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Big Chill chief gets special Festival Award
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 18 November 2009
It’s the UK Festival Awards tomorrow. As previously reported, the UK Festival Conference will take place in the Vue complex under the O2 Dome during the day, while the awards themselves will be presented in the Dome’s Indigo2 venue in the evening.
Among the awards to be presented will one for Best Line Up which, unlike most of the other gongs, was chosen by a panel of judges rather than a public vote. Among the judges was CMU Editor Andy Malt, who did know who’d won, but had the information surgically removed from his brain by the team at VirtualFestival.com. We’re just hoping that when he hears who’s won at tomorrow’s awards bash it doesn’t bring on any dangerous flashbacks.
Another award selected by pundits rather than punters is the Lifetime Achievement Award. With somewhat ironic timing – given the recent demise of the Big Chill company – this year that honour will go to Katrina Larkin, co-founder of the Big Chill enterprise. Of course the good news is that the Big Chill festival is set to live on thanks to a new deal with Festival Republic, and Larkin will remain at the helm, ensuring the quirky mix of music and other cultural nonsense that makes the festival so special will remain.
Larkin is also set to guest on Cerys Matthews’ radio show on BBC 6Music tomorrow afternoon ahead of the presentation of the award, and will talk about the development of the Big Chill brand ever since the initial parties at Islington’s Union Chapel way back in 1994.
