Joe GallopEngine No. 4 has been brought in to head the production for this year’s Towersey Festival (cap. 5,000) which takes place at a new location, while One Big Star will oversee the stage production.
Manchester-based Engine No. 4, which produces festivals such as Kendal Calling (25,000), Lost Village (15,000), Parklife (80,000) and Bluedot (21,000), will take over the running of the site and site operations for Towersey, the oldest independent festival in the UK.
Newark-based creative event specialist One Big Star, which has been a supplier of Towersey for several years, will take over the stage production in full in 2022 – a move that Towersey promoters said has been in discussion for some time.
The festival will return after a two-year hiatus at the new location of Claydon Estate, Buckinghamshire over the August Bank Holiday weekend. Headlined by Tom Odell, other acts for its 58th edition include Del Amitri Kate Rusby Turin Brakes, Anaïs Mitchell and Bill Bailey.
Towersey’s organisers said they are preparing for a period of extensive growth and will seek venture capital fund raising with the aim of future-proofing the festival for another 50 years.
The festival’s director is Joe Heap, son of the Association of Festival Organisers general secretary Steve Heap, who was director of Towersey for 45 years up until 2019.
Joe Heap said, “We have worked with Chris and Steve from One Big Star for a number of years now and they really get the whole ethos of the Towersey family. We are one team when it comes to producing this event and as such, we all look out for each other and work as one. One Big Star are a family business, like us, so they are a great fit
“It’s a move we have wanted for a while. A way of streamlining and uniforming the stages, and the right way to go as the festival looks to grow over the coming years.”
Engine No. 4 project manager Jim Gee said, “We feel very privileged to be invited into the Towersey family at this pivotal moment in its long history, and we look forward to working with the team to help ensure a solid and prosperous future for the festival.”