Positive Vibration: Festival of Reggae 2017 audience (photo credit: Brian Sayle)
As nominations for the UK Festival Awards are announced, Getintothis’ Cath Bore finds Liverpool’s festivals have much to smile about.
According to UK Music’s study, Music Tourism: Wish You Were Here 2017, almost 4 million people attended British music festivals in 2016. Now in its 14th year, the UK Festival Awards cheerleads and celebrates this popular and ever-growing industry.
With 21 categories in all, the Awards acknowledge the achievements of both event organisers and suppliers.
The general public can vote in a total of eight categories. The remaining ones, such as Line-up of the Year – won by Liverpool International Music Festival (LIMF) in 2016, Best Toilets (thumbs up to Creamfields who bagged this one 12 months ago), and Best Festival for Emerging Talent – are voted for by music industry experts, specialist organisations or, in the case of The Outstanding Contribution to Festivals Award, UK Festival Awards staff.
Liverpool festivals have done extremely well for nominations in the public categories.
New kid on the block Positive Vibration – Festival of Reggae won Best New Festival in 2016. And there’s no stopping them now, in their second year, scooping four nominations, at level pegging with LIMF.
Africa Oye, Threshold and Sound City are nominated for two awards.
Africa Oye and LIMF will compete against the likes of Kendal Calling and End of the Road in the Best Medium-sized Festival category, festivals with attendance figures between 10k – 39,999.
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For Best Small Festival – a daily capacity of less than 10k people – four of our events are up. Liverpool Music Week, Threshold, Positive Vibration and Sound City take on Manchester’s Neighbourhood Festival, and bluedot.
Liverpool knocks it out of the park in the Best Metropolitan festival category, which celebrates gatherings held in an urban environment. LIMF, Liverpool Music Week, Threshold, Positive Vibration and Sound City all get a nod.
It would have been a shock if Africa Oye, LIMF and Positive Vibration weren’t listed for Best Family Festival. We needn’t have worried, because they are safely in there.
Finally, Liverpool is proudly represented in the Grassroots Festival Award by LIMF and Positive Vibration.
Hope & Glory receive no nominations. No festival today, no nomination this year, no award this year.
Good luck to all of our festivals up for an award, winners are announced at a ceremony at The Printworks in London on 20 November.
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