Beyond Basic Security: Counterterror and Extreme Threat Preparedness at Festivals

Festivals today face security challenges that go well beyond routine bag checks and perimeter fencing. With large crowds gathered in open settings, festivals can be attractive targets for worst-case threats like terrorist attacks or active shooters. Preparing for these extreme scenarios demands proactive planning, close coordination with authorities, and robust emergency procedures. By looking at real-world examples and lessons learned – from small community fairs to massive international music festivals – festival producers can develop comprehensive plans that go beyond basic security to protect attendees if the unthinkable ever occurs.

Embracing a New Reality of Event Threats

Major attacks in recent years have underscored that festivals and live events must be prepared for “imagine the unimaginable” scenarios (meetings.skift.com). The 2017 Manchester Arena bombing at an Ariana Grande concert and the Route 91 Harvest festival shooting in Las Vegas showed how determined attackers can exploit large gatherings. Crowded events are considered soft targets, and officials around the world have warned that music festivals, sporting events, and concerts remain high on the agenda for potential terrorist threats (www.independent.co.uk) (www.independent.co.uk). For festival organizers, this means planning for extreme emergencies is now as critical as booking artists or arranging stages.

Learning from Tragedies: Each incident has yielded important lessons. The Manchester Arena attack happened just outside the venue’s security perimeter as crowds exited, prompting festivals to extend vigilance to adjacent areas and exit routes (meetings.skift.com) (meetings.skift.com). In Las Vegas, a gunman fired from a 32nd-floor hotel room overlooking an outdoor festival, demonstrating the need to monitor high-rise buildings and “outside the gates” threats (infotel.ca) (www.npr.org). And the 2019 shooting at California’s Gilroy Garlic Festival, where an attacker bypassed the main entrance by cutting through a fence, highlighted how vital it is to secure all perimeters and have a rapid armed response on-site (infotel.ca) (infotel.ca). These events, while devastating, have driven home one message: hope is not a strategy. Festival producers must anticipate worst-case scenarios and plan accordingly.

Working Hand-in-Hand with Law Enforcement

One of the most powerful assets in counterterror planning is a strong partnership with law enforcement and security agencies. Early and ongoing coordination with police, counterterrorism units, and emergency services is essential. Festivals like Glastonbury in the UK work closely with local police during planning, with the festival’s security director emphasizing that all necessary measures are implemented “with the support of the police” to maximize public safety (www.independent.co.uk). In practice, this means involving law enforcement in risk assessments, sharing site plans, and establishing clear roles long before the gates open.

On-Site Police Presence: Many events now embed law enforcement directly into their security operations. For large festivals, this can include having a dedicated police command center on-site and officers patrolling the grounds. At the Coachella and Stagecoach festivals in California, for example, the Indio Police Department sets up a full command post with dozens of officers and even SWAT team members stationed at the venue (cactushugs.com) (cactushugs.com). Their constant presence acts as both a deterrent and a rapid response force. Even smaller festivals should liaise with local police to see if off-duty officers or special units can be hired to bolster security. An armed police presence that can quickly neutralize a threat is invaluable – as seen in Gilroy, where on-site officers stopped the shooter within a minute, preventing greater loss of life (infotel.ca).

Intelligence Sharing: Coordinating with authorities also means tapping into broader intelligence networks. In regions like Europe and the UK, security services may provide alerts about potential threats targeting events. Organizers should establish a communication channel to receive any threat intelligence before and during the festival. In the UK, upcoming legislation known as “Martyn’s Law” (named after a victim of the Manchester attack) will formalize this by requiring venues to assess and mitigate terrorist risks, and to train staff in counterterrorism awareness (www.bbc.com) (www.bbc.com). Forward-thinking festival producers are already adapting to this standard, participating in programs like the Action Counters Terrorism (ACT) training. In Manchester, over 1,000 event staff from local venues have undergone ACT counterterror training in preparation for the new Protect Duty – building vigilance into the workforce (www.bbc.com) (www.bbc.com).

Unified Command and Planning: It’s crucial to integrate festival security plans with the Incident Command System or equivalent frameworks used by emergency responders. Many major festivals establish a unified command center where festival security chiefs, police, fire, and medical teams sit side by side. This joint approach ensures that if a crisis hits – whether a bomb threat, an active shooter, or something else – everyone can coordinate in real time. Drills and tabletop exercises (discussed later) with these multi-agency teams are an excellent way to build trust and clarity in the chain of command. The goal is to eliminate confusion: everyone, from local police commander to festival safety officer, should know who makes decisions and how information flows during an emergency.

Strengthening Festival Security Measures

Beyond basic gate checkpoints, contemporary festivals are investing in layered security measures aimed at deterring or detecting extreme threats. This layered approach starts well before anyone arrives on site and extends across the entire venue.

Rigorous Entry Screening and Perimeter Control

The festival entrance is the most obvious line of defense. Screening attendees and their belongings thoroughly can intercept weapons or explosives before they enter the grounds. Depending on the event’s size and risk profile, producers can implement measures such as:

• Bag Checks and Pat-Downs: Every bag should be inspected. After terror incidents in 2017, iconic festivals like Glastonbury warned fans to “pack lightly” and instituted extra searches of bags, vehicles, and persons – even if it meant slower entry lines (www.bbc.co.uk) (www.bbc.co.uk). Security teams are trained to open and examine contents, looking for suspicious items. Clear bag policies (allowing only transparent bags) are increasingly common to speed up visual inspections (meetings.skift.com).
• Metal Detectors: Walk-through metal detector arches or handheld wands can screen for firearms, knives, and bomb components. Many U.S. events and European festivals have moved to “airport-style” screening at main gates, especially after high-profile attacks (infotel.ca). For example, after bombings in Belgium, festivals like Tomorrowland and Rock Werchter collectively agreed to use thorough bag inspections and added metal detection for all attendees (mixmag.net) (mixmag.net).
• Access Control & Credentials: Limiting entry to a few controlled gates helps security concentrate resources. Ticket scanning verifies that each person is authorized to enter, while photo IDs or RFID wristbands can prevent anonymous entry. In some cases, organizers and authorities take extraordinary steps – Belgian police screened the names of 400,000 Tomorrowland ticket-holders against criminal and terror databases ahead of the 2017 festival, barring dozens of individuals deemed potential threats from attending (www.vice.com) (www.vice.com). While most festivals won’t go that far, it shows the lengths some will take to vet attendees.
• Double Perimeter Fencing: A lesson from incidents like Gilroy is to secure beyond the immediate gate. Experts recommend multiple layers of fencing or buffer zones, with surveillance of outer boundaries to prevent fence breaches (infotel.ca). Roving security patrols or police K9 units can monitor perimeter areas that aren’t in direct line-of-sight of entry staff. Anti-climb fencing and concrete barriers can also deter intruders or vehicle attacks.
• Hostile Vehicle Mitigation: Vehicle ramming into crowds is a known terror tactic (seen in attacks on pedestrian areas and markets). Festivals should deploy vehicle barriers at any vulnerable crowd points – for instance, blocking off pedestrian zones near stages or food courts from nearby roads. Many city-based events now park heavy trucks or install steel bollards at street intersections to prevent unauthorized vehicles from reaching attendees.

Real-World Example – Glastonbury: In the wake of terror attacks in the UK, Glastonbury Festival ramped up its entry protocols. They announced that all ticket-holders would face extra vehicle searches, bag checks, and personal frisks, and that entry would “be slower than in previous years” as a result (www.bbc.co.uk) (www.bbc.co.uk). Attendees were urged to arrive later and expect queues of several hours. By setting expectations and adjusting logistics (like opening more lanes for those without large luggage), the festival maintained security without chaos. The message was clear: thorough screening is non-negotiable for safety.

Surveillance, Intelligence, and Early Detection

Once inside, festivals should have eyes and ears everywhere to detect threats early. Modern counterterror strategy relies on a combination of technology, human vigilance, and information sharing:

• CCTV Camera Systems: A network of surveillance cameras can cover large portions of the venue, including entrances, stages, and crowd areas. Trained security operators in a control room can observe live feeds for suspicious behavior or unattended objects. For high-risk events, cameras with zoom and night vision help monitor distant or dark areas. Some festivals even employ drone surveillance overhead to view the crowd from above, which can be useful for spotting disturbances or guiding responders through dense crowds.
• Undercover Security & “Overwatch”: It’s not just uniformed guards – plainclothes security or police may mingle with the crowd to identify threats from within. Additionally, having an “overwatch” team is a growing practice: police snipers or spotters positioned on nearby rooftops, towers, or high platforms to scan for threats and respond if needed (infotel.ca) (infotel.ca). After the Las Vegas tragedy, security advisors recommend securing any high-rise vantage points around open-air festivals, whether by stationing lookouts or coordinating with building owners to monitor windows (infotel.ca) (www.npr.org).
• Social Media Monitoring: Festivals are increasingly assigning staff to monitor social media for any posts about threats in real time (meetings.skift.com) (meetings.skift.com). Attendees might tweet if they see something suspicious, or authorities could catch wind of a threat posted online. By scanning keywords and geotagged posts (and communicating with police intelligence units), organizers can get advance warning. Every festival command center should consider having a social media intel role that can quickly pass potential threat info to security or law enforcement (meetings.skift.com) (meetings.skift.com).
• Attendee Awareness Programs: A vigilant crowd can be one of the best detection tools. Many countries have adopted the motto “See Something, Say Something,” urging the public to report anything that seems off. In the UK, Counter Terrorism Policing launched the #BeSafeBeSound campaign in 2022 in partnership with major music festivals, reaching millions of festival-goers with safety advice (www.counterterrorism.police.uk) (www.counterterrorism.police.uk). Festivals participating in the campaign (including Glastonbury, Reading & Leeds, and others) share messages in their apps, on signage, and via social media encouraging fans to stay alert and immediately inform security or police if they notice suspicious bags or behavior (www.counterterrorism.police.uk) (www.counterterrorism.police.uk). By empowering attendees to act as extra “eyes,” organizers create a wider net of awareness. Of course, it’s important to communicate these messages in a positive, non-alarming tone – reminding people that security is everyone’s collective responsibility and that reporting a concern could save lives.
• Intelligence Liaison: For certain events, especially those with high-profile artists or international significance, festival organizers might even hire private intelligence consultants or work with national agencies. This could include getting threat briefings in advance or having an intel analyst on the team who can interpret any threats that arise (like specific terror group chatter targeting events, etc.). While most festivals won’t have direct links to intelligence services, building relationships via law enforcement liaisons makes a difference. For instance, New York City’s large events benefit from NYPD’s counterterror units, and in Europe, festival directors often attend security forums with national counterterror officials to stay updated on risks.

Highly Trained Security Staff and Volunteers

All the technology and police support in the world won’t help if the on-ground festival staff are not prepared to act. Every security guard, crew member, and volunteer needs training to handle extreme threats. This starts with general awareness – knowing how to spot something suspicious – and extends to exactly what to do if an incident unfolds.

Recognition of Threats: Front-line staff should be taught how to identify potential warning signs. This might include recognizing an attendee who is conducting hostile surveillance (e.g. nervously walking back and forth near a restricted area or filming security posts), finding an unattended bag in a weird location, or overhearing someone making alarming comments. Security experts often use the SALUTE acronym for reporting suspicious persons (meetings.skift.com) (meetings.skift.com) – Size, Activity, Location, Uniform, Time, and Equipment – to gather useful details for law enforcement (meetings.skift.com) (meetings.skift.com). By training staff in such techniques, festivals can ensure that a vendor or stagehand who “sees something” knows how to quickly “say something” with the right information.

Active Shooter and Bomb Threat Training: It’s unfortunate this needs to be discussed at festivals, but it’s a reality. Staff should receive training on how to react if an active shooter is reported or gunshots are heard. In many countries, the “Run, Hide, Fight” guidance is standard for active shooter situations – and staff should know when and how to help attendees evacuate or find cover. Role-specific training is also key: security guards should know how to coordinate with police and possibly confront a threat if it’s life-or-death, while other staff might focus on guiding crowds to safety. Likewise, protocols for a bomb threat (e.g. a phoned-in threat or discovered device) should be covered: who to alert, how to assist police (perhaps by helping clear the area), and not to use radios or phones near a suspect package (to avoid triggering electronics). Major venues often conduct this training; festival teams can often seek help from law enforcement trainers or private security firms to run workshops for their crew in the lead-up to the event. In the UK, the ACT e-learning modules and in-person sessions have been made widely available to event staff after incidents – for example, hundreds of arena and festival staff in Manchester have taken these courses as part of new security initiatives (www.bbc.com) (www.bbc.com).

Customer Service vs. Security Balance: One challenge is ensuring security personnel remain vigilant without creating an unwelcoming atmosphere. A festival is about fun, after all. The best festival security teams strike a balance – they are friendly and approachable, but ready to spring into action if needed. Training should reinforce this balance: guards need to enforce rules (like bag searches or prohibited items) strictly, yet respectfully. They should also be coached on crowd communication, so if they have to instruct attendees during an emergency, they’ll do so calmly and clearly. In stressful scenarios, a composed security team can prevent panic and save lives.

Emergency Response Planning and Drills

Even with top-notch preventative measures, festivals must prepare for the worst-case as if it’s going to happen. An extreme threat response plan should be a detailed part of the overall festival operations plan. This includes having clear procedures for various scenarios (e.g. bomb threat, active shooter, suspicious package, explosion, etc.), designated leadership roles, and practiced routines for staff. The objective is to ensure a swift, coordinated response that minimizes harm and confusion.

Developing the Extreme Scenario Plan

Start with a thorough risk assessment during pre-production. Identify the hypothetically most damaging threats: Is it someone with a weapon sneaking in? A bomb in an unattended vehicle? A drone dispersing something over the crowd? Consider your venue and event type – a city street festival might worry more about vehicle ramming, whereas a camping festival might be more concerned about an armed intruder or fire outbreak. For each scenario, develop a contingency plan answering: How will we detect it? How will we alert attendees? How do we get people to safety? Who contacts emergency services? Document the chain of actions clearly.

Key elements to include:
– Incident Commander: Assign a festival staff leader (often the safety director or head of security) who has the authority to make emergency decisions instantly – such as stopping the music, calling an evacuation or lockdown, and coordinating with first responders (www.ticketfairy.com). This person (or small team) should be in the central control room and in direct communication with on-site police commanders. Everyone on staff should know who this incident commander is.
– Emergency Communication: Plan how you will alert the crowd and staff. Many festivals rely on the main stage PA system for mass announcements. It’s wise to prepare pre-scripted emergency messages for different situations (e.g. “Attention: We have an emergency situation. For your safety, please calmly proceed to the nearest exit and follow staff directions.”) (www.ticketfairy.com) (www.ticketfairy.com). Having these messages vetted by crisis communication experts and authorities ahead of time avoids confusion when seconds count. In addition to audio announcements, use all channels available: video screens, text message alerts (if your ticketing or festival app supports it), social media, and even megaphones or sirens for outdoor areas. The messaging should be clear about what people should do (“leave your belongings and walk to Gate A”, etc.). Internally, equip security and key crew with radios and backup communication methods (like a mobile messaging group) to relay instructions. Redundancy is important – if one system fails, have another.
– Evacuation & Shelter Procedures: Determine in advance whether the response to certain threats is to evacuate the venue or have attendees shelter in place. For example, if there’s a confirmed shooter in one area, you might evacuate other areas while instructing those near the threat to take cover until police intervene. On the other hand, for a potential bomb threat, you may need to evacuate everyone far away from a suspect package. Map out multiple exit routes from all parts of the venue (www.ticketfairy.com) (www.ticketfairy.com). Identify safe refuge areas if total evacuation isn’t immediately possible – e.g., a secure building, a parking lot away from the incident, or even asking people to stay low behind solid cover if appropriate. Make sure exits are clearly marked, and that staff know how to direct crowds to prevent bottlenecks. The plan should also include how to help vulnerable attendees during evacuation – such as people with disabilities or children separated from parents (www.ticketfairy.com) (www.ticketfairy.com).
– Medical and Trauma Care: In extreme events, injuries are a tragic possibility. Coordinate with your on-site medical team and local EMS for mass casualty response. Ensure there are enough medics, trauma supplies (tourniquets, bandages for blast or gunshot wounds), and that ambulances can access the site even during an evacuation. Establish a triage area where injured can be treated safely. Local hospitals should be notified in your planning that your event is happening, and in high-risk scenarios you might even ask if they can be on standby for a major incident (some cities do this for large events). Quick medical response can save lives in events like explosions or shootings, so integrate medics into your drills – they should practice how to enter a “hot zone” when cleared by police, etc.
– Crowd Management in Crisis: One of the biggest risks during any emergency is panic. A solid plan addresses how to keep attendees as calm as possible. This circles back to training staff and having clear announcements. Staff and volunteers stationed along exit routes (wearing high-visibility vests) should guide the crowd firmly but calmly (www.ticketfairy.com) (www.ticketfairy.com). If you’ve divided your venue into zones with zone managers (www.ticketfairy.com), each manager should take charge of evacuation in their area, sweeping the zone and ensuring no one is left behind (especially in restrooms, VIP areas, behind stages, etc.). Drills should cover how staff communicate if one route is blocked and an alternate is needed. In past evacuations, such as the Rock am Ring festival in Germany in 2017, organizers credited a “calm and controlled” exit by 90,000 fans to clear instructions and disciplined staff, which allowed the event to resume the next day once the threat was cleared (www.bbc.com) (www.bbc.com).
– Lockdown and Venue Hardening: In some active shooter situations, the best immediate action may be to have attendees shelter in secure areas if evacuation is too dangerous. Consider what venues or structures at your festival could serve as shelter points (e.g., concrete buildings, hardened rooms). Design a signal or message that tells staff to initiate a lockdown. For instance, instruct vendors to pull down tent flaps and hunker down, or get attendees into behind-stage concrete loading docks if that’s safer. It’s a difficult call – and often law enforcement on scene will advise – but having a protocol for “hold in place” is part of preparedness.

Practicing Through Drills and Exercises

A plan on paper is only as good as the people executing it. That’s why realistic drills and training exercises are crucial. Festival teams that rehearse emergency scenarios will react faster and more effectively than those facing it for the first time in reality. Practice also helps identify holes in your plan that you can fix before an actual event.

Staff Training Drills: Prior to the festival (often during orientation or site build days), conduct drills for different emergency scenarios. A simple yet effective drill might be: simulate an evacuation of one section of the festival. For example, have all zone managers and security in the main stage area practice guiding an “evacuating” crowd out through the nearest exits, as if there were a threat. You don’t need attendees present to do this – use your staff as stand-ins for crowd movement. Time the exercise and see how long it takes to clear the area, then discuss any snags (did a gate get jammed? Were radios working? Did everyone know their role?). This builds muscle memory so that if you ever have to do it with a real crowd, staff won’t be figuring it out from scratch (www.ticketfairy.com) (www.ticketfairy.com). Likewise, run an active shooter drill with your security team: have a scenario where someone radios in a “shots fired” at a certain location, and walk through the steps – who calls police, what code word might be used on the radio, how do you relay instructions to staff in that zone, etc. Some festivals even invite local police to participate in these on-site drills (or at least observe) so they can give feedback and be familiar with the venue layout.

Tabletop Exercises: In addition to physical drills, do a tabletop exercise with key personnel. Gather your festival directors, security chiefs, law enforcement liaisons, medical lead, and communications team in a room. Present a hypothetical crisis (e.g., “It’s 8 PM, a report comes in of an explosion near the main stage – dozens of injuries.”). Then role-play through the incident: what does each person/department do in the first 1 minute, 5 minutes, 30 minutes? The value of a tabletop is that it forces everyone to think through their decisions and communications under pressure, but in a low-stakes environment where you can pause and discuss. It often reveals unexpected issues – maybe two people realize they would try to reach the same emergency service via different paths, or the plan to use the main stage PA could be compromised if the power is out. By walking through it, you can refine the plan (perhaps you decide to invest in a backup loudhailer system or satellite phones, for instance). Tabletop drills also strengthen the relationships among the responding team; if an incident happens, it won’t be the first time these folks are solving a problem together.

Full-Scale Simulations: Some larger events and venues go as far as full-scale simulated exercises involving volunteer “attendees” and response agencies. This can be challenging to coordinate, but extremely valuable. For example, authorities in some cities have staged mock terror attacks at concert venues to test multi-agency response. In Hong Kong, police ran an exercise with 200 officers simulating a bomb and gunman attack at a public event venue (www.thestandard.com.hk) (www.thestandard.com.hk). While a festival organizer might not be able to initiate something that large, you can plug into any such exercises run by local authorities or at least observe them. Additionally, many festival teams debrief with officials after the event to discuss any security “near misses” or improvements – treat your festival as an ongoing learning opportunity.

Community and Attendee Drills: Though you can’t realistically drill attendees, you can educate them proactively. Some festivals include emergency procedure information in their apps or program guides (e.g., showing a map of exits or a note that “if we must evacuate, you’ll hear an announcement and should calmly head to the nearest exit”). Others have experimented with pre-show announcements or videos about safety. In regions prone to severe weather, it’s now common for festival MCs to explain evacuation plans for storms – the same concept can apply for security emergencies. And if your festival has a loyal community (for example, camping festivals or annual cosplay events), consider engaging them in volunteer training or encouraging them to also be prepared (without causing fear). A well-informed crowd that knows how to respond will be less likely to panic and more likely to follow staff instructions during a real crisis.

Balancing Security with the Festival Spirit

Preparedness for extreme threats is critical, but it must be balanced with maintaining a welcoming atmosphere. Festival-goers are there to enjoy music, art, and community – they don’t want to feel like they’re entering a fortress or warzone. Successful festival organizers implement these security measures as seamlessly and respectfully as possible:

• Communication and Transparency: Let attendees know in advance about heightened security measures (e.g., via email, social media, and your website). Explain that entry might take longer due to screenings, so they should arrive early and pack light. When people understand why measures are in place – to keep them safe – they are generally more cooperative. After all, festival fans have shown remarkable resilience and solidarity in the face of threats (like the Rock am Ring fans holding up a banner saying “No place for terror” when the show resumed (www.bbc.com) (www.bbc.com)). Make security a shared mission with your audience.
• Trained & Empathetic Staff: Emotions can run high in both everyday entry lines and in emergencies. Train your staff to be empathetic – to listen to attendee concerns, and to keep a calm demeanor. Even during an evacuation or lockdown, a staff member’s tone can influence whether people stay calm or freak out. Emphasize the “guardian” role of security personnel rather than just an enforcer role. As a seasoned festival producer might advise: be friendly, but stay alert.
• Learning from Every Event: Treat near-misses or even routine operations as a chance to improve. If a suspicious bag was found and safely removed, have a debrief – how was it spotted, did the team react per training, what could be better? Update your plans annually. Unfortunately, the threat landscape can evolve (e.g., new methods like drone threats or cyber threats to ticketing systems). Stay informed through event safety networks and continually refine your counterterror strategies.

At the end of the day, festival organizers carry the immense responsibility of protecting tens of thousands of lives as they gather to celebrate. It’s not an easy balance – ensuring joy and freedom under the watch of careful security. But by planning for the worst, festival producers can instill a sense of confidence that if a serious threat ever emerges, they are ready to act decisively and effectively. This preparation not only safeguards attendees and staff, it also preserves the festival itself – allowing the show to go on, even in an age of new threats.

Key Takeaways

• Proactive Planning: Don’t assume “it won’t happen here.” Assess extreme threats (terrorism, active shooters, etc.) during your event planning and develop specific response procedures for each scenario.
• Collaboration with Authorities: Work closely with law enforcement, counterterror agencies, and emergency services from the start. Integrate their expertise, plan joint responses, and ensure police or security forces are visibly present on-site as a deterrent.
• Layered Security Measures: Implement multiple layers of security – robust entry screening (bag checks, metal detectors, K9 units), strong perimeters with barriers and patrols, surveillance cameras, and if possible, an overwatch element for high vantage points. No single measure is foolproof, but layered together they greatly harden the target.
• Staff Training & Drills: Invest in training your team to recognize and respond to extreme threats. Conduct drills and exercises (both tabletop and live simulations) so that staff know their roles and can act swiftly under pressure. Practice emergency communications and crowd evacuations to iron out kinks in advance.
• Emergency Action Plan: Have a written, detailed emergency plan covering worst-case scenarios. Designate an incident commander, establish clear communication channels (for staff and attendees), and map out how to evacuate or shelter attendees safely. Pre-script public announcements for various crises to avoid delays or confusion.
• Attendee Engagement: Enlist your audience in the safety effort. Encourage a “see something, say something” culture and provide them with basic info (like where exits are). Reassure attendees that security measures are for their benefit, and that they too can help keep the event safe by staying alert and following staff instructions in any emergency.
• Balance Security & Experience: Finally, implement all these precautions in a way that maintains the festival vibe. Aim for security that is thorough but efficient, present but not oppressive. With smart planning, you can significantly enhance safety without killing the spirit of the event. It’s about making security a seamless part of the festival experience.

By moving beyond basic security and embracing a comprehensive counterterror and emergency preparedness approach, festival organizers worldwide can ensure that even if the worst-case scenario comes to pass, they are ready to protect their attendees and staff. In doing so, they uphold not just the safety of their event, but the resilient spirit of the festival community.