Verenigd Koninkrijk
Olaf Furniss
ESNS: 2023
Founder/Director, Music Tourist and Wide Events CIC
Olaf Furniss is the co-founder of Wide Events, which hosts the Wide Days international music convention (Edinburgh from 13-15 April), the Born To Be Wide evenings and the Off The Record youth strand. The company is also spearheading Scotland’s music export initiatives, along with Active Events. An expert in music tourism, Olaf organised the world’s first conference to bring together the two sectors and has hosted numerous workshops and panels on the subject. He recently launched the Music Tourist podcast and in 2019 partnered with Newcastle University on comprehensive study. As a journalist, Olaf has reported for the BBC, The Guardian, Billboard, Musik Woche and I-Q, and in the1990s he was the first international writer to cover Mexico’s club scene for DJ Magazine. In 2022 launched an initiative to develop collaborations between the country’s artists and industry professionals, with their counterparts in Scotland and Wales.