It’s been less than a month since Yas Galletti, Director at We Are OPS and The Fair, launched The Advice Line – a brand new careers tool offering free advice to anybody looking to start their own festival, or kickstart their career in the events industry.
Already, the line has gained widespread attention in event industry press, with time slots to speak with an Yas or another industry professional rapidly filling up.
We sat down with Yas to hear about her own experience working in festivals and events, the challenges young people face getting into the industry today, and how they can overcome them.
So, we have launched The Advice Line this week, how exciting?
Very exciting!
Tell us how you started out in the festival and events industry?
I guess it all started when I was 18. I was going out a lot raving in London, and got into flyering, music and working in the club scene. I kind of accidentally fell upon the festival industry. The first festival I ever did was Eastern Electrics [EE] with Rob Star back in 2012, which is nice because they’re now a client of ours.
Within our team we also set up a series of club shows called Found, and this followed in EE’s footsteps. We did the first ever Found Festival in Haggerston Park.
The first Eastern Electrics festival was actually in Greenwich where the Olympics were also on, which was also a lot of fun…
So, over a decade ago now?
Indeed, yes. I feel old.
Sorry! So, during that time, what challenges do you think you faced starting out in the industry?
Having impostor syndrome for many years was probably the biggest challenge I faced. I fell into the role, and I was trusted with quite a lot of responsibility from a young age, so I was obviously was doing quite well, but there was also a lack of development and staff interaction in the same way that people have these days.
It was more about ‘Let’s sell tickets for the shows’ than, ‘How do we keep our team on board?’ or ‘What’s the importance of having the same people in roles for X number of years?’. I was valued, and I worked really well with the people I worked for and with. But there’s a lot more consideration for younger people’s development in the industry now, which is amazing.
So, from when you first did the Eastern Electrics Festival to now – how did you progress and get to the position that you’re in?
I worked for a company who were promoters predominantly, and we thought we could run a festival ourselves. So, we gave it a go. I accidentally became a producer…or an event production manager…none of us even had labels for our roles.
We really got thrown into the deep end, which was horrific at the time and obviously crushed my confidence even more, because so many things go wrong – more behind the scenes things, everybody came had a good item and left safely. But actually, it’s kind of served me well having to find my feet in that space so early on, in such a dramatic way.
After a couple of years, I thought I was going to leave the industry forever. But I met Nick and Rob (CEO and Director of We Are OPS, The Fair and We Are Placemaking) on site at Ceremony Festival in Finsbury Park where they were doing festival health and safety, and I was freelance event managing. I had a really fun time with them on site and remembered why I do love festivals, and how fun and like-minded people can be in that space.
So, that rekindled my love for working in festivals. I think that was 2016. They offered me a job, and basically, and the rest is history.
And how did you build your confidence in your career?
I started doing something called a self-audit. I felt a bit lost in what I was doing early on, because I didn’t have any definition of role. I would recommend anyone who’s questioning what they’re doing, what their values are, where they want to go, to do a self-audit.
Write yourself a few questions in a note book: ‘What are my values? What do I want from a job? Who am I? What am I good at? What are my biggest accomplishments so far? What do I want my working day, week or year to look like?’
You can kind of make the questions up. But when you get all that from pen to paper, you realise your own values and start to think about what kind of role they align with, and it all helps to figure out what you want. So, that gives direction.
What do you think the challenges are for, say, new promoters right now?
Since I first started producing festivals, there is a lot more regulation and external stakeholder influence. There are much higher standards expected for operational practices on site, safety procedures and local stakeholder engagement, which is a great thing. However, it does mean it’s a lot more expensive to start out with your first event and the SAG process will lead to more considerations and costs than it would have 10 years ago.
So, I would say it’s harder than ever to start your first festival if you don’t have big capital or investment behind you to back you up, because it’s highly likely you will lose a lot of money on the first one.
So, what is your advice to those people?
Ring The Advice Line to find out more 😉 haha… I’d also say, speak to people – go to industry networking events, join networking groups, meet people and find out what their experience is like. There is strength in numbers and shared knowledge and I think the industry is getting better and better at that!
So, in terms of The Advice Line, why did you start it and why is it so important?
I get contacted a lot, as I’m sure a lot of people do in the industry, by students or people who have seen the email on their website and want help on stuff. I always try to go back to them, even if it takes six months. I want to give those people time.
I had a coffee with a guy doing a Stage Management degree. We had 30 minutes and just talked about stuff. After that coffee, he thanked me so much for taking the time and said it had been really useful. I realised how much really simple knowledge we all probably have that could be given to people starting out in the industry, that’s really easy to give them, will help them, and doesn’t take anything apart from a little bit of our time.
So, now that’s The Advice Line – an hour a week of my time each week, which will hopefully help people start their careers in the industry. We’ve already had such incredible feedback – both Rob and I are pretty much fully booked until June!
You’ve said it’s a very challenging environment to work in. It’s sort of nonstop all year round. Why should people still want to join the industry?
You’re always learning – even people who’ve been doing this job for 30, 40 years, they will be learning every year because it’s always changing, and no event is the same each year, let alone whatever new events you’re working on.
I do think events of this nature have a huge cultural capital for people who attend them. You know, people leave a festival and they feel nourished and happy. I’m sure they feel very tired too! But it’s a really important piece of culture for people across the world, but particularly in the UK. I feel like your first festival is a bit of a baptism of fire.
There is also genuinely something for everyone, whatever it comes down to. If you’re really sociable, if you like doing documents, if you love Excel spreadsheets, if you like music, if you are really technical, there’s lots of different areas you can go into.
And to end on a high, what would you say is your career highlight?
For me, just the end of a successful show, where you get to stand there and really take stock of all that you’ve done. I always watch people leaving and you hear them saying what a wonderful time they’ve had, and that’s always amazing.
At Otherlands last year, for example. We’d launched this brand new festival for one of our existing clients, FLY, in Scotland. It was quite challenging. It was very different. But the festival was so lovely, and the feedback from the audience was too.
A personal highlight was when finally – after my many years of obsessing over drum and bass – Andy C headlined El Dorado Festival, which we produced in 2019. I stood on the main stage where he was performing and thought, ‘Wow, 16-year-old me would be really proud of me. That’s cool.’
To get support with your career in festivals or events, head to The Advice Line page to book a free chat with an industry professional.
