An events plan which is designed to ensure a year-round events calendar, new venues are activated, and increase the number and scale of events in Aberdeen was today approved at committee.
Aberdeen City Council’s Finance and Resources Committee agreed to a 365 Events Plan for the city which will help to encourage visitors to the city and region and continue to put the area on the cultural map.
The committee members agreed the council’s City Growth service is to work with government, national and local partners to explore new events opportunities at the local, regional, national, and international level.
Finance and resources Convener Councillor Alex McLellan said: “Events such as Spectra, which takes place next week, reaffirm Aberdeen as a destination as well as having a positive benefit to the local economy.
“I look forward to Aberdeen welcoming more people to the city as we build our ambitious programme of events, with the likes of the Tall Ships coming in 2025.”
Council Co-Leader Councillor Ian Yuill said: “As well as contributing to Aberdeen’s vibrancy and providing entertainment for people from Aberdeen and the North East, these events bring people to the city and boosting tourist numbers.
“We welcome the continued focus and continued collaboration of all the organisations which work extremely hard to bring events to our area for everyone to enjoy.”
The report to committee said the 2016 365 Events Strategy identified Spectra and Look Again as headline events with growth potential, with others such as True North, Highland Games and Sound Festival having regional impact.
It also proposed larger events bringing higher cultural, economic, and social impact to the city, for example, the Tour of Britain and the Tall Ships Race.
The report said EventScotland has outlined that audience expectations have changed as a result of Covid-19 and reflecting these changes and new challenges in the sector during the Covid-19 pandemic, and more recently rising costs of living and delivery of events. The new three-year Plan for 2023/2026 has been developed as a result of these changes.
For the events sector, organisations running venues and with large, fixed costs are particularly exposed, and, at the same time as funders of events, such as Event Scotland, Creative Scotland and local government are under pressure to reduce budgets.
As well as the focus on events contributing to economic and social outcomes, there is likely to be a new focus on the sustainability of events, their environmental impact, including waste management, emissions, and energy transition. The new Plan has been developed within the context of these new priorities and challenges.
The new Plan includes:
- Adaptation of the pre-existing pyramid model of events, ranging from a high number of local events, to aspirational targets for major international and ‘mega’ events;
- Retention of the ‘year round’ events model to ensure that Aberdeen has a diversity of event highlights in every season;
- An emphasis on activating new city centre venues – Union Terrace Gardens;
- An aspiration to grow the number and scale of events taking place in the city, either originated locally, produced at national and international level, or won from major events rights holders;
- A strategic focus on business tourism and conferences in P&J Live;
- An updated remit for the work of the Event 365 Group.
Feedback in developing the new Plan emphasised the need for even greater collaboration and coordination in both delivery of events, maximising the benefits of events, where relevant, working on the submission of bids for events or funding to support events, and joint marketing.
The Council has invested £1.6million supporting the delivery of events in the city in 2022/23 including funding of bids for events, financial support to existing events, support to secure business events at the Convention Bureau itself. In the year ahead, the Convention Bureau, P&J Live Sales Teams and officers will continue to work closely together with VisitScotland’s Business Events leads to capitalise on the emergence of demand for business conferences as the sector recovers from Covid-19 impacts.
The report to committee said discussions have taken place between the City Council, the UK Government Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and the Director of the Natural History Museum which have established that the Natural History Museum’s forward plan does not include the development of regional outposts.
The report said however positive outcomes of discussions include additions to Aberdeen Archives, Gallery and Museums public programmes, loans from the Natural History Museum, and opportunities for city-wide partnerships involving heritage and science partners such as the University of Aberdeen Museums and Special Collections, and the Aberdeen Medico-Chirurgical Society. The potential for such initiatives for any links to the new 365 Events Strategy will be explored.