Since we launched, back in 2011, Sundae has created, developed and promoted festivals of all sizes across the UK. From Shangri-La at Glastonbury, through to Noisily Festival and Salford’s own Sounds from the Other City, every festival is impacted by the availability of new talent and opportunity.
This year we put a focus on local, and added some brilliant grassroots and hyperlocal events to our roster, to ensure that instead of simply talking about the gaps in diversity, we are contributing to the development of the industry from the grassroots up.
In an event-full 2024, we worked on Summer in the Park, the massive series of free festivals in the beautiful parks and squares of Greenwich, Bexley and Tendring, the UK’s largest Italian festival, Festa Italiana in Manchester, Pride Classical as part of Pride in Liverpool, plus cultural events curated by Salford City Council in Swinton and Eccles: Not Quite Light Festival, Carousel of Us, Make Tracks and Picturing Eccles.
We work with local events to extract the artists’ stories, and push as hard as we can to achieve as much media presence as possible – sounds straightforward, right?
Well, yeah, it is, but we have to tell the story accurately, in the right way, to drive the right people to attend; people who buy into the event as a whole, who are likely to talk about it to their friends, and return in the future. We have to help them build support and grow a community.
Local festivals and events revolve around creativity, inclusion, inspiration, innovation, engagement, hope for the future, and giving people a voice, which makes it all the more important to us to help them establish themselves as a staple in their town or city’s calendar and contribute to the industry as a whole. They provide vital platforms for up-and-coming artists, job opportunities for new event staff, work experience for students, and bring people together to celebrate where they are from.
It all sounds very familiar, doesn’t it?! If you head to Shangri-La Glastonbury or Noisily and take a good look around, really see what is happening, then it quickly becomes apparent that great national festivals are built on the same foundations. They have line-ups and stages dedicated to promoting up-and-coming artists – proving that without grassroots creativity and the drive of those who take it upon themselves to deliver it, then the flowing creative pipeline to bigger, national festivals and events would eventually stem.
The part we play is one we are hugely proud of: we shout about our clients from the rooftops, we put their voices on blast and help them celebrate their work. With every piece of coverage, every interview placed, every Reel posted, and every link clicked, we contribute to the future.
From local to national, from Swinton Shopping Centre to Worthy Farm, we do what we do and we turn it up to eleven.
Sundae x
📸 by Jody Hartley, Christophe Reynoden, Roswitha Chesher, Joshua Croft, Lydia Wakelam, Simone Ronconi, Martin Sharp, George Harrison,
