Open Air Business June/July 2018

GETTY IMAGES
Managing
Cancellation
Philip Day, NOEA council member and partner at Laceys
Solicitors, looks into how the cancellation of an event
affects stakeholders and why well considered contracts are
so important
THE RECENT DECISION to cancel the second
day of the Mutiny Festival in Portsmouth
has concentrated the minds of many as to
how they would react and cope with such an
event.
Over the last couple of years, I have
unfortunately been involved with a number
of outdoor music events that had to be
cancelled at short notice. In each of the
cases that I dealt with, the problem was
directly associated with licensing issues,
largely because the organisers had left it far
too late to make the necessary applications
and to prepare all the documentation that is
essential for any event of a significant size.
In these cases, the organisers failed to
secure an appropriate Premises Licence and
had no choice but to call the event off. In
other cases, cancellation resulted from the
insolvency of the promoter.
There are of course occasions when
cancellation is forced upon the organiser for
reasons entirely beyond their control, most
frequently adverse weather conditions or a
sudden illness (or even the death) of a star
performer. In some respects, the reason for a
cancellation is irrelevant – people will feel let
down and disappointed and many will end
up out of pocket regardless, but in terms of
managing (and, more importantly, planning)
for what some regard as unthinkable (and
chose to ignore), the “why did that happen?”
is crucial.
Probably the best example of that is
cancellation due to adverse weather for the
simple reason that it is possible to insure
against such an eventuality. The same
applies to cancellation due to unavailability
of the star performer at a planned concert.
However, many promoters consider that
the cost of insurance is prohibitive and
don’t bother, and even those who do bother
will find it impossible to obtain cover that
compensates all those affected for every
penny that they have lost.
In financial terms, one needs to consider
the position of the following categories of
stakeholder:
› Ticket holders
› Performers
› Suppliers
› Land owners
› Concession holders
› Promoters and investors.
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