A music industry events organiser has taken to social media to speculate on why Pitch Music and Arts Festival has not been cancelled, despite calls from attendees to do so, given the “Extreme” fire danger warning.
Danny Grant, who goes by the TikTok handle @DannyRants, uses his experience as a nightclub owner in Melbourne to dish what happens behind the scenes in the music and nightlife industry in Australia to his 35,000 followers.
In the four-minute video, which at the time of writing has been viewed nearly 170,000 times, Grant attempts to explain what the folks at Untitled Group — the organisers behind Pitch and a bunch of other live music events throughout the year — might be thinking right now.
“I was actually planning on going to Pitch today. I’m watching it unfold like you guys are,” he begins.
“When you run these massive scale events you can add insurance for cancelling.
“[Insurance for] Floods, fires, fire danger, any extreme weather condition where, as a promoter, you can get back the millions of dollars you put into the festival.
“But for that to happen, emergency services, CFA (Country Fire Authority), Police … somebody has to shut you down.
“From there, you go to your insurance provider, [who will] pay you out for the money you put in.”
Grant concedes that the current messaging from Untitled Group could be construed as “vague’.
He puts this down to the fact that the CFA has only deemed the fire danger risk to be “Extreme” and not “Catastrophic”.
Grant goes on to list the multitude of expenses Untitled Group would have already spent on the festival, including “artists, artist transfers, artist flights, staff, the build, the setup … they would have spent millions of dollars”.
“They would not have gone ahead if the fire department didn’t say it was safe.”
According to Grant, the long and the short of it is that if Pitch Festival isn’t directly told by authorities to shut down, they couldn’t claim insurance for the financial losses that would be incurred from having to issue refunds.
Essentially, Untitled Group is stuck between a massive rock and a humungous hard place.
This weekend, around 15,000 attendees were expected to make their way to Moyston for the sold-out event, 220km north of Melbourne.
It’s unclear how many people have decided to go to the festival, despite advice that they should reconsider, or postpone their attendance.
Falls Festival was faced with a similar situation in 2019, with the call being made to cancel the event due to extreme weather conditions.
“It is with a heavy heart we have had to cancel the remaining days of the Falls Festival in Lorne due to the predicted extreme weather conditions forecast for Monday December 30th in the Otways and surrounding regions, creating a risk to health and safety due to potential fires, smoke, severe winds and tree hazards,” a statement from the festival said per Guardian Australia.
At around midday on Saturday, Pitch posted its most recent weather update to social media.
“Programming will commence at 6pm today (Saturday) and will continue as scheduled for the remainder of the event,” it began.
“Regarding refund inquiries, we appreciate your patience as we work through the specifics. Rest assured, ticket holders will receive an update as more information becomes available,” it said.
Just last month, 16,000 hectares of bushland were destroyed in Western Victoria after bushfires ripped through the region.
More to come.
