Lindisfarne Festival Line Ups 2015 - 2023 cASE sTUDY

 BORN OUT OF THE DESIRE TO CREATE SOMETHING SPECIAL FOR THE NORTH EAST.

LINDISFARNE FESTIVAL CAME TO LIFE IN EARLY SEPTEMBER 2015, WHEN A 2000 STRONG CROWD DESCENDED ONTO THE GLORIOUS FIELDS AT BEAL FARM TO EXPERIENCE A WEEKEND LIKE NO OTHER – THE ULTIMATE END-OF-SUMMER PARTY ON THE SPECTACULAR NORTHUMBERLAND COASTLINE. 

Now in its 9th year the festival boasts 10000 person capacity and has been runner up in UK festival awards for best line up and best grassroots festival.

James G, Grows Director met with Conleth Meanpaa, Lindisfarne Festivals Creator and Director back in 2014. Conleth had his heart set on creating a new festival for the North East at Lindisfarne.

Conleths Mum had seen an article in the Times about James and his involvement in UK festivals.

From there on James consulted Conleth on creating a festival from scratch. From the drawing board to the now 10000 capacity festival.

Working on every element from licencing, SAG meetings, traffic management plans, site design, operations, music programming and act booking, festival marketing, festival staffing, procurement, services provider management and of course end to end live show delivery and site management.

 Less than an hour away from Edinburgh & Newcastle, but a world away from reality, 

Lindisfarne Festival is held at Beal Farm which hugs the coastline overlooking the historic Holy Island in Northumbria.

Being a coastal festival it comes with additional weather and access challenges.

Lindisfarne Festival is held at Beal Farm situated off the A1 England to Scotland west coast trunk road. Along one road leading to the coastal causeway to Lindisfarne Holy Island.

The location threw up some unique challenges within traffic management due to the coastal tide times affecting the traffic flows. 

The festival location also had natural environment and wildlife challenges. 

As a new festival to for Northumbria it was down to the festival team to prove and show the local authorities and SAG teams along with the local parish, that having a festival was a great idea.

Lindisfarne is an area of outstanding natural beauty and is an UNESCO world heritage site. So presenting a new festival meant everything had to be thought through and prove the festival would not have a negative impact. Not only on the surrounding area but also the protected wildlife and birdlife in the area.

Lindisfarne Holy Island is also a top tourist hot spot for the UK, Attracting millions of visitors each year, predominantly in the summer months.

This meant that traffic coming from the main A1 England to Scotland trunk route needed to be kept in mind. Especially as there is only one road to the Holy Island cause way. The same road to be used by the festival

James G using Grow Solutions  initially consulted on the creation of the festival and then went on to work with the festival to grow it and bring it to life.

Overcoming the challenges and concerns of the local authority, local parish and other agencies such as Natural England who initially worries about the event being held so close to protected wildlife.

This was done through professional consultation with experts within ecology, sound propagation and testing,  and traffic management expertise from James's previous experience and working with local and national highways. 

The festival got the green light and went ahead initially on 4 TENs Licences combined with a capacity allowance of 1996 attendees. Something the Local Authority had never seen before within licencing. 

In following years the festival moved to a premises licence and has grown from humble beginnings to become a fantastic unique event.

Lindisfarne Festival has been a fantastic and roaring success. From the start the festival faced many complex  challenges. 

At times for the Director Conleth Maenpaa there seemed to be constant blocks to the progress of putting on the festival. 

The grow team understood these complications and worked with all stakeholders to settle any worries about the festival taking place. 

The grow team helped to grow the operational elements of the festival to which many processes, operations, logistics and physicality aspects of the event are still in play now.

James and the grow team have worked along side other production teams, services and agencies bringing the festival to life.

In 2022 Lindisfarne was shortlisted for best festival line up of the year and in 2023 best grassroots festival.

Lindisfarne Festival is without a doubt