Situation
Since 1954, Newport Folk & Jazz Festival, the oldest festival of its type in the country, has held its annual 10-day music event in scenic Newport, Rhode Island. Each summer in July, the Newport Folk Festival kicks off with a rich history of legendary folk performers in Fort Adams State Park overlooking Newport Harbor and Narragansett Bay. The following weekend, the Newport Jazz Festival takes place in the same location and venue, attracting a wide array of world-class talent.
Problem
With over 10,000 people attending daily and numerous boats and vessels watching from the harbor, the Festival Foundation is responsible for providing a safe environment for all attendees, musical talent, employees, and support personnel. This proves to be a complex undertaking with multiple stages, changing musical acts, and people moving from venue to venue. Communication between federal, state, local and harbor law enforcement, first responders, and festival security can prove difficult even with extensive planning.
Solution
Event security has been provided by the Newport Festivals Foundation which coordinates with federal, state, and local officials during the event. Using Genasys Evertel, a secure and compliant cross-agency messaging platform, security representatives are able to coordinate and communicate with all responsible parties using a seamless, secure, and crisis-ready messaging app from any device. This includes the U.S. Coast Guard, Rhode Island State Police, Rhode Island Department of Emergency Management, Newport police and fire departments, private security, medical professionals, event volunteers, and more.
Evertel ensures robust compliance with CJIS, FOIA, and HIPAA and provides a collaborative way to share text, audio, video, and imagery among all those responsible for large-crowd public safety.
Results
Using Evertel to provide real-time communications and safety continuity amongst collaborating agencies during the Festival provided consistent and effective coordination between groups and kept performers and visitors safe during the 10-day event. Using the Evertel platform allowed them to quickly coordinate, share media/intel, and provide updates during the entire event.
Genasys Evertel proved to be an invaluable tool for such a large scale event by ensuring security and safety for all attendees and performers, mobility for a vast and diverse group of responders, and effective collaboration amongst all agencies. With its ease of training and use, Evertel provides a comprehensive communications alternative highly suitable for large events from music festivals to sports events to conventions.
