AIF Announces Awards Shortlist for Festival Congress

11 October 2016 - Press release

The Association of Independent Festivals (AIF), the London based trade association that represents UK festival organisers, has announced the shortlist for The Festival Congress Awards 2016.

Taking place on Tuesday 1^st November 2016 at DEPOT in Cardiff, the ceremony will be hosted by Glastonbury Festival’s Ben Challis.

There are ten award categories including, among others, ‘New Festival on the Block’, ‘Unique Festival Arena’, ‘Mind Blowing Spectacle’ and ‘Festival Caterer Most Likely to End up on Instagram.’

One newly introduced category is the ‘Act of Independence’ award, highlighting a moment in the festival season that embodied the spirit of independence.

Nominees for this particular award include Shambala for introducing a 100% meat & fish free policy and MAST onsite drugs testing, which was piloted at several AIF member festivals this summer.

Others in the running for awards this year include the likes of Bluedot, Glastonbury’s female-only venue ‘The Sisterhood’, ‘The Good Life Experience’, Deer Shed Festival’s Film Production Big Top, Wilderness Festival’s ‘Saturday Night Spectacular’, Bestival’s ‘Spaceport’ and ‘The Tim Peaks Diner’, the brainchild of The Charlatan’s Tim Burgess, who has also been confirmed as a keynote speaker at the conference.

It has also been confirmed that the 2016 ‘Unsung Hero’ award will be presented to health, safety and welfare expert Penny Mellor, who has worked in the events sector for over 40 years, managing welfare services and developing good practice guidance.

The Awards after-party will feature Rob da Bank and Tayo 3000’s ‘Purple Rave’ Prince tribute alongside a DJ set from Tim Burgess.

Paul Reed, General Manager of The AIF said, “The Festival Congress Awards always seek to highlight some of the defining moments of the festival season alongside celebrating the wonderful creativity and important work taking place behind the scenes across the independent festival sector. We look forward to another fantastic celebration in Cardiff”.

Tickets for the two-day conference and awards are now on sale, priced at £100 for AIF members, £135 to Friends of AIF and £185 general sale exclusively through headline event sponsor The TicketSellers.

PlayPass are the RFID partner for the Congress and BIMM will again be the official educational partner, delivering the satellite student sessions. In addition, Help Musicians UK has been confirmed as the lead charity partner for the event and will reveal the results of a study into mental health and the UK music industry, alongside outlining the next stages of the Music and Depression (MAD) campaign.

Festival Congress is supported by the Major Events Unit of the Welsh Government.

For a full list of nominees please see below or visit http://aiforg.com/festivalcongress/news/

For further information and tickets visit www.festivalcongress.com