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New Kin festival axed due to funding issues

Kin, the new festival planned for later this month by the team behind Shambala, has been cancelled, producer Kambe Events has announced.

Announced in September, Kin was to be “a playful and immersive gathering of music, chatter and making” held at the Arnolfini arts complex in Bristol, UK, from 8 to 11 November.

According to Kambe – which also oversees the Swingamajig and Reggae City festivals in Birmingham and a family holiday experience, Starry Skies, in the Brecon Beacons – the company was unable to secure the financial support needed to put on an event of Kin’s size and scope.

“Kin was designed on an ambitious scale: a multi-space event over four days, because we felt the challenges we face in our societies are considerable, and the event needed to represent that scale,” reads a statement from organisers. “This also meant the cost of the production was a high one, and needed a certain amount of ticket sales and revenue to realise these costs. Sadly this target has not been met and with the news that we did not secure grant funding, nor get additional financial support from partner businesses, has meant that the cost of funding the event was left solely to ourselves to meet. This quite simply is untenable for a small business like ours.+

“Even with cancelling the event we are shouldering a significant loss of costs”

“This decision to cancel Kin has been an extremely difficult one for us to make; the whole team has worked around the clock to put together an inspirational and unique programme. All the event crew, partners, artists and content contributors have given their all to Kin in terms of support, energy and belief in what we were trying to achieve. Even with cancelling the event we are shouldering a significant loss of costs that that have been incurred to date. Carrying on with the event would have meant doubling this amount. […]

“This is not the final word on Kin, and whilst we can hold our hands up and say that this particular model did not work, our intentions remain: to bring together our various communities and networks to navigate these very difficult times on our planet. Kin is a very much-needed event of our times. Maybe not on this planned ambitious scale, or in this specific format, but we know that collectively we need to present to the world a much more beautiful and kinder alternative than the one that is being presented to us today.”

Ticketholders can receive a refund by emailing ticket agency the Ticket Sellers ([email protected]) with their order number.

 


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