Known for its unbeatable joyful atmosphere, unique location and hosting the world’s top artists and creators, Sziget Festival has been on the up and up for the last 30 years.
With unwavering values, Sziget is leading the way with its sustainable measures securing the success of future festivals.
Sziget Festival CEO, Tamás Kádár, shares with Business Enquirer why the festival is one of Europe’s biggest parties.
A Week of a Lifetime
Looking at the lineup, you can quickly see why Sziget is a popular choice for festival goers.
In 2022 the stage was shared by international heavyweights such as Dua Lipa, Calvin Harris and Justin Bieber. Recent years have seen 450,000 people through the turnstiles.
“Sziget is one of the longest festivals, with six days of superstars,” shared Tamás, “it’s such a diverse line-up, featuring music from across the genres. Even our smaller stages are bigger than some of the major UK main stages”.
With previous years featuring headliners like Foo Fighters, Post Malone, Ed Sheeran, Rihanna and The Prodigy, who has been the most memorable act for Tamás?
“It has to be Prince, who we hosted in 2011,” he said. “It was awe-inspiring to watch him perform a two-and-a-half-hour set, and felt like a huge milestone for the festival”.
The festival, which only has downtime between the hours of 5am and 10am, isn’t exclusively a music festival. Sziget is a 360-degree art festival, circus and theatre, and even features a museum quarter. It has earned the moniker of the “European Coachella”.
“What’s unique about Sziget is its location,” explained Tamás.
Based on an island (the literal meaning of sziget in Hungarian) in the middle of Budapest, visitors to the festival also have the opportunity to explore the rest of what Hungary’s capital has to offer.
“We consider Sziget to be a festival holiday,” he said.
Imagine All The People
As part of Sziget Festival’s partnership with the Superar program, 2022 also saw the performance of John Lennon’s Imagine by 200 children.
“Superar integrates children from underprivileged backgrounds through music. It’s an important initiative to us as we believe music and the arts is a powerful tool. It was very emotional to watch the performance this year as we made a comeback from Covid,” shared Tamás.
Of course, the live performance sector saw a huge impact during the Covid pandemic, with Tamás saying that 2022 was considered “the last festival during Covid” rather than the first post-pandemic. That will be next year, when the festival will celebrate 30 years since its launch.
Having overcome the issues caused by Covid, the festival has been met with new challenges.
“Our subcontractors are struggling to find workforce after a lot of people exited the industry during the pandemic,” he explained, “like the rest of the world we’re also facing the increasing costs of energy, so we’re implementing some sustainable initiatives to combat that”.
The Next Step
Sziget is working with its sponsors to encourage them to think innovatively when it comes to sustainability.
“Wizzair offers our festival goers a plane ticket which includes the option to bring a tent for free. This encourages our guests to take their tents home – waste caused by tents is usually a big problem for the industry. This year we also collected any discarded tents and delivered them to those in need in Ukraine,” explained Tamás.
The festival uses green power from Budapest’s grid, and plans to implement renewable technology, with the aim of becoming a leading carbon neutral festival.
Join the Love Revolution
As well as being the umbrella brand for its many initiatives, Love Revolution encompasses the brand’s core values – respect, acceptance, and tolerance.
Amongst its initiatives, Tamás is proud of the work it does to support the LGBTQIA+ community in Hungary.
“Since its beginning, our community has been based on the idea of creating a “dream nation”, celebrating and sharing the best from cultures and people across the world. Sziget gives people the opportunity to share experiences with others they may not have had the opportunity to,” explained Tamás, “Magic Mirror is our LGBTQIA+ venue, and as well as offering programs to educate on the LGBTQIA+ communities, it also hosts the best parties!”
Sziget is praised for being one of the most peaceful festivals, with 2022 seeing just five disturbances across the six days.
“I believe this is thanks to the atmosphere and culture we and our community have created,” said Tamás.
Clearly a good fit to be the CEO of the festival, Tamás’ leadership style reflects the Love Revolution ethos.
Tamás considers himself a Sziget “veteran” having visited the event since 1995. He joined the team in 2011.
“I previously worked in media and advertising and went on to found two radio stations. Joining Sziget was one of the best decisions I’ve made,” he shared.
Tamás’ leadership values centre on the respect of others and teamwork.
“Our team is made up of 35 people who are all really knowledgeable in their field. They challenge me, which I think is important to the creative focus,” he said.
The Big 3-0
Despite 2023 marking the festival’s 30th year, due to the covid restrictions it won’t be the 30th festival.
“We will of course mark our 30th birthday, but the real celebration will be for our 30th festival, which will be in 2025. This will be our biggest party yet!” Tamás explained.