Experience Oxfordshire’s Cultural Platform takes a deep dive into the world of live events

19 January 2026 – Attendees were offered a fascinating insight into the world of live events when President of RG Live and Senior Vice President of Sony Music Masterworks, Anthony Findlay, shared his experience of a lifetime in the sector at Experience Oxfordshire’s annual Cultural Platform held at Blenheim Palace last week.

The Cultural Platform is delivered on behalf of the Experience Oxfordshire Charitable Trust as part of the organisation’s ongoing commitment to support culture across the county. The sell-out event offers an evening of engaged conversation and networking as well as the exclusive opportunity for guests to ask questions directly to an invited speaker.

After 38 years working as a live event promoter, Anthony Findlay has a unique perspective on the sector and with humour and frankness took partners attending the event on a journey through RGLive’s development, from the inception of the “Classical Spectacular” combing classical music with the canons, lighting and the laser excitement of a rock show, via Christmas lights and Garden trails to today’s “Alex James Britpop Classical” tour and immersive exhibitions.

The “in-conversation” event was facilitated by Richard Venables, a long-term supporter of the Cultural Platform, who posed questions to Anthony on subjects ranging from how RGLive keeps pace with changing customer expectations, what constitutes success, his approach to working in partnership, ticket pricing and the impact of AI on live events. Anthony described the scale and creativity of his global business and the impact it has on the local economy. Two million tickets have been sold since the introduction of Christmas at Blenheim and 15 million tickets sold globally for light shows at zoos, gardens and historic houses. This season’s Christmas concerts provided work for 2,000 classical musicians. He surprised the audience with his hands on approach, describing the hours he spends on site at live events, eavesdropping to gather visitors’ opinions and testing ideas on younger members of his team. He described his role as simple, “…my job is to make people smile.”

After the event Anthony Findlay said: “RGLive has a long history of collaborating with venues and destinations to deliver amazing experiences and events so it has been a pleasure to attend the Experience Oxfordshire Cultural Platform today to discuss the relationship between my sector, the live events industry, the tourism sector and the broader visitor economy.”

Richard Venables, the event’s facilitator, responded: “Anthony has been generous in sharing his knowledge and experience with us today. The underlying aim of the Cultural Platform is to identify what culture means to our speaker and Anthony has given us so many wonderful examples of the promoter’s role in providing access to culture by working with and for its audience.”

Events such as the Cultural Platform rely on local support and this year the headline sponsors were Blenheim Palace and Richardsons Chartered Accountants.

Dominic Hare, CEO of Blenheim Palace said: “In such a competitive global tourism market it’s important that our sector continues to evolve in line with visitor trends and expectations. The annual Cultural Platform gives Oxfordshire’s visitor economy operators the opportunity to hear from speakers outside our sector and we were delighted to host the Cultural Platform here at Blenheim again this year and welcome colleagues to hear Anthony Findlay speak about the world of live events and the music industry.”

Jemima King, Partner of Richardsons Chartered Accountants said: “As long-term sponsors we are proud to be associated with Experience Oxfordshire’s Cultural Platform which offers professionals working in the visitor economy the opportunity to gain insight from top professionals operating in other sectors. Over the years we have heard from a range of excellent, inspirational speakers and Anthony Findlay was fascinating today in sharing his knowledge and experience.”

Following the in-conversation piece, partners and invited guests enjoyed networking in the Colonnades of Blenheim Palace where lively discussion was enjoyed based on the insights Anthony had shared.

UK Events, the umbrella trade association for the events sector, recently revealed that the UK events industry is now worth an estimated total of £68.7 billion, employing 700,000 people, with public facing events accounting for some £31.5 billion.

After the event Stuart Crook, Chair of Experience Oxfordshire, said: “Today’s Cultural Platform focussed on the music industry and live events, and the increasing interest visitors have in combining an event with a short or longer holiday. With our established festival programme and destination attractions this trend offers real opportunities for the visitor economy in Oxfordshire. We are very grateful that Anthony chose to support this valuable Experience Oxfordshire event.”

Experience Oxfordshire offers partners an ongoing programme of events ranging from networking with sector colleagues to seminars and opportunities to engage with regional and national visitor economy experts. The current events programme can be viewed here.

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

Images: available via the following link.

Images 1 and 2: Anthony Findlay, President of RG Live and Senior Vice President of Sony Music Masterworks, and Richard Venables MRICS DL, Senior Director of CBRE Oxford

Image 3: Cultural Platform networking

Image 4: (L to R) Dominic Hare, CEO of Blenheim Palace; Hayley Beer-Gamage, CEO of Experience Oxfordshire; Anthony Findlay, President of RG Live and Senior Vice President of Sony Music Masterworks; Richard Venables MRICS DL, Senior Director of CBRE Oxford; Jemima King, Partner of Richardsons Chartered Accountants; and Stuart Crook, Chair of Experience Oxfordshire

Image 5: audience question from Tim Kourdi, Owner of St Margaret’s Hotel, Oxford

Experience Oxfordshire is the official Destination Management Organisation (DMO) and Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) for Oxfordshire. It is the trading arm of the parent charity, Experience Oxfordshire Charitable Trust, and is a not-for-profit partnership organisation that is committed to the promotion, management, and development of Oxfordshire as a great destination to live, work, visit and do business. The DMO seeks to improve growth and productivity across Oxfordshire’s visitor economy through the provision of essential business advice and support.

Experience Oxfordshire was one of the first destinations in England to gain LVEP status from national tourist board, VisitEngland. As an LVEP, Experience Oxfordshire is recognised as a high-performing organisation, supporting collaborative working both locally, through its network of partners and those with interest in the visitor economy, and nationally on shared priorities.

For more information on Experience Oxfordshire see our Impact Report and go to experienceoxfordshire.org/partner or contact [email protected]

Media contact: Lesley Wright at [email protected] Tel 01865 686433

You can keep up to date with Experience Oxfordshire’s activity by following:

Facebook – Experience Oxfordshire
Instagram – @experienceoxfordshire
X – @ExperienceOx and @ExperienceOxBiz and @ExOxVenues
Bluesky – @experienceox
LinkedIn – Experience Oxfordshire

Anthony Findlay
Born into the arts, Anthony, son of Paul Findlay, Director of The Royal Opera Covent Garden, entered the world of commercial promoting in 1991 at Raymond Gubbay, learning from prominent promoters of the time Michael Edgely (Australasia) and Harvey Goldsmith (UK). Thirty-four years later, having at some point headed up almost every department, Anthony was made President of the re-branded RGLive in 2024, also taking on a wider role within the expanding live entertainment group as Senior Vice President, Sony Music Masterworks.

Richard Venables MRICS DL
Richard is a senior director of the Oxford office for CBRE, global property advisor and has extensive experience advising in the science and technology markets in Oxfordshire. Richard dedicates considerable time and energy to economic and cultural development in Oxfordshire. He has been a board member of Experience Oxfordshire (2009-2020), Oxfordshire Youth (2019-2022, where he is now an ambassador) and Active Oxfordshire (2017-2022, where is now a Patron). He is also a Vice Patron of Oxford Civic Society. Richard continues to be a member of the Oxford City Council Economic Growth Steering Group and Oxford Strategic Partnership and was board member of the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (2014-2018). Richard was appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant for Oxfordshire (2016) and was High Sheriff of Oxfordshire (2018/19). Richard was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Oxford Brookes University in 2022 for services to economic development and community services.

Blenheim Palace is home to the 12th Duke of Marlborough and his family and the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill, Blenheim Palace is a UNESCO World Heritage Site boasting a long and diverse history. A masterpiece of Baroque architecture, offering over 2,000 acres of ‘Capability’ Brown landscaped parkland and 90 acres of award-winning Formal Gardens in addition to family focused activities, a varied programme of year-round public events and an excellent meetings and celebratory events offer.
blenheimpalace.com

Richardsons Chartered Accountants is a firm of chartered accountants and business advisors based in Thame. ICAEW accredited and established for over 30 years, they provide specialist accounting advice for small and medium companies, large corporates, and individuals. Communicating regularly with clients, they like to form a close relationship built on trust. In addition to core services, they specialise in setting up tax-efficient structures for start-ups, and tax planning for existing businesses and individuals. Richardsons work within a variety of sectors and have a strong reputation in dealing with Research & Development Tax Credits and grant audits.
richardsons-group.co.uk