Exist Festival says it has yet to be paid by Athens club PTX for 2022 edition
- PublishedWed, Jun 15, 2022, 17:32
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- "We just want to get paid what we are owed so that we can reimburse all our contributing artists," says the Palestinian festival.
- Palestine's Exist Festival has criticised Athens venue PTX for allegedly failing to pay agreed-upon fees. Exist held its 2022 edition at PTX, a multi-level club that opened three months ago, from March 31st through April 1st with a lineup featuring the likes of CCL, Drew McDowall, Hiro Kone, Kujo and asifeh. Speaking to Resident Advisor, the festival claimed all fees were confirmed with the venue prior to the event. These costs included artist payments, prepaid accommodations and some flights. Exist also claimed that artists who bought their own flights would be reimbursed by PTX. The event was a success, Exist continued, noting that tickets sold out and the bar ran out of alcohol. But the festival said they have yet to receive payment from PTX after submitting an invoice. The venue has been "arguing and dodging" costs with an array of excuses, Exist told RA. The festival said it had exchanged over 40 emails with PTX since the event. "Throughout the process, they came up with various excuses such as 'we can't wire to a non-European account' or 'we'll wire half of the money this week and the other half next week' (this statement dates from May 6th), only to disappear again and resurface three weeks later, saying that they can't pay cause there is no cashflow." PTX stopped responding to emails earlier this month, Exist added. Earlier, CCL told the venue that they would like to donate their fee to Exist. "But I have heard they didn't get that either," the artist told RA. PTX has not yet responded to RA's requests for comment. The venue has held several events over the past two months, hosting artists such as DJ Plead, TSVI, RP Boo, Mumdance and Madam X. Exist, which debuted in 2019 in Ramallah, is now requesting its community to refuse bookings at PTX until its artists are paid. Read the festival's statement on Instagram from earlier this week.
- Thu, Mar 31, 2022
Exist Festival 2022
00970, Arabian Panther, asifeh, Big Murk, Ciarra Black, Zoe Mc Pherson, CCL, Choronzon, Drew McDowall, Falyakon, Hiro Kone, Jay Glass Dubs, Kujo, Morah, ODDZ, Renata, Sainte Marina