Colours of Ostrava: ‘There’s a thin line between success and failure’

Colours of Ostrava programmer Filip Košťálek has spoken to IQ about the 21st edition of the Czech festival.

This year’s instalment returned to Ostrava, the country’s third-largest city, between 17–20 July, with Sam Smith, James Blake, Tom Morello, Lenny Kravitz, Sean Paul and Khruangbin among the top-billing acts.

Here, Košťálek tells IQ how the festival is bridging a generational gap, what the global IT outage meant for them and why it wasn’t the “easiest” year for the event…

IQ: How many tickets did you sell for this year’s edition?
FK: We have not been publishing attendance figures for several years. Since there is no single metric for counting attendance, we consider the quality of artistic performances and visitor satisfaction to be more important. However, we are still one of the largest international festivals in Central Europe.

What are you most proud of with this year’s edition?
I’m very proud of our audience and the overall atmosphere of the festival. This edition showed us once again that our festival is about discovering new original music from all over the world, regardless of genre. Visitors of all generations filled our eight music and 13 discussion stages to the brim, no matter how well-known the performer. Our visitors showed warmth and love to the world’s biggest stars and emerging artists across all four days.

“The outage of the global air traffic clearance system in the middle of the festival was a shocking moment”

What were the main challenges of this year’s event?
The outage of the global air traffic clearance system that hit our performers at European airports right in the middle of the festival was a shocking moment. Although we had made all sorts of plans for replacements and rescheduling, in the end, we were lucky and it only meant rescheduling one show. We are delighted that we were able to deliver all the shows.

How much have costs risen since last year and what measures have you taken to ensure the festival remains profitable?
Overall costs have risen by 20-25% year-on-year, so it is clear that we have had to continuously respond to these significant changes. As we strive to keep the festival as accessible as possible, working with ticket prices is quite sensitive for us – we’ve addressed this by adding new categories that expand the ticket offer while opening up the opportunity for new audiences to attend. At the same time, our commercial partners are helping us a lot, for which we are very grateful!

Nevertheless, the line between the success and failure of festivals is getting very thin. I believe that the current economic setup of the industry dramatically increases extreme risks for promoters compared to the potential profits. We never compromise on quality, but we are forced to think more and more about each item in our budgets.

“Overall costs have risen by 20-25% year-on-year, so it is clear that we have had to continuously respond to these significant changes”

Czechia is one of the only European countries that hasn’t adopted the Euro (though it seems there are plans to) – how does the currency fare when it comes to artist fees?
Of course, this means more work for us in the economic department. We have to monitor exchange rates and buy currency as necessary. But I think we are managing and it doesn’t limit us.

There have been many reports of festivals struggling to book headliners. What was your experience with securing the 2024 lineup?
I think we did very well this year thanks to the support of our agents and the good name of our festival with 23 years of history. It was definitely not the easiest year, but to complain would be blasphemy.

When Sam Smith, a non-binary artist, was announced to play at the festival, there were some uncouth remarks from people on social media. Why do you think that was? Do Czech audiences embrace LGBTIQ+ artists?
It is about the fact that our festival is one of the biggest cultural events in the Czech Republic. This means that we have a truly society-wide reach and impact, reaching the majority of the population, who are not necessarily festival-goers. However, I must say that the Czech Republic is generally a very open and tolerant country.

“We also introduced psychological First Aid for staff and visitors… we know that huge events can be challenging for a lot of people”

Was there anything new or improved at this year’s festival?
No edition is the same, we strive to improve across all departments. To innovate every year. This year, we added two stages: the NYC stage with an eclectic lineup full of music, stand-up comedy, theatre and discussions in a new glamour tent, and the storytelling tent for sharing stories about Indigenous culture and connection with the soul and nature.

We also introduced psychological First Aid for staff and visitors. We know that huge events can be challenging for a lot of people. This service has been warmly received and I am pleased that, in the end, the number of people who had to use this service was less than we had anticipated. This means that Colours of Ostrava is a safe, comfortable and inclusive festival.

Pavla Slivova (head of booking & artist liaisons) said at IFF 2022 that there was a generation gap at the festival and the team needed to refocus its attention on what Gen Z finds attractive. Have you managed to do that?
I think it’s on the right track. This transformation is definitely not a task that can be accomplished in one year but I feel that not only Gen Z, but society in general, is starting to realize again how important it is to meet and have long, intense experiences.

We’re going to work on this step by step, and this year has shown us the right way. I think it’s mainly about communication: the way we receive information is evolving dynamically, and we try to adapt to that so that young audiences understand us, so that they realise the importance of culture, simply so that we speak the same language. At the same time, we are placing even more emphasis on the safety and comfort of visitors. We have introduced psychological first aid and with the help of our partners, expanded the range of relaxation rest areas.

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Survey: the songs Gen Z want to remember forever

American company Shutterfly has released the results of a survey it commissioned in which a thousand Generation Z Americans were asked which songs they would preserve for future generations in a time capsule.

The results are a mixture of easily anticipated number one hits and some more unexpected choices and reflect the musical landscape Gen Z – people born in the mid-1990s and early 2000s – have grown used to. Shutterfly also surveyed a number of people outside of Gen Z, and the differences are somewhat noticeable between the ages.

Here is what Gen Z believe the future needs to hear:

1. This is America – Childish Gambino (41.03%)
2. Shape of You – Ed Sheeran (34.62%)
3. Despacito – Luis Fonsi (29.49%)
4. Happy – Pharrell (23.08%)
5. Shake it Off – Taylor Swift (19.23%)
6. Hello – Adele (19.23%)
7. Call Me Maybe – Carly Rae Jepsen (16.67%)
8. Hotline Bling – Drake (14.10%)
9. Chandelier – Sia (12.82%)
10. Bad and Boujee – Migos (11.54%)
11. Formation – Beyonce (11.54%)
12. Uptown Funk – Bruno Mars (10.26%)
13. Body like a Back Road – Sam Hunt (10.26%)
14. Sorry – Justin Bieber (7.69%)
15. Love me Like you do – Ellie Goulding (7.69%)
16. Tennessee Whiskey – Chris Stapleton (6.41%)
17. Bang Bang – Jessie J, Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj (6.41%)
18. Black Beatles – Rae Sremmurd (5.13%)

And here is what all the survey respondents, regardless of age, want to preserve:

1. Happy – Pharrell (33.67%)
2. Hello – Adele (32.87%)
3. Uptown Funk – Bruno Mars (26.79%)
4. Shape of You – Ed Sheeran (24.50%)
5. Shake it Off – Taylor Swift (24.00%)
6. Despacito – Luis Fonsi (17.43)
7. This is America – Childish Gambino (17.03)
8. Tennessee Whiskey – Chris Stapleton (14.34%)
9. Call Me Maybe – Carly Rae Jepsen (13.65%)
10. Sorry – Justin Bieber (10.16%)
11. Formation – Beyonce (8.96%)
12. Chandelier – Sia (8.57%)
13. Body like a Back Road – Sam Hunt (8.47%)
14. Love me Like you do – Ellie Goulding (8.17%)
15. Hotline Bling – Drake (6.08%)
16. Bang Bang – Jessie J, Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj (4.58%)
17. Bad and Boujee – Migos (4.48%)
18. Black Beatles – Rae Sremmurd (2.49%)

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