New partners, pop-ups, plans for IFF 2019

Organisers of the International Festival Forum (IFF), ILMC’s invitation-only event for festivals and bookers, have revealed the provisional schedule and roster of partner agencies ahead of its return this September, as well as several new-for-2019 initiatives.

Last year’s IFF welcomed 450 festivals from over 30 countries, alongside 250 agents representing almost every headliner in the business. Attending festival delegates represent events with a daily capacity of 10,000 or more, while agency delegates are all established in their field.

“IFF is perfectly timed with the right crowd in an intimate environment. It’s the most important festival business event,” says Coda agent and partner James Whitting.

This year, IFF features additional agency partners, with 13 Artists, Solo Agency and Toutpartout joining longstanding partners CAA, Coda, WME, X-ray Touring, ITB, Primary Talent, opening party hosts UTA, ATC Live and Pitch and Smith. To make meetings between festivals and agents more efficient, IFF 2019 will debut a series of pop-up agency offices around the event. The temporary spaces will allow festivals to meet with most agencies without needing to travel between their ‘real’ offices.

Also new for 2019 is second outdoor networking area at Dingwalls, IFF’s longtime north London home, that will double the footprint of the event – and also allow a small additional number of festival delegates to attend – and two sets of dedicated meetings for all delegates.

“It’s the most important festival business event”

The Knowledge Hub will invite leading innovators and solutions experts into IFF for a series of private 30-minute meetings on topics ranging from the latest festival tech to next generation ticketing and VIP opportunities, while the similar Green Hub welcomes leading practitioners to offer advice and expertise on environmental efforts by festivals, artists or companies.

Since 2015 IFF has gained a reputation for showcasing the most talented emerging artists at early stages in their careers, including Idles, Slaves, Loyle Carner, Public Service Broadcasting, Lewis Capaldi and Shame. For its fifth edition, IFF is increasing the number of showcases: in addition to daytime agency shows at Dingwalls, Toutpartout, Dutch Export and Pop Farm will present shows at various venues around Camden on the evening of Wednesday 25 September.

Elsewhere, IFF has announced its first two conference sessions, tackling the biggest issues in the festival business today. In addition to the traditional The Festival Season opening session, The Big Billing Debate, chaired by Melt! Booking’s Julia Gudzent, sees panellists debate the always-controversial issue of the ordering of festival bills, while Niche Work (If You Can Get It), moderated by IQ’s Jon Chapple, examines the proliferation of new genre-specific events outside the rock/pop bubble.

IFF 2019 takes place from Tuesday 24 to Thursday 26 September in Camden, London.

Click here to view the provisional schedule in full, or visit iff.rocks/register to request an invitation.

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