Joe GallopDuring an uncertain time for festivals, the sector continues to see new events being launched, the latest being the month-long South Facing festival series in South London and Out East festival in East Lothian, Scotland.
South Facing, from 5-29 August, will feature 12 open-air headline shows and other free midweek events with an audience capacity of 8,000 people at Crystal Palace Bowl.
So far a lineup of Dizzee Rascal, The Streets, Supergrass and the English National Opera has been announced, with more to come later this month.
The independent festival will feature local suppliers and was created by the team behind Field Day, Winterville, Cross The Tracks, Wide Awake and Dimensions.
Meanwhile, the family-friendly Out East Festival will take place on the grounds of Gosford House mansion (pictured) in East Lothian from 6-7 August.
Headliners include Clean Bandit and the 34-piece Ministry of Sound Classical. Tickets for the event, which is overseen by Rogue City Productions, went on sale on March 26.
Festival director Shane Grieve said, ”Out East is a new physically distanced festival, that will allow up 6,000 people each day. We will be maximising 300 acres of the Gosford House grounds to make sure everyone feels comfortable and can easily follow the guidelines. We hope this will become an annual family event.
“Keeping everyone safe is our number one priority and we’re working with event safety experts to make sure everyone is looked after. We will be closely monitoring the Covid guidelines and adapting to work with them. Space is not an issue for us at Gosford House, and we are confident that a physically distanced family festival is the correct way to proceed.”