COVID-19 has pushed businesses to reinvent themselves and to find new and innovative ways to bring their products to the people. It seems at least one prominent Jamaican event as cracked the code. Unlike Dream Weekend, Carnival, or most other party type events, 2020 staging of the Reggae Sumfest Festival must go on.
The newly introduced date for the event is a week later than previously scheduled, therefore taking place from July 20 to 25. However, the big question is, how did Sumfest get the greenlight? It’s simple; they haven’t. DownSound Entertainment, the team behind the Reggae Sumfest brand, are instead opting to take the much-loved event online.
Joe Bogdanovich, CEO of DownSound Entertainment, has seemingly formed a terrific alliance with social media giants Facebook, who will provide their platforms as a base to stream the event.
“When the COVID-19 pandemic led to the postponement of Reggae Sumfest 2020 our team explored a range of ideas and decided to pursue a partnership with Facebook. The relationship began in 2019 at the New York launch, when we toured their headquarters. Facebook welcomed the opportunity and agreed to host the Reggae Sumfest week of events. This initiative is in keeping with the creativity and innovation that is characteristic of the Sumfest team. The post-COVID world will see an increase in virtual events, and this is a positive beginning for Sumfest,” he said.
“This will be no ordinary show. Reggae Sumfest has been known to raise the bar when it comes to entertainment, and this will be no different. We know that the new normal has become online events, but we aim to take this to a whole new level to ensure that our loyal fans enjoy the exceptional production and entertainment standards that are part of the Sumfest tradition,” he pledged.
The weekend-long proceedings should feature a trip down memory lane as fans get to view past performances. There will also be music information sessions and artistes interviews. Much like the actual show, the final 2 days should feature live performances from some of Jamaica’s biggest names. Along with the Facebook suite of companies that also includes Instagram, viewers should be able to tune in on streaming giant Pandora.
