‘This is Not The Final Word’: KIN Festival UK Cancelled Ahead Of Premiere

Louise Roberts – Grrrl
The revolutionary band was scheduled to perform at KIN

KIN, a new UK event announced in September, won’t take place after all. Promoter Kambe Events stated that it didn’t sell enough tickets for the premiere, scheduled for Nov. 8-11, and wasn’t able to secure alternative funding.

“It is with a very heavy heart and great regret that we have to inform you that the KIN event planned in Bristol at the Arnolfini on the 8-11th November has been cancelled,” the statement reads.

Ticketholders will be refunded.

The statement continues: “KIN was designed on an ambitious scale; a multi-space event over 4-days, because we felt the challenges we face in our societies are considerable, and the event needed to represent that scale. This also meant the cost of the production was a high one, and needed a certain amount of ticket sales and revenue to realise these costs.

“Sadly this target has not been met and with the news that we did not secure grant funding, nor get additional financial support from partner businesses has meant that the cost of funding the event was left solely to ourselves to meet. This quite simply is untenable for a small business like ours.”

The promoter thanked all those that did buy a ticket and apologized to those who had set their weekend aside to attend the premiere.

The rest of the statement reads: “This decision to cancel KIN has been an extremely difficult one for us to make; the whole team has worked around the clock to put together an inspirational and unique programme. All the event crew, partners, artists and content contributors have given their all to KIN in terms of support, energy and belief in what we were trying to achieve.

“Even with cancelling the event we are shouldering a significant loss of costs that that have been incurred to date. Carrying on with the event would have meant doubling this amount.

“We first started planning KIN well over a year ago against the backdrop and as a reaction to the deep divisions not only in our country, but also around the world. KIN was to be an antidote to the rhetoric of hate-politics; a place where people who know that values such as compassion, tolerance and empathy are ones to nurture, uphold and spread far and wide.

“This is not the final word on KIN, and whilst we can hold our hands up and say that this particular model did not work, our intentions remain, to bring together our various communities and networks to navigate these very difficult times on our planet. KIN is a very much-needed event of our times. 

“Maybe not on this planned ambitious scale or in this specific format. But we know that collectively we need to present to the world, a much more beautiful and kinder alternative than the one that is being presented to us today.

We are all kin. Kambe Events Ltd.”