Where is magnetic music festival

For the Magnetic Fields community, this time of the year is synonymous with excitement and anticipation. Friends from all over the country, and even around the world, plot and plan to meet up in the desert for three days - and three nights - of dancing, music and adventure.

Last year when we took the decision to skip what would have been our eighth edition, we were hopeful of coming back in with more sounds and experiences. The love that you showed our first-ever edition of Magnetic Nomads in March earlier this year made us believe that maybe December was possible, and not just our dream.

Tickets for Magnetic Fields - scheduled to be held from December in Alsisar - have just gone on sale. The three-day contemporary arts and Magnetic Fields Festival Festival Alsisar. Join Our Mailing List.

Timed and staggered entries of attendees; contactless ticketing and payment; effective contact tracing; and reminders for mask wearing, sanitiser use and social distancing, are all measures that could be used.

As with any new problem, novel solutions are required. Often it is smaller scale festivals, like Magnetic Fields, that are able to try out such innovative approaches to the problem to see what works. The new location was the Nahargarh Ranthambore, and the number of people including attendees, staff, crew and artists was capped at Test reports were validated by festival staff, and if this could not be successfully carried out, attendees would be turned away.

So what was the Nomads experience actually like? It was more relaxed and less hectic than its bigger cousin; a more sustainable way of partying, suitable for an audience which has grown up along with Magnetic Fields over its eight-year journey.

The effort put into making the festival COVID-safe was evident: Digital wrist band payment systems replaced the previous festival currency; COVID safety awareness, guidelines and protocol were communicated via the website, social media, and communicated personally to all attendees; and the festival welcome kit for attendees included reusable masks and hand sanitiser.

A report by UK Music expressed confidence that health risks can be managed at future festivals, but demanded that the UK government introduce and underwrite COVID cancellation insurance in order to provide a safety net of sorts for event organisers and inject a much-needed boost of confidence into the struggling live events industry. Australian events companies are lobbying for a similar government underwritten insurance scheme. Whether or not governments step up remains to be seen; in the meantime, festivals across the world — like Magnetic Fields — will continue to find the safest paths forward.

Polina Schapova is a Mumbai-based Russian-British photographer.