into the marketplace.
