Creativity Works Festivals at Field Day

23 June 2016

The Creativity Works: Festivals and Live Events participants have had a jam-packed schedule over the past couple of weeks. Running from event to event, masterclass to workshop, it's safe to say it's not been a walk in the park!

And speaking of parks, it was Victoria Park (not a field, strangely) which was the location for Field Day on Saturday 11th June. Our participants got the chance to go along as part of the programme, though they weren’t just there to enjoy the music, some of them got to work as volunteers in the Village Mentality games and village fete style section of the festival, others were there in professional media capacity capturing some of the best acts and atmosphere, and the rest were tasked with writing blog reviews of the event. This not only formed part of the Creativity Works programme, but also counts towards their Arts Award Silver qualifications.

Separated into four teams, each one focussed on a different aspect of event production.

Unfortunately, the sun did not shine on the day. In fact quite the opposite. But, as Idris writes in his blog, there was 'evidence that a lot of people had a good time, from the state of most people’s footwear. The heavy rain created a lot of muddy grounds, but this was not a good enough reason to stop the party. The poor weather couldn’t stop people from enjoying themselves, many guests got really “stuck in” the festive spirit.'

Olly from the Tech and Audio Visual team was more critical of the sound and lighting on the day however:

'I was assigned, as part of the tech and production team on my Creativity Works course, to make a close assessment of the AV and Audio set up for the event...'

'...While I enjoy a good light show as much as the next person, for a music event to be worthwhile in my book, in needs good, loud sound. In this regard, I was sorely disappointed. When I first entered the festival around 12:30, the relative lack of people on the site meant that no tent had more than a smattering of people in it. As such, positioning oneself fairly close to the speakers was no trouble, and I didn’t think much of the relative quiet. Unfortunately, this did not continue into the afternoon. Moving between stages... the volume issues reached such a point that I was struggling to hear anything at all. And I certainly wasn’t feeling it in the low end. Perhaps it's the raver in me, but if you’re standing in the centre of a tent, you shouldn’t be able to hold a normal conversation without really raising your voice...'

'... As the festival took place predominantly in daylight, the lighting technicians had an uphill battle from the start. The LED Wall behind the DJ at the Resident Advisor stage pleasantly surprised me, throwing up interesting visuals, but overwhelmingly the lighting was washed out, further sucking atmosphere from the tents...'

'I’ve... mentioned the intrinsic difficulty of hosting a festival in the inner city, with increasingly stringent laws regarding noise pollution. And I have learnt since Field Day that Victoria Park is particularly challenging in this regard, a result of being located in such an affluent area. But I won't harp on too much about that. Moving to something more positive, while I don’t really understand how, it is consistently remarkable that the sound from different stages never seems to overlap. One simply steps over an invisible area and you’re suddenly in the sphere of influence for a different stage, without the sound ever clashing. Very impressive...'

Read Olly's full blog post here.

Fortunately Nattisha from the Venue Design group had a better experience with the staff on the day:

'Field day staff was very helpful. Being a clumsy forgetful person I almost lost my bag but I stayed calm and reported it. I couldn’t find the lost property station but it was easy to find someone to direct me.

My group and I interviewed a few attendees asking them questions like “how are you finding the day”, “what was your first thoughts entering the park” and “what made you attend field day”. Here is what a few of them said:

Lucy said: I really like attending Field day, I’ve attended for 3 years now. The line up is the main reason I come but I also like the way everyone else seems to be excited to be out. Everyone is humble and friendly.'

'George said: Yeah I come here all the time. The entrance was a long walk as I came from Hackney Wick station but the line-up is why I came and it keeps me coming back.'

Read Nattisha's full blog post here.

Amer, also from the Audio Visual team, put together a highlights video and Baoyi made a great GIF.

Read Kadian's blog about the day here.

The participants are now working hard on organising an exciting carnival themed graduation event, mixing culture, music and real talk to bring young Londoners together to discuss the creative future of our city - find out more and book your free place HERE.