Coronation Park events organiser declared bankrupt

Monday 13 November 2023

The founder of Reasons and Full Circle music festivals has been declared bankrupt, citing "significant financial difficulty" due to rising living costs and the “huge impact” of the pandemic on the events industry.

Benjamin Newman announced the end of the annual Coronation Park event "with deep regret" last year.

However, a public notice published by the Viscount's Department on Friday formally confirmed Mr Newman's bankruptcy, explaining that related claims lodged may be inspected by any creditor or other interested person later this month.

Mr Newman debuted Reasons music festival in Coronation Park in July 2015, highlighting its potential benefits for Jersey's tourism and economic sectors.

In 2022, Mr Newman and co-organiser Suze Rosser revamped Reasons into the environmentally-conscious Full Circle festival at the same location.

Pictured: Ben Newman and Suze Rosser, organisers of the Full Circle Festival. (Jon Guegan)

As well as putting the spotlight on women and local-talent, the rebranded event committed to donating all profits to charity, supporting causes such as Jersey Recovery College, LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall, and humanitarian organisation Choose Love.

However, a Facebook post from the festival organisers after the event revealed the "significant financial difficulty" that led to the decision to close the curtain on Full Circle in October 2022.

The post explained that the night of the festival encountered “two massive blows” – including a global system failure of card payment machines during peak bar sales on Saturday. 

In addition, a substantial portion of ticket revenue was not received by the event organisers after the event's ticket-selling platform became insolvent. 

The post also outlined the various challenges faced by event organisers, including the "increased running costs" due to the “current economic climate” as well as the “huge impact” of the pandemic.

This led to organisers injecting personal funds in the hope of producing “something unique to music events in Jersey".

In the post, the organisers admitted that they "had considered crowdfunding" but decided that "this would have taken a huge amount of support".

Claims lodged in the bankruptcy of Mr Newman may be inspected by any creditor or other interested person at the Viscount’s Department at Morier House on 22 and 23 November 2023 between 10:00 and 12:45, and 14:00 and 16:00.