Simon Beckingham, the owner of New South Wales music festival Lost Paradise, has published an open letter reflecting on this year’s event, after a 22-year-old man died and two people were hospitalised due to an “unknown substance” they consumed at the festival in late December.
In his letter to the Lost Paradise community (published to Facebook on Monday), Beckingham describes the man’s death as “a very distressing incident and a hugely emotional time for our entire team”.
“Our sincerest thoughts and condolences are with the family and friends,” he says.
“I have so much respect for our medical team, NSW Ambulances, NSW fire and rescue, Red Dawn security and DanceWize who worked under very stressful conditions to keep our patrons safe.”
Beckingham also calls for better harm reduction measures to be implemented at music festivals, but doesn’t explicitly mention pill testing, which the NSW Government has ruled out as a possible harm reduction measure in Lost Paradise’s home state.
“I can only hope that we, as an industry and wider community, are able to reflect and learn from this tragic incident and continue to work together to improve harm reduction measures at future festivals and events,” he says.
Elsewhere in his letter, Beckingham thanks everyone involved in curating, promoting and producing Lost Paradise’s 2018 instalment.
“Without the artists, performers, characters, teachers, yogis, comedians, Boardi, healers, vendors, sponsors, vollies, bar operators, site and production crew and of course the patrons – Lost Paradise would not be what it is today,” he says.
Read his open letter in full, below.
Beckingham’s letter comes after a 20-year-old man died following a suspected drug overdose at Victoria’s Beyond The Valley festival earlier this month.
A pro-pill testing rally is now scheduled to take place in Sydney on 19th January.
Lost Paradise Owner Simon Beckingham’s Open Letter (07/01/19):
I would like to acknowledge the Darkinjung People whose lands we work on.
Tragically, a young man did pass away after attending the festival. It was a very distressing incident and a hugely emotional time for our entire team. Our sincerest thoughts and condolences are with the family and friends.
I have so much respect for our medical team, NSW Ambulances, NSW fire and rescue, Red Dawn security and DanceWize who worked under very stressful conditions to keep our patrons safe.
I can only hope that we, as an industry and wider community, are able to reflect and learn from this tragic incident and continue to work together to improve harm reduction measures at future festivals and events.
I’d like to thank everyone for all the effort to help us curate, promote and produce Lost Paradise this year.
A huge thanks to the FT team Sebastien, Rochelle, Nick, Catriona, Kirsty, Lucy, Mel and Corrie, and the wider team who work on Lost Paradise all year round to create the magic we all very much enjoy.
Without the artists, performers, characters, teachers, yogis, comedians, Boardi, healers, vendors, sponsors, vollies, bar operators, site and production crew and of course the patrons – Lost Paradise would not be what it is today.
I have worked with Haydn and Nathaniel from AoE for 4 years now and they really are the backbone when it comes to producing the event. Their crew works around the clock to deliver a world-class produced event which I’m incredibly proud of.
Our PR agents We are Example have over delivered and become authentic ambassadors of what we stand for.
The natural beauty of Glenworth Valley in which the festival comes alive each year is, without doubt, a major contributing factor to creating the magic of the event. This is why we strive and work so hard to take care of it.
Green connect are still there helping us reduce the landfill and returning the valley to its original beautiful state. I’m happy to say with the combined efforts from green connect, the Earth Warriors and the entire team, we have reduced the amount of rubbish going to landfill and have seen a dramatic increase in patrons taking their belongings home with them. This makes me very happy.
When I walk around the festival and take in what we have built up over the five years, with such a magical air of creative positivity radiating from everyone, I can quite honestly say its an honour to work along side a team of people who have helped us deliver Lost Paradise 2018.
Thank you x
