The Great Escape has announced that the Faroe Islands will no longer be the festival’s ‘lead country partner’ in 2025, just a week after announcing the partnership. The tie-up was criticised by the Sussex Dolphin Project because of the involvement of the Faroe Islands in whaling.
It’s a further illustration of the recent trend in the festival sector for sponsorships and partnerships to be scrutinised and criticised, with promoters facing the risk of boycotts from both artists and ticket-buyers if that criticism gains momentum.
The Great Escape was hit hard by that trend earlier this year when its sponsorship deal with Barclays resulted in more than 100 acts pulling out of the event because of the bank’s connections to defence companies that have supplied weapons to Israel.
Confirming the decision on the Faroe Islands partnership in a social media post, the Brighton showcase festival said, “After careful consideration and dialogue with our community, The Great Escape has made the decision to withdraw the Faroe Islands as our lead country partner for this year’s festival”.
However, it added, “we are proud to have worked closely with Faroese artists over the years, witnessing the extraordinary talent that the Faroe Islands has brought to our stages”.
The statement went on, “While recent concerns regarding whaling practices in the Faroe Islands were raised by local interest groups, including the Sussex Dolphin Project, it is important to clarify that these issues are completely separate from the thriving music scene in the Faroes”.
As an international showcasing event, The Great Escape works with music export offices and cultural agencies from around the world, many of which host showcases and other events at the festival that put the spotlight on artists from their countries that are looking for opportunities in other markets. Each year, one country is selected as the ‘lead country partner’, with its activity at the festival being given extra prominence within the programme.
After the Faroe Islands was announced as 2025’s lead partner last week, the Sussex Dolphin Project published an open letter saying it was “utterly shocked” about the partnership. The letter added that the Faroe Islands are “infamous” for their “cetacean drive hunts known as the Grindadráp or Grind”, cetaceans being marine animals like whales, dolphins and porpoises.
“The Grind is a violent killing method”, it said, which involves “driving a pod of cetaceans to shore using power boats, where people await in the shallows with blowhole hooks, spinal lances and huge knives to hook, stab and hack at these creatures, bringing unimaginable pain and fear”.
The organisation welcomed yesterday’s announcement from The Great Escape, adding, “We recognise the speed at which The Great Escape Festival reacted to our letter and feedback, and wish to thank them for making the right decision”.
Earlier this year, promoters of The Great Escape resisted demands from campaigners to remove Barclays as a sponsor, resulting in more than 100 artists dropping out of the festival.
The Barclays sponsorship was part of a wider deal with the festival’s owner Live Nation and, after The Great Escape, campaigners turned their attention to other events that Barclays had involvement in, including Download, Latitude and the Isle Of Wight Festival. So much so, in June Barclays suspended its sponsorship deal with the live giant.
