Fiona McGarva discusses Lost Horizon Festival and how being forced to move online during the pandemic has transformed accessibility, wider enjoyment of live events and how relevant virtual events will be as fans return to live.
Shangri-La is well known within Glastonbury folklore, which was sorely missed during the pandemic, but with forward-thinking, the event was able to move online, raising money for Amnesty International and The Big Issue.
When COVID shut down the live events industry and resulted in no fans descending on Worthy Farm in 2020, Shangri-La adapted its innovative atmosphere and moved over to the metaverse thanks to help from Fiona McGarva: MD of entertainment PR and social agency Sundae Communications. She also acts as Head of Communications for both Lost Horizon and Shangri-La at Glastonbury Festival.
Playing a prominent role in the shift to virtual: “Lost Horizon Festival was, above and beyond, one of the most exciting projects I’ve been part of. Shangri-La is radical, creative and constantly evolving, so when lockdown hit, they were among the first to embrace the metaverse. Within weeks the team had adapted their skills and were working with Sansar, out in San Francisco, to build a creative playground in the metaverse, to fill with music and visual art,” McGarva commented.
With events returning to normal, the discussion around whether virtual experiences will coincide with live events is prominent, McGarva explained: “The virtual experience of an event is about developing and growing audiences. There are audiences in the virtual space that are interested in culture, and there are cultural audiences that either want or need to experience things in new ways.”
Not wanting to replace the authenticity of a live event, the Shangriverse is one step ahead, introducing itself into the field in 2022 for attendees, both in person and virtual, to enjoy.
Accessibility is a key part in the continuation of event metaverses for McGarva who added, “VR experiences overcome accessibility issues, whether physical, environmental or financial, so it could prove an important tool in democratising culture, as the metaverse becomes a more affordable experience.”
Being able to marry virtual with physical dramatically increases the attendance of the event, The Lost Horizon event saw a global audience of 4.36 million, a drastic increase from the 200,000 capacity Glastonbury has. The BBC also revealed that the 2019 television audience constituted 3.2 million in 2019.
McGarva has pondered the effect on audiences, and whether the investment in hybrid events is possible: “Currently, the filming and streaming technology means it is difficult to marry the two. The environment needed for recording 3D doesn’t always work for the live audience. That may change but in the next few years, I’d expect them to remain as separate events, but as part of the same package,” she continued. “You can’t recreate the feeling of being physically present, so a virtual experience needs to go beyond that. Gamification is key.”
As the industry realises the ramifications leaning into a hybrid style will have, McGarva believes the impact will include: “an extra revenue stream for artists; people across the world who can’t get to a show, for whatever reason, could buy access to a VR version in the same way they would a computer game.”
