Month: January 2015

Revitalise a neglected part of a country – The Vieilles Charrues Festival

Created in 1992, the Vieilles Charrues festival (or Festival des Vieilles Charrues in French) is one of the famous music festivals organised in France. Its name means “festival of old ploughs” in English and this highlights its rural, original location. The first ‘event organisers’ wanted to have some entertainment in the countryside and simply chose a field as the main festival venue.

Nowadays, the festival has kept this tradition by keeping the same name and the location – in the countryside. It is held every year, at the end of July, near Cahaix, situated in the middle of Brittany.

Being often associated to the Glastonbury Festival (by being cheaper and more accessible for French event goers for example), it represents the fun and crazy aspect of summer holidays and attracts around 250,000 visitors each year [number from the official website].

The schedule usually plans live music for 4 days (Thursday-Sunday), from the afternoon until late. The artists are a mix of international stars (such as Elton John for the 2014 edition) but also local ones.

One of its goals is to revitalize this remote part of France, considered as having the worst weather and being quite far from the capital and touristic areas. The tourism activity created by this music festival influences the surrounding cities which can benefit from the visitors’ comings. It also enables to promote local economic activity in terms of professionals and suppliers, as well as revitalizing the countryside and rural areas in Brittany.

More than being a music festival, the values it represents also engage the participants to create a more sustainable world, with a focus on reducing waste (the organisers created a contest with great prices to be won, like gift boxes!) and on charity institutions.

This event is now a real ‘booster’ of the Brittany economy and tourism and will surely keep growing as its popularity seems not to be decreasing!

Here’s a quick video in order to see how it looks like (probably, very similar to Glastonbury… but with a French touch?)

Source: Zissu, 2014.

Official website (in French) : Vielles Charrues, 2014.

Official article (in English) : France.

SOURCES

Cartes 2 France (2015) Mairie de Carhaix-Plouguer. Available from: http://www.cartes-2-france.com/mairies/29024-mairie-carhaix-plouguer.php [Accessed 20 November 2014].

France (no date) The Festival des Vielles Charrues. Available from : http://www.france.fr/en/celebrations-and-festivals/festival-des-vieilles-charrues.html [Accessed 20 November 2014].

Vielles Charrues (2014) Les Vielles Charrues 2014. Available from: http://www.vieillescharrues.asso.fr/2014/ [Accessed 20 November 2014].

Zissu, S. (2014) Vielles Charrues 2014. Vimeo. Available from: http://vimeo.com/105871921 [Accessed 20 November 2014].

Event risk – when basic risks are underestimated

Description of the event:

A recent outdoor concert in October 2014, near Seoul in South Korea caused the death of 16 people and injured 9. During a live performance, the ventilation grate where some people were standing up, collapsed and fell in an underground parking, causing death and injuring some of the attendees.

According to witnesses and media reporting the accident, the context was as following : many people attended the outdoor concert but some of them behind the main audience, wanted to see the stage better and climbed up the ventilation grate. In their enthusiasm, they probably didn’t realize the risk or unconsciously minimized it perhaps. No fences or security guards were present to warn the goers and prevent them to climb up and risk their lives.

Following this terrible incident, it became very controversial in the Korean press. The Korean official safety representative unfortunately committed suicide, unable to handle the feeling of shame and dishonour, this being reinforced by the Korean society’s principles. The terrible consequence of the first incident makes this event even more tragic.

The National Post article (2014) suggests that safety issues seem to weaken the country once again, especially after the ferry disaster in April 2014.

(Source: National Post, 2014)

Reflection – What to learn:

As an event organiser in training, I believe that basic risks assessment are actually the most important. During events and especially music concerts, where enthusiasm, and chanting are monopolizing the attender’s mind, risks can be easily undertaken : people change their behaviours when they are in the middle of euphoria and do things they would avoid or would have considered before, if they were not preoccupied by something else (here the concert). Fences or security guards are basic requirements for concert venues, in order to control crowds, monitor and act if needed, and therefore secure the participants’ lives. A sufficient number of them should be estimated, with an extra to anticipate any amplification of the event.

This also implies a careful study of the venue beforehand: here the outdoor venue makes the surrounding constructions, such as the ventilation grate, be a place where spectators could potentially stand. Security guards, fences, safety signs and other indications should have been placed to prevent and avoid any incident of this sort.

Also, as an event manager, there is a need to consider the attendees’ behaviours, from a psychological point of view. For instance, here, this concert was welcoming a famous Korean pop group and fans are expected to come and support the group. However, with the excitement, they might also attempt dangerous things, like climbing unsecured platforms. I believe event managers should therefore try to think from the attendees’ point of view and anticipate how they might behave during the event, in order to prevent any serious incidents.

SOURCES

I24 News (2014) Corée du Sud: accident lors d’un concert; 16 morts. Available from: http://www.i24news.tv/app.php/fr/actu/international/asie-pacifique/47607-141017-coree-du-sud-accident-lors-d-un-concert-16-morts [Accessed 11 November 2014].

National Post (2014) Sixteen fall to their deaths at girl-band concert after ventilation grate collapses under crowd. Available from: http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/10/17/fourteen-fall-to-their-deaths-at-girl-band-concert-after-ventilation-grate-collapses-under-crowd/ [Accessed 11 November 2014].

NBC News (2014) Grate collapses at 4Minute pop concert in South Korea, killing 16. Available from: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/grate-collapses-4minute-pop-concert-south-korea-killing-16-n228001 [Accessed 11 November 2014].

Telegraph (2014) South Korean safety official commits suicide after 16 die in concert accident. Available from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/southkorea/11171288/South-Korean-safety-official-commits-suicide-after-16-die-in-concert-accident.html [Accessed 11 November 2014].