Glastonbury Festival founder Michael Eavis and Assn. of Independent Music chair/CEO Alison Wenham are to be inducted into the Music Managers Forum Roll of Honour gala, to be held April 19 at London’s Hilton Hotel.
Eavis will be credited by the MMF for his achievements as the “legendary organizer of the world leading Glastonbury Festival.” A self-confessed music-obsessed dairy farmer, Eavis established the iconic festival on his west England property in 1970. The festival is now recognized as one of the most popular music events on the British summer calendar, drawing marquee international headline acts and crowds upwards of 120,000.
“It’s quite thrilling to know that after 34 years of organized chaos, I am deemed worth of this award,” comments Eavis in a statement.
Eavis has declared that 2006 will be a “fallow” year for the Glastonbury, in which the colorful event will go on hiatus to allow the grounds where it is held time to regenerate. The next Glastonbury is due to take place June 22-24, 2007.
Wenham will be honored by the MMF for her “impressive and groundbreaking work” at AIM, the London-based independent labels’ trade body.
Wenham has led AIM as chair/CEO since it was incorporated at the beginning of 1999. The trade body was established as the first viable representative body for U.K. indie labels since Umbrella in the late 1980s. Under her leadership, AIM has developed into an influential lobby group which has fought numerous battles on behalf of its members.
Wenham was also recently elected as the first president of the newly-created Worldwide Independent Network and she holds additional functions as vice president of European independent indies association IMPALA, as a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and as a special music adviser to the British Council.
Speaking ahead of receiving the accolade, Wenham says in a statement, “Recognition from managers, whose astuteness and lack of sentimentality is rightly legendary, is very warmly appreciated.”
The Roll of Honour Awards recognizes executives who have played a leading role in guiding and helping artists to develop their careers, managing their affairs and looking after their interests to the highest professional standard.
Organizers rearranged the annual gala from 2005 to this April due to a conflicting schedule with another awards ceremony. This year’s presentations will cover both 2005 and 2006, with a total of seven awards to be handed out.
