Businesses given opportunity to move festival events to autumn

The festival, which had been due to run in May, has been postponed to BETWEEN oCTOBER 5 AND 15.

The organisers aiming to fill the programme with events that had originally been planned before deciding whether to open up the application process again to take new events.

Although it is hoped the Business Festival will run in its usual format, there will be the option for events to be live-streamed as well, as necessary.

The festival was initiated by the Black Country Chamber of Commerce and its chief executive, Corin Crane, said: “We are completely committed to the business festival going ahead in October and given how brilliantly the Black Country has adapted to the digital world, it made sense to offer the option for businesses to get the best of both worlds and live-stream their events via the BCBF website if needs be.

“The autumn is likely to be an important time for businesses to get back into the market place and be re-energised after this unprecedented downtime. This means the festival is likely to take on an even more important role this year.

"It will present a great opportunity for support organisations and companies to help the other businesses to get back on their feet and get through this difficult period. The Black Country has a great history of community spirit and we are confident this will shine through within the business festival.”

BCBF event management company, Associate Events, has already been contacting event organisers and many have already chosen to transfer their events.

Gemma West, project manager at Associate Events, said: “For some, it’s been as simple as moving events lock stock and barrel to the new dates, others have perhaps not been in a position to decide yet. But we’ve had over 50 events moved over in principle, which is a great sign of the commitment and proactive nature of the Black Country business community.

“I would be keen to speak to anyone that has not yet transferred their events as soon as possible, so we can get a complete picture of what the programme might look like.

“We want to make sure we have a comprehensive festival calendar in place for October – whether this is physical, digital events or a hybrid of both. If we feel it is needed - and helpful to the Black Country business community, we might look to open up applications to new events again before the summer.”

The BCBF relies on sponsorship from organisations in the Black Country, which has automatically rolled over to October. The festival partners are: University of Wolverhampton, Talbots Law, Dudley Business First, Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership and the Black Country Growth Hub.

Sponsors are: Wolverhampton Racecourse, Thomas Dudley, Casino36, West Midlands Trains and M6toll.

For more information, email hello@blackcountrybusinessfestival.com, call 01902 912304 or visit www.blackcountrybusinessfestival.com