Northern Rhythms: Taking a Closer Look at Festivals in Northern Ireland
With the gradual onset of warmer weather and longer evenings, anticipation for the festival season is once again starting to build. This raises an obvious question: in the light of the tumult of recent years, has the festival landscape undergone significant changes?
Each year, we compile a report called Foundations. This draws upon box office data to glean fresh insights into venues and festivals and offers valuable perspectives on Northern Ireland's audiences. Last year, we collected data from 25 organisations between 2019 and 2023, enabling us to track trends both before and after the pandemic. The findings extracted from the report provide valuable insights into the behaviour of audiences within the arts sector.
One of the most significant findings to emerge from the Foundations report was the trend for the advance booking of festivals. On average, festivalgoers in Northern Ireland book their tickets 44 days ahead of an event. This marks a substantial deviation from the national average of 39 days for all events across Northern Ireland. To be more specific, the average advanced booking for Belfast events was 40 days - whereas for regional events, it dipped slightly to 37 days.
The average ticket yield for festivals in Northern Ireland from the Foundations report stands at £12. That compares to the overall average of £14. It is also worth noting that – when free events are excluded - the average ticket yield for festivals went up to £13. In fact, it increased even further – to £15 - when we exclude all free and comp tickets. According to our research in Foundations, 12% of festival shows and 10% of tickets are free. To delve deeper into the impact of free tickets, we suggest reading our Sector Programme Coordinator’s recent blog on this very subject. The report's discoveries provide valuable insights into arts audience behaviour, inspiring further examination of the festival scene. To do so, I reached out to multiple festivals in Northern Ireland.
I first spoke with two representatives from the NI Science Festival: Festival Director, Sarah Jones and Marketing Manager, Andrew Moore. The NI Science Festival showcases over 300 events across 90 venues, offering diverse activities focusing on recent advances in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It ran for eleven days from February 15th to 25th this year.
Continuing its tradition from recent years, the festival released early bird tickets for fifteen shows on between November and December 2023, which notably exceeds the average 44 days outlined in Foundations. These early bird tickets sold very well. For instance, the festival was able to sell over 900 tickets for Alice Roberts in a 1000 capacity space at Whitla Hall. Despite the official festival launch on 11th January, most event sales (excluding headliners) occur one or two weeks before the festival, rather than the five weeks preceding the launch.
In the future, the festival plans to release tickets for more events ahead of January 2025 to build upon this trend for selling tickets more quickly if they go on sale considerably earlier than the festival launch. It is also worth noting that the festival holds an extremely large number of events. The old tradition of buying tickets at the door seems to have lost favour with contemporary festival-goers – and there are now very small numbers doing so. This was the case even before the Covid epidemic hit Northern Ireland. Around a quarter of the festival’s events are free and most paid events are £5 or under.
One of the changes that the festival has implemented in the past year was a survey. This was designed to obtain more feedback from its audience to better understand its needs and wishes. The festival received more than 1,200 responses – more than double the amount received the previous year. This data revealed a great deal more about the nature of their audience: finding, for example, that 10% of their audience identify as deaf, disabled, or neurodiverse.
After this, I spoke with Colm O’Donnell, the creative director of the Stendhal Festival. The Stendhal Festival is an annual outdoor extravaganza spanning three days every July, which showcases a vibrant mix of music, comedy, dance, poetry, workshops, and family-friendly entertainment. One significant trend identified by Colm is the earlier ticket purchases by their audience this year. He attributes this to the introduction of a tiered pricing structure as well as a loyalty program offering early access to past attendees. Tickets for the upcoming festival become available shortly after the current one concludes. For instance, last year's festival, held from July 6th to 8th, 2023, had its "save the date" announcement about two weeks after the event. Loyalty tickets went on sale the day after the announcement and typically sell out within a week or two of this. Non-loyalty tickets go on sale from 9th August, so almost a year in advance of the next festival.
This festival offers a wide range of ticket costs: with three-night adult camping ticket prices ranging from £80 to £145, and with an average price of £112. The most affordable adult ticket is currently priced at £48 for a Friday ticket. This tiered pricing system demonstrates the organisers’ commitment to ensuring the festival can respond to changing economic circumstances. The festival also uses this system to try and ensure that the festival is made as accessible to the public as is possible. The Stendhal Festival conducted detailed surveys both during and after each event to capture attendees' experiences and preferences.
I also spoke with Chloe McGregor, the Marketing and Engagement Officer for Belfast TradFest. Now entering its sixth year, Belfast TradFest is a celebration of traditional music, featuring music concerts, lively pub gatherings, and a five-day summer school in July.
In terms of advance booking, Chloe explained to me that the festivals see a number of spikes in ticket sales throughout the year. For 2023, she found that there was a spike during the first week in April after the festival launched their Summer School accommodation, which their audience would have booked it alongside a masterclass. Since 2022, the festival has also introduced summer school accommodation packages in conjunction with the masterclasses. Individuals attending the masterclasses can book accommodation at a rate of £349 for a single room for seven nights. This service was expanded last year to include family bookings, making the accommodation accessible to families with children under the age of 18.
The festival also sees spikes in bookings much later in the year, around two weeks prior to the festival. However, the week of the festival brought in the most revenue during the entire promotion period of the festival, a third higher than the second highest spike in sales. So, in comparison to Foundations, advance booking for Belfast TradFest starts from fifteen weeks ahead to the week of the festival itself. In response to later booking spikes, the festival has opted to release its masterclass tickets earlier this year. These masterclasses span five days and offers attendees a choice of various traditional instrument classes as well as talks, demonstrations and taster sessions to explore throughout the week. Early bird tickets for the masterclasses are available immediately after the festival concludes in July until April of the following year and are priced at £99, offering a saving of over £50. This extension in the masterclass sales period has resulted in current sales for the festival matching the total attendance for the Summer School in 2022.
The overarching trend highlighted in our Foundations report and echoed in conversations with individual festivals is the increasing tendency for people to book festival tickets earlier than before. This trend has prompted some festivals, such as Stendhal and the NI Science Festival, to adjust their pricing structures and announcement schedules to further encourage early booking, yielding positive outcomes. While variations exist in ticket prices and the prevalence of free events, making direct comparisons challenging, it's evident that festivals are adapting amidst the challenges posed by Covid and economic uncertainty. These festivals exemplify resilience and adaptability, demonstrating their ability to evolve and thrive in changing times.
Finally, I spoke with Andrea Campbell, one of the festival organisers of the City of Derry Jazz Festival. This Festival is now it’s in twenty-third year and sees tens of thousands of people come to Derry to celebrate live music and festivities over the May Bank Holiday weekend. Andrea spoke about how the festival experiences rapid ticket bookings upon the program launch 19th March, reflecting the enthusiasm of its attendees. This places advance bookings on average taking place around 44 days ahead of the festival, marking the festival as identical to days of the Foundations report. Between 80-85% of events are free. However, the cost for jazz hubs is £8 while headline acts can cost between £40 and £45. Their annual survey covers various aspects, including demographics, travel patterns, and accommodation preferences.
The overarching trend highlighted in our Foundations report and echoed in conversations with individual festivals is the increasing tendency for people to book festival tickets earlier than before. This trend has prompted some festivals, such as Stendhal and the NI Science Festival, to adjust their pricing structures and announcement schedules to further encourage early booking, yielding positive outcomes. While variations exist in ticket prices and the prevalence of free events, making direct comparisons challenging, it's evident that festivals are adapting amidst the challenges posed by Covid and economic uncertainty. These festivals exemplify resilience and adaptability, demonstrating their ability to evolve and thrive in changing times.
