A Note About Long Division: Mustangs

Long Division 2012 will take place on June 1^st – 3^rd. After the sell out success of 2011 we have looked at many ways of expanding the festival whilst maintaining its charm and inclusive nature.

An immediate thought was to look at using more venues. 2012 will see the Saturday make use of nine venues, all within a five minute walking distance of one another. We are very pleased with the selection; a theatre, an orangery, a chapel and a town hall all sit alongside more traditional music venues. However, as of this week, our largest venue Black Flag has become unusable.

Some may have heard over the previous few weeks about the business going into administration. This was a huge blow to us as it was the largest gigging space in Wakefield city centre. However, we believed for a short time that we had managed to work around the issues this had caused and would still be able to make use of the large space. However, as of this week, that will not be the case for reasons that are too complex to go into here.

We are very disappointed by this but it is sadly symptomatic of the way the economy is affecting small businesses and arts related ventures in general.

We have made the decision to use a venue called Mustangs in its place. Mustangs is a nightclub that holds a very central location in Wakefield and is ideally situated for Long Division. It is also the largest space in central Wakefield now Black Flag has closed. However, it was used for Long Division 2011 and there were issues. We would like to make it clear that in using Mustangs for Long Division 2012 these issues will be addressed:

Security: Instead of in house security, the team used at The Hop, who are experienced in dealing with a live music crowd, will run the venue, ensuring a safe and friendly atmosphere.

PA: We will be using a PA from the same company that is supplying equipment to the rest of the festival and not the in house PA which was not suited to live music in 2011.

For us, those were the two main issues last year and we are working very hard to ensure they are dealt with and that none of the problems from last year are repeated. Aside of those issues, I feel the actual space of Mustangs is very suitable for live music, with its raised areas and multiple balconies; like much of Wakefield it is quirky and unique and I feel confident it will be part of the successes Long Division 2012 will bring.