Privacy Policy 

Here at Houghton Festival we take the protection of your personal data very seriously and are committed to maintaining the trust of everyone we interact with. We have compiled this Privacy Notice to let you know when and why we collect your personal information, what we do with it, how we store it and the circumstances in which we may disclose it to others. This would only ever be in the course of our business operations, we never sell, rent or trade email lists or personal information to other companies for marketing purposes.

We have a legal obligation to protect your personal data and use it in line with all applicable laws concerning the protection of personal data (including the Data Protection Act 1998, General Data Protection Regulations, the Data Protection Bill herein collectively referred to in this policy as the ‘data protection laws’).

What does this Privacy Policy cover? 

This Privacy Policy covers any personal information we might collect from you or which we have obtained about you from a third party: (1) where you have registered an interest in attending the Festival, (2) where you purchase a ticket, or are offered a complementary ticket, to attend the Festival, (3) where you purchase on site accommodation (4) where you provide services to us as a Supplier, crew member, volunteer, or performer, (5) when you interact with our social media channels, 

When subscribing for specific services or entering applications electronically through our website we will ask for your personal details through the forms that you fill out. This information is only held for the legitimate purpose of fulfilling the service you have requested. or processing your application.

We ask for your name, age, current address, mobile phone number, DoB, gender. To ensure that we can process your application and secure your ticket we need to gather these key details. We may provide an SMS service to update you with important messages via text. We ask your gender so that we can provision onsite services proportionally.

Occasionally there may be instances where we will require you to provide additional personal information, some of which may be sensitive (for instance for accessibility, lost property, feedback/complaints). We will always tell you why we are collecting your information and how we will use it.

Who collects information about you?  

Do Different Productions Ltd  is the data controller for Houghton Festival’s registration database – this is the database in which your details are stored. 

When we refer to “we” “our” or “us” in this Privacy Policy we are referring to Do Different Productions Limited  (company number 12435373) together with For details of how to get in touch, please see the “Contact Us” Section of this Privacy Policy. 

Marketing

When you create an account to purchase a product from us (such as a ticket, or merchandise), we will collect your contact and billing information to send you information by email about Houghton Festival, access to presale tickets, competitions and exclusive offers.

When you use our website, we collect information such as the browser and device you’re using, your IP address, your location, the site you came from, what you did and didn’t use our site for, or the site you visit when you leave us. Your Internet browser has the in-built facility for storing small files called “cookies” that hold information which allows a website to recognise your account. Our website takes advantage of this facility to enhance your experience. You have the ability to prevent your computer from accepting cookies but, if you do, certain functionality on the website may be impaired. All of our cookies are encrypted for use only by our website.

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal information about you which we have grouped together as follows:  

  • Identity Data such as your first name, last name, image, registration number, identification documents (such as your driving licence, passport or birth certificate), national insurance number, proof of address documents (such as a utility bill, council tax bill or polling card), job title and company.
  • Contact Data such as your email address, business address, home address, telephone number, emergency contact information, and professional and/or social network contact details.
  • Financial Data which may include (i) credit card and/ or billing information so that we can take payment from you and verify your address details, (ii) Unique Taxpayer Reference number, tax codes or other information required by HMRC, and, (iii) your bank details so that we can pay for the services you provide to us (if this is part of the contractual arrangements between us).
  • Transaction Data such as information about payments and details of purchases you have made.
  • Technical Data such as your internet protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access this Website or the mobile app. 
  • Usage Data which may include information about how you use our Website, the mobile app, or social media channels. 
  • Performer Data such as your stage name, name of act, name and contact details of your agent and/or manager.
  • Profile Data such as social media handles, social media posts and messages, and articles. 
  • Marketing and Communications Data including your preferences in receiving marketing or other communications from us. 
  • Health Data includes information about your health or disability. 

How will we use your personal information? 

Ticketholders 

As part of our ongoing efforts against ticket touting, If you would like to purchase a ticket to the Festival you will first need to register your details on our registration site operated by our service provider. 

If you are purchasing tickets with a view to attending the Festival as a Ticketholder, we will need to collect a certain amount of personal data, including your Identity Data, Contact Data, Technical Data and Financial Data, in order to verify your ticket eligibility and the information provided in your registration, facilitate, process and fulfil your ticket order, produce, and dispatch your Festival ticket, facilitate entry to and exit from the Festival, and to ensure the safety and security of everyone attending the Festival. In addition, we may collect your Health Data to facilitate accessibility arrangements or the provision of medical assistance. 

We may also use your personal information for the following purposes: 

To administer and manage our relationship with you, such as responding to communications. 

To send transactional and service messages in relation to your ticket 

To provide customer service and support. 

To send you information which we think you may find interesting (such as details about our future events).

To comply with legal or regulatory requirements. 

To help us establish, exercise, or defend legal claims. 

We use a email marketing platform called Sendy which is GDPR compliant. We gather statistics around email opening and click throughs using industry standard technologies to help us monitor and improve our email marketing. You can unsubscribe to any of our emails at any time by clicking the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email.

Suppliers, Crew, Volunteers, and Performers 

Whether you are volunteering as a steward, or performing on any of our 12 stages, you or your representatives will be required to supply a certain amount of personal data, which may include your Identity Data, Contact Data, Financial Data and Performer Data.

In addition to the basic information provided to fulfil our contractual obligations, we will also use some of the personal data provided by artists, including Identity Data and Performer Data, to compile our line up listings. This will include the performer’s name and social media handles (if they have a public profile). The line-up listings are shared with third party companies, such as our media partners to publish line-up information across their platforms; as well as being publicly available on the line-up page of the Festival website. We believe this is in the legitimate interest of both the Festival and the artists performing at the Festival, as artists derive a benefit from being featured across these platforms, however any artist who wishes to have their information removed from or amended on these listings, has the right to request deletion or rectification, as described in the section ‘Your rights’ below. 

Why is my data being collected?

  • To effectively communicate with you about our upcoming shows.
  • To give you essential information about the event.
  • To send you offers or promotions to you for example; presale tickets, sales or other offers
  • To create a customer profile and analyse buying behaviour.

Is my data shared with anyone?

Sometimes we may need to share your data with our partners for any necessary processing purposes only in relation to the provision of services that you have requested or applications you have submitted, such as:

  • Tickets – Resident Advisor are our online ticketing agent for 2026 and manage the ticket process on our behalf. When you choose your tickets through our website you will be redirected to Resident Advisor’s ticket’s website to provide your details and complete your purchase. Resident Advisor will only use your personal information in relation to the ticketing process, including payment for your booking. They will not use these details to communicate offers, products or other festivals that are not related to Houghton Festival, unless you have explicitly agreed to this at the time of purchase or you have previously registered with them for other events.

We comply with all relevant data protection laws in all our dealings with your personal data and ensure that our Data Processors do the same.

We reserve the right to access and disclose personal data to comply with all applicable laws and lawful government requests or requests by the police investigating suspected illegal activities, to operate our systems properly or to protect the rights, safety or property of Houghton Festival, website users or others

How will the information be stored and for how long?

All the information you give us will be stored securely in our offices and IT systems and our contracted suppliers’ IT systems. We ensure that only those members of staff of  and our partners authorised to view the data in the course of our business operations are given access.

We keep your personal data for as long as we need to enable us to successfully administer the festival. If we no longer need your personal information for the original purpose for which it was collected we will delete/destroy it unless we have a legal obligation to retain the information for a certain period.

If you want us to remove your details from your subscriptions (providing you do not have any bookings, any other contractual agreements or there is a legal basis for not doing so) then please email info@houghtonfestival.co.uk

How can I see what information you have about me?

If you have any further questions or comments concerning your privacy, wish to access your personal data held about you, delete, or update information we hold about you, please contact info@houghtonfestival.co.uk In order to verify your request, we will require 2 forms of identification (e.g. driving licence, passport, birth certificate, council tax bill, vehicle registration document). These forms of ID will be reviewed and held on our systems in line with this privacy notice. We welcome your comments on privacy issues so please do contact us with any queries or suggestions.You have the right to lodge a complaint in relation to the processing of your data with the Information Commissioner’s Office, the public body responsible for information rights. More information can be found on their website at ico.org.uk, or you can write to them at:

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF