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The Great Escape launch new award in honour of the agent Steve Strange
By Chris Cooke | Published on Friday 11 February 2022
The Great Escape yesterday announced the launch of a new award in honour of Steve Strange, the booking agent and co-founder of X-Ray Touring who died last September.
The Steve Strange Award will be linked to the annual showcase festival that takes place in Brighton each May, with all artists playing the event eligible. The thousands of industry delegates that attend TGE each year will then be asked to vote for the artist that they think is “breaking the status quo in music”. The winning artist will also receive £5000.
Launching the new award, organisers of The Great Escape said yesterday: “Widely respected as one of the greatest live agents and legendary figures in the music industry, Steve Strange was responsible for developing the careers of some of music’s greatest acts. The Great Escape Festival will mark the extraordinary career of Steve Strange and his life-long dedication to artists with the brand-new award”.
Meanwhile, Rory Bett – CEO of TGE promoter MAMA – added: “Steve Strange has a long history with The Great Escape and championed hundreds of artists over the years. It is a great honour for us to launch this award for creativity in his name, so that he can continue to influence the industry he loved”.
X-Ray agent Josh Javor also commented: “Steve was a huge supporter of The Great Escape and would be deeply honoured by this award being launched in his name. He was first and foremost a passionate music fan and creativity was at the heart of his business. We are delighted his name will live on through this award and inspire many artists into lifelong careers in the industry Steve loved so much”.
This year’s TGE takes place from 11-14 May in Brighton, with a four day music industry conference alongside the city-wide showcase festival. The first 20 speakers due to appear at the conference were also announced yesterday – they are all taking part in the CMU+TGE Sessions which sit at the heart of the TGE Conference. You will find more details about all that below.
Also confirmed yesterday was that the festival’s Arts Council England funded professional development programme TGE Elevate will return this year. That’s the programme that supports those early on in their music careers – whether on stage or behind the scenes.
As part of Elevate, 30 early-career music professionals will become super-delegates, getting a free, curated and enhanced TGE experience. On top of that, a full day of TGE Elevate Sessions will be presented on the final day of the festival, packed full of panels, talks, seminars and debates aimed at those early on in their music business careers.
You can find out more about this year’s TGE Conference and book your delegate passes here.
