AIF Announces Core Congress Programme

The Association of Independent Festivals (AIF), the trade association that represents over 60 UK festival organisers, has announced the core programme and additional speakers for Festival Congress 2016, which will take place in Cardiff later this year.

Taking place on 1st and 2nd November, Festival Congress, which will take place at the Wales Millennium Centre and DEPOT, will play host to over 400 delegates and will be a celebration of the independent festival industry.

New additions to the programme include a ‘Fireside chat’ with The Charlatans lead singer Tim Burgess and a headline panel discussion of the ground breaking drugs testing service introduced atSecret Garden Party this year.

There will also be further quickfire ‘Talking Heads’ sessions including a talk from Emma Brunjes (Director, EBP) who will discuss crafting immersive theatre experiences such as Alice’s Adventures Underground and The Game’s Afoot.

A ‘Festival Frontiers’ panel, featuring speakers from events such as Kendal Calling, BlueDot andThe Eden Sessions will reflect on the 2016 season and recent trends in an attempt to map out the future festival landscape. In addition, there will be in-depth workshops on topics including virtual reality, YouTube, festival finance, legal advice for festivals and crime and security including weather planning and terrorism.

The new speakers join the likes of John Giddings (Isle of Wight Festival/Solo Agency), Lee Denny (LeeFest/Camp Wildfire), Sammy Andrews (Entertainment Intelligence), Simon Parkes (Brixton Academy Founder) and Zac Fox (Kilimanjaro Live/NOWIE).

Find out more and get tickets here.