Festival firm lays off staff
The production company that was putting together the Pemberton Music Festival has begun laying off staff after a bankruptcy filing, according to Billboard.
Huka Entertainment was signed on to help put together the festival, but played down its involvement when organizers announced they had filed for bankruptcy and a trustee had been appointed.
On Friday, a Billboard article reported the company had started showing employees the door. Huka CEO Evan Harrison told Billboard the layoffs were meant to “scale down appropriately.”
He said the company still has “a concert-tour team as well as a scaled-down fest team.”
“We, too, are a vendor of Pemberton who was caught offguard by this,” he said, declining to give a current employee count.
Previously, Huka had said in a statement that it did not make the decision to cancel the festival, which, it claims, came from Pemberton Music Festival LP.
“For the past four years, Huka Entertainment has worked to create a one-of-a-kind experience in the most beautiful place on Earth,” the earlier statement said. “We are heartbroken to see the 2017 Pemberton Music Festival cancelled.”
Following the bankruptcy filing by Pemberton Music Festival LP and 1115666 B.C. Ltd., it was announced no automatic refunds would be available, leaving fans scrambling for information.
The debtors’ liabilities total $16.74 million, including more than $8.2 million owed to 2017 ticket holders.