Festival of Brexit chief claims event was ‘success’ despite falling far short of visitor target

2.8 million attended live events, organisers reveal – but project branded ‘colossal waste of money’

The £120m arts festival known as the Festival of Brexit has been “very successful”, its director has claimed, despite falling far short of its target for visitors.

Organisers of Unboxed, the government-sponsored, post-Brexit programme of arts events, revealed on Tuesday that 2.8 million people had attended live events.

Overall audience numbers were 18 million, including those who watched online or on TV – but fell well below project’s “stretch target” of 66 million attendees.