Sónar claims it will never send "a single Euro" to KKR in new statement
The Barcelona-based festival has been the subject of boycott calls over concerns around the investments of KKR, the parent company of its owner Superstruct
Sónar has claimed that it will never send "a single Euro" to KKR, the parent company of its owner Superstruct.
The Barcelona-based electronic and arts festival made the comments in a new statement published on its website today (May 29), entitled 'Sónar responds'.
The statement includes answers to a series of concerns sent to Sónar by its audience over its ownership by European events giant Superstruct, and the controversial investments of its parent company KKR.
In response to the question: "Does my money go to KKR?", Sónar responded: "No, not at all. At no time have we ever sent - nor will we ever send - a single Euro to KKR."
"We can guarantee you that, after covering all the costs of Advanced Music and the festival itself (salaries, artists, production, communication, organisational costs, etc.), all profits are reinvested, in their entirety, in future editions of Sónar," the statement continues.
"Superstruct's publicly stated position is clear on this: 'All revenue and profits from Superstruct events and festivals remains entirely within our business and goes towards the ongoing development and staging of our festivals across the world.'"
In addition, the festival team has committed to donating to NGOs supporting Gaza. "This year we’ll be making a donation to NGOs that are working to help those in Gaza. We are currently looking into which NGOs to work with," they confirmed.
Sónar and other Superstruct-owned event have been the subject of boycott calls in recent months due to concerns around KKR's alleged investments in weapon manufacturing, the controversial Coastal GasLink Pipeline and Israeli companies that operate in Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Earlier this month over 70 artists signed an open letter calling on Sónar to publicly distance itself from KKR, with signatories including Objekt, DJ Haram, Kode9, Loraine James, Manuka Honey, Om Unit and more.
Since then, a number of artists have withdrawn participation in this year's Sónar festival, which is set to begin on June 12. As part of its statement, Sónar published a full list of artists that have withdrawn from this year's festival.
You can read Sónar's responses in full, here.
