Bunch Electronik's sole purpose is to bring international and national artists to electronic music lovers in Lisbon, Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona, however, there is much happening behind the scenes that the public don't see. Founders Loic Le Joliff and Francois Jozic chat to us about the ethical way they work.
Brunch Barcelona
When the Barcelona brunch party finished for the season in September founders Loic and Francois rallied festival goers to take part in a huge rubbish collection of Parc Montjuic the venue they used to host Brunch. 300 people worked solidly for three days to clear away 2000 kilos of rubbish.
Loic and Francois also worked with local restaurants and festival food vendors to support social national food programmes, giving away a staggering 5000 kilos of food this year alone to alleviate hunger poverty at their sites across Barcelona, Lisbon, Madrid and Valencia.
Lois told Blasting News: "At the Brunch we try to have the least impact on people and the Environment as possible. We have meetings with the local communities near each venue and distribute flyers explaining what will be happening and the improvements we will be making to alleviate any issues they may have throughout the season. In 2018, we had no complaints at all in Barcelona."
He continued: "We also ensure we have more than enough security to manage revellers and to control noise and ensure respect is given to the neighbourhood by everyone.
That is paramount for us. Investing in the neighbourhoods we work in is also vital. We employ local people and keep in regular contact with the association of neighbours and also give back by sponsoring the local football teams."
MeToo moment
The MeToo and Time’s Up movements have put increased pressure on festival organisers across the globe to end sexual harassment at their events.
Mindful of this Brunch in the Park runs its own version of the UK’s call service ‘Ask for Angela’ at every event to help if festival-goers ever become the victims of abuse.
Lois told us: 'We have something very similar to ‘Ask Angela’, we launched a service called ‘No Callem’ it is the Catalan saying ‘we won’t shut up’. We need to ensure sexual harassment doesn't happen at our festivals.
The safety of our guests is extremely important.
Brunch in the Park is a unique festival that is close to a nightclub, but it is outside and starts before sunset. It is a huge scale production with big-name lineups. it happens every week and tickets are inexpensive, meaning it is accessible to all. This season ended with a Halloween special in Lisbon on October 27 and next year is set to be an even bigger year yet.
The duo plan to introduce bigger electronic music acts to headline their festivals in each city and develop the Electronik brunch brand internationally, whilst still keeping ticket prices low, this they believe is very important. They are taking their environmental policy to the next level and will be recycling cigarette butts into T-shirts for all employees to wear. They also plan to expand their community outreach work and invest in local projects.
