Christopher BarrettA working group including the Events Industry Forum, Association of Independent Festivals, Association of Festival Organisers and Attitude Is Everything has issued an updated festival planning guidance document.
The guidance includes contributions from across the festival industry as well as the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) and Public Health England. The working group said the document had been created with the aim of assisting festival organisers, safety advisory group members, local directors of public health in assessing risk levels and planning festivals based on a flexible, pragmatic and realistic approach to the current pandemic.
The new guidance is a live document that will be updated on a monthly basis. It is available for free on The Purple Guide website from today, 13 October.
The document covers eight key themes and Covid-19 safety measures including medical and welfare arrangements, crowd considerations, response plans, security, site adjustments and specific mitigation measures.
The working group said it will run monthly webinars to update the festival sector and others as to any changes to the guidance. Agencies at a national level are being invited to provide input on an ongoing basis.
AIF CEO Paul Reed said, “Risk mitigation is what festival promoters do for a living, so the intent of this guidance is to outline Covid-19 specific planning considerations that will allow for bespoke risk assessment approaches in liaison with relevant authorities and agencies.
AFO General Secretary Steve Heap added, “Next summer may seem far away but, in terms of festival planning, it is right around the corner. UK festivals are a world leading industry and, with tools such as this in place, we are ready to re-emerge and stage Covid-safe and successful festivals in 2021.”