Field Maneuvers, the no-frills rave, is appealing to its fans to help save its party.
www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/save-field-maneuvers
Field Maneuvers are hoping to raise £40,000 to cover its recent losses. Anyone keen to help save the event can opt-in for a series of rewards that include t-shirts, caps and sticker packs.
However, there is one reward that really stands out. The most luxurious of all the goods available has to be the Luxury private portaloo at FM2023 for a £1000 donation. The generous contributor will be provided with the keys to their own private portaloo at FM2023. They will be welcomed to the toilet with bottle of champagne, chandelier and an unlimited supply of triple ply bog roll.
“The love you gave me, nothing else can save me, S.O.S”
Field Maneuvers started eight years ago when five music lovers put £50 in a pot, bought an incorrectly spelt domain name, and hoped for the best.
Each year the festival has grown, increasing capacity, improving the sound systems and booking bigger acts. The independent event said it hasn’t taken any sponsorship “beyond a few kegs of beer”.
While FM2022 was its biggest party to date it has left the festival in some hardship. The event lost a lot of money, and the organisers are faced with a “crippling amount of debt”.
On their crowdfunding page the Field Maneuvers team have explained the situation for the benefit of transparency.
“Firstly, we sold most of our tickets in 2019, pre-pandemic, and have racked up three years’ of day-to-day costs before this event even started: licensing, storage, ongoing business administration, accountancy, all of which would normally be covered by the annual income from running the event.”
“Secondly, the cost-of-living crisis has affected us across the board. Brexit, the war in Ukraine and inflation have seen all of our contractor prices rocket by at least 30% – from diesel to marquees to plant hire to hay bales – everything cost more this year, so we found ourselves trying to make 2019 ticket prices match our 2022 costs.”
“Thirdly – and this is the biggie – since buying those tickets in 2019, life has changed for a lot of people. Wedding invitations got sent, people got new jobs, children happened, financial situations changed – and so despite selling 1500 tickets and budgeting for a party for 1500 people – only 1000 people turned up. 500 less punters buying drinks meant our bar projections were out and our take was down 35%. A devastating amount for a tiny, independent party.”
So far the event has raised over £30,000 so well on its way to reaching its goal. One Luxury private portaloo has been obtained.
