* Peter Taylor, left, and partner Dan Cuffe explain the new partnership with the Eisteddfod at the meeting in St Collen's. Those joining by Zoom can be seen on the screen. Picture: Dave Hennigan.
Llangollen Eisteddfod members have been reassured about the benefits of
having an international promotions company handle a series of concerts
next year aimed at restoring its viability.
The festival is fighting to recover from the massive loss it
made last year which left its finance situation so vulnerable that it was forced to make its executive producer redundant.
Just weeks ago it was announced that the Cuffe & Taylor
partnership, which is backed by the US-owned Live Nation, would be
masterminding a string of high-profile music events being arranged around the
main Eisteddfod – July 2-7 next year – featuring the bands Manic Street
Preachers plus Suede and singing star Paloma Faith as part of their 2024 tours.
Cuffe & Taylor will also help arrange three of the
traditional evening concerts during the Eisteddfod, one of which, it was
revealed, would be the kind of big-name act that the festival would have booked
on its own before the financial crisis hit.
Eisteddfod leaders called a meeting of members last night
(Wednesday) in St Collen’s Church to update them on the situation and to allow
them to hear and closely question promoters Dan Cuffe and business partner Peter
Taylor.
Eisteddfod chair Sarah Ecob welcomed around 40 people,
including committee and trustee board members, to the meeting which also had
over 20 members taking part via Zoom.
* Eisteddfod chair Sarah Ecob outlines the current position.
She said dedicated groups were already at work on an action
plan aimed at getting the Eisteddfod back on track after finding itself in a “very
dire financial situation”.
The chair said the festival realised it would have to do
better in a number of areas including communication, marketing and TV
broadcasting – figures she displayed showed that last year’s festival had
attracted just 26 UK press articles, 13 international ones and 106 online.
She explained that due to the financial situation the festival
had struggled to bring in big names for the evening concerts in the way it used
to, adding that the partnership with Cuffe & Taylor would now bring
financial security while ensuring the Eisteddfod remained true to its
traditional ethos of international peace.
“Social media was set ablaze by the Manic Street Preachers
announcement and we have more to come,” she revealed.
Ms Ecob told the audience that the festival now planned to take
on an artistic director and fundraiser, both working on a freelance basis, and
make announcements soon about its 2024 competitions and programme.
Cuffe and Taylor explained their background as two young men
from Lancashire who has teamed up in 2009 to begin arranging local musical
events and then eventually gone international after joining forces with the
American company Live Nation.
Admitting that the Eisteddfod was the first major event of
its type they had worked with, Dan Cuffe said: “We have our expertise
but we want you to tell us how to do this. We want to build on your existing
organisation.”
Peter Taylor said: “I know you are bit concerned that this
big American company is coming in and will take over but we have worked well
with other venues which have had hard times, such as the Peace Hall in Halifax,
and that gives us the experience of how we can do this.”
Their message was reinforced by Dave Danford, who has been
involved with the production of every Eisteddod concert over the past decade.
He said: “I was in a three-hour meeting with Cuffe and
Taylor and had my reservations but left feeling very positive. I am confident our
partnership with them is the way forward.”
And Keith Potts, who has been deeply involved with the
behind-the-scenes production of various aspects of the festival for many years,
said: “They don’t want to come in and change the Eisteddfod, they want to enhance
the Eisteddfod. The Eisteddfod will carry on and we will have the financial
backing of this company to make sure that we can do that.”
During a question-and-answer session someone asked from the
floor what would happen if Live Nation wanted to change the Eisteddfod.
Peter Taylor replied: “We have a contract with your trustees
and through that you will be protected.”
Sarah Ecob assured: “Apart from the three evening concerts,
Cuffe & Taylor will have no involvement with the Eisteddfod at all and
details of the contract are currently being negotiated with them.”
She added that when it came to arranging the three evening
concerts the partners would work in collaboration with the trustees.
Towards the end there was a stark warning from former
Eisteddfod chairman Dr Rhys Davies who said: “The Eisteddfod itself needs to
change and attract new audiences. If it doesn’t move forward it will die.”
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