Featured

Find out who’s shaping Festival Vision:2025 at the Festival Supplier Awards

January 18, 2017Featured, News#shapeFV2025, Festival Supplier Awards, Guest list announcedBethan Riach

Over 40 Vision Festivals will meet to shape the future of Festival Vision: 2025 – Powerful Thinking’s call to action to bring festivals together to work towards a sustainable festival industry. The meeting is followed by The Festival Supplier Awards 2017 dinner and awards ceremony — free to Vision Festivals — at The Hurlingham Club, London on the 26th Jan.

Representatives from over 40 Vision Festivals will meet for day of workshops and networking opportunities as well as the chance to share experiences and help shape the direction of future research and resources for Festival Vision: 2025. Download the full programme here.

Representatives from the following festivals & production companies will be attending:

Festival Republic (Reading, Leeds, Latitude, Electric Picnic, Download, EDC, V-Festival, T in the Park, Creamfields, Wireless)
Sunday Best (Bestival, Camp Bestival)
Ground Control (Parklife, Festival No.6, Kendall Calling)
Northern Festivals Network: (Underneath The Stars, Bluedot, Cloudspotting, Kendal Calling, Just So, Festival Number 6, Ramsbottom Festival)
Bristol International Balloon Fiesta
Bristol Harbour Festival
Kew the Music
Port Eliot
BBC Events
Towersey Festival
Cambridge Folk Festival
Kambe Events (Shambala Festival, Starry Skies, Swingamajig)
Hay Festival
Festival On The Wall
Glastonbury Festival
Noz-Stock The Hidden Valley
Linisfarne Festival
The Green Gathering
Lambeth Country Show
RedFest
Dartford Festival
Always The Sun
Somerfest
Secret Garden Party
Boomtown Fair
Liverpool Loves
Wheels and Fins
ZAP concepts
Association of Independent Festivals
Association of Festival Organisers
A Greener Festival

Festivals that have taken the Festival Vision: 2025 pledge are invited to join the meeting. If you would like to enquire about tickets please contact: bethan@powerful-thinking.org.uk.

Programme released: Shaping Festival Vision:2025

January 17, 2017Featured, NewsFestival Supplier Awards, Festival Vision:2025 meeting programme, Julie's Bicycle, Shambala Festival, ZAP conceptsBethan Riach

The programme for the Festival Vision:2025 meeting at the Festival Supplier Awards on January 26^th at The Hurlingham Club is now out. 40 Vision Festivals will meet to shape the 10-year initiative, share experiences, discuss opportunities, take part in professional skills workshops to help in their onward journey towards sustainability and join the Festival Supplier Awards evening dinner and award ceremony free as a further chance to network with other Vision festivals. Full programme details below:

Festival Vision:2025 Meeting
Shaping the Future
26^th January, 14:00 – 17:30
followed by drinks and awards at The Festival Supplier Awards, 19:00 – 02:00
Venue: The Hurlingham Club, Ranelagh Gardens
London, SW6 3PR

Programme

14:00 Arrivals & welcome

14:30 Setting the scene — Alison Tickell (Founder & CEO Julie’s Bicycle): The value of festivals and the arts in cultural leadership and climate change.

14:40 Festivals stepping up — Chris Johnson (Co-founder Shambala Festival & Chair of Powerful Thinking)

Festival Vision:2025 project update — 56 festivals and counting
Industry Green Survey 2016 — The results
A changing industry — Defining the direction

15:00 Richard Gillies (Festival On the Wall, former Head of CSR for M&S): Supply chain change in a public facing industry — comparing notes from the corporate sector.

15:30 What’s possible? Case studies of successful practices and initiatives:

How much can I save on energy? – Rob Scully (ZAP Concepts)
Deposit systems – Victoria Chapman (Festival Republic)
Tools for measuring impacts – Laura Pando (Julie’s Bicycle)

16:00 Tea & coffee break – Challenge & opportunity to share: meet 3 people you don’t know and find out something about what they are dong to make their event sustainable…

16:20 Data = knowledge – Quick-fire sessions (4 sessions of 10 minutes)

How to monitor energy effectively (ZAP Concepts)
Managing data and using the IG Tool (Julie’s Bicycle)
Measuring travel (Lansdowne Associates)
Getting the real story from you waste data (Kambe Events)

17:00 Shaping the future: Festival Vision:2025 — What do we want to achieve and how will we do it?

17:30 END

Festival Supplier Evening Dinner and Awards
Dress Code: Black Tie

19:00 Drinks reception

20:00 Dinner

21:30 Awards

02:00 End

Download the programme PDF

Practical Information:

Advance queries: bethan@powerful-thinking.org.uk / 07841558445
Entry to the evening dinner & awards is by guest list – i.e. no ticket required.

Travel:

Nearest tube station – Putney Bridge
Map to venue: www.hurlinghamclub.org.uk/map-directions/

Hotel Suggestions:

Premier Inn – London Putney Bridge – 10 minutes walk form venue with rooms from £58 http://www.premierinn.com
The Lodge Hotel – Putney Bridge – about 10 minute taxi with rooms at around £120 http://www.thelodgehotellondon.com

Contact bethan@powerful-thinking.org.uk for ticket details.

Shaping the future of Festival Vision: 2025 at The Festival Suppliers Awards

January 10, 2017Featured, NewsAlison Tickell, Festival on the Wall, Festival Republic, Festival Vision: 2025, Julie's Bicycle, The Festival Supplier Awards, ZAP conceptsBethan Riach

Powerful Thinking and Julie’s Bicycle will hold the first Festival Vision:2025 Meeting at The Festival Suppliers Awards on January 26^th 2017 at The Hurlingham Club, London.

The Meeting will bring together 30 plus Vision Festivals, events that have pledged to work together for a more sustainable festival industry, to shape the future of the 10-year Vision, and take part in professional skills workshops for their onward journey to more sustainable events.

The day will include workshops on reducing fuel use and energy costs, waste management, sustainable travel, and accurate measuring and recording of impact data by Julie’s Bicycle, ZAP Concepts, and the sustainability teams from Shambala Festival, Festival Republic and Cambridge Folk Festival.

Alison Tickell, CEO of Julie’s Bicycle, will host a discussion on the future of the Vision as well as giving attendees a broader perspective of the opportunity in the arts and cultural sector for climate leadership.

Guest speakers will include Richard Gilles, former Sustainability Director for The Kingfisher Group and Marks & Spencer, and CEO of Festival On The Wall, who brings insight into influencing the supply chain change in a client facing business.

There will also be space to network and share experiences as well as explore opportunities for collaboration and influencing the supply chain through collective purchasing.

The event is free for Vision:2025 Festivals who will also receive a free place to The Festival Suppliers Awards (normally £280), who are generously hosting the event, including the drinks reception, evening dinner and awards ceremony, where Powerful Thinking Steering group member Victoria Chapman, Sustainability Coordinator for Festival Republic, will present the Green Supplier Award on behalf of Powerful Thinking.

There are still a few places available for the event. All UK Music Festivals are welcome to reserve a ticket providing they have taken the Festival Vision: 2025 pledge to aim for a more sustainable event. For more details contact bethan@powerful-thinking.org.uk.

Take the Festival Vision: 2025 Pledge.
More details on The Festival Suppliers Awards.

#shapeFV2025 #FSAwards17 #FestivalVision2025

Powerful Thinking to Judge Green Award at Festival Suppliers Award

December 29, 2016Featured, NewsFestival Supplier Awards, Green Supplier AwardsBethan Riach

Powerful Thinking are proud to have assembled the judging panel for the 2017 Festival Supplier Awards at the Hurlingham Club, London on the 26 January.

The judges are Chris Johnson, Chair of Powerful Thinking and Shambala Festival, Victoria Chapman, Sustainability Co-ordinator for Festival Republic, Andy Fryers from Hay Festival and Richard Gilles Former Sustainability Director of Kingfisher Plc and Marks & Spencer and Director of Festival on the Wall. Victoria Chapman will present the Award on behalf of the panel.

Nominees for the Green Supplier Award 2017 are:

Bob’s Radio Know-how, for their innovative Shewee-inals at Brighton Pride.
FRANK Water, for their innovative festival freefill project at WOMAD.
Loowatt Ltd. for their luxury sustainable festival toilet design at Port Eliot Festival.
Power Logistics, for their full power management at V Festival in Hylands Park.

As part of the Festival Supplier Awards Powerful Thinking will be holding a the first #FestivalVision2025 meeting to shape the future of the Vision. The meeting includes a day of networking, inspiring talks and practical workshops for 30 of the Festivals who have taken the pledge to work towards as sustainable future for the UK Festival Industry.

Vision Festivals will have the chance to meet to discuss and shape Festival Vision: 2025 together, share experiences from 2016 and network with other festival organisers, and attend workshops to gain insights into tools to measure environmental performance easily and effectively, before heading to the dinner and awards ceremony in the evening. More details here.

Learn more about Festival Vision: 2025

Festival Vision: 2025 at the Festival Suppliers Awards

December 12, 2016Featured, NewsFestival Supplier Award, Festival Vision: 2025Bethan Riach

Powerful Thinking are working with the Festival Suppliers Awards to create a networking event for 40 Vision Festivals. The Festival Suppliers Awards will host the event as part of their Awards ceremony and evening celebrations on 26th January 2017 at The Hurlingham Club, London.

Vision Festivals are being offered a free place at the event, which normally costs £280. They will have the chance to meet to discuss and shape Festival Vision: 2025 together, explore a significant opportunity to develop a funded project, share experiences from 2016 and network with other festival organisers, and gain insights into tools to measure environmental performance easily and effectively through workshop style meetings, before heading to the dinner and awards ceremony in the evening.

Event Details:
26th January at The Hurlingham Club, London
Festival Vision: 2025 networking session: 4 – 6pm (t.b.c)
Awards ceremony and dinner: 7:00pm – 2am

More details about The Festival Supplier Awards:

The Festival Supplier Awards were launched to recognise the achievements and hard work of outdoor event suppliers. With the festival sector diversifying rapidly in the last few years, meaning it’s so much more than ‘rock ‘n’ roll’, they wanted to provide a platform to celebrate the ‘behind-the-scenes’ teams that are the lifeblood of any successful festival.

Many outdoor event suppliers have indicated that the festival sector represents a significantly increasing proportion of their business. Festivals offer a good benchmark for the way live events are transitioning e.g. through RFID technology and experiential marketing and with over 60% of music tourism delivered from festival-goers, they felt the timing was right to launch a dedicated awards evening to highlight the creativity and innovation that festival suppliers deliver on every occasion.

festivalsupplierawards.com

Winners of the Industry Green Survey Prizes

December 8, 2016Featured, NewsBethan Riach

AND THE WINNERS ARE…

The Industry GreenSurvey is now complete! Over 80 festivals took part, a 60% rise in participation on last year. The results will help us to track industry progress and shape sustainability resources for festivals. We’ll announce the full survey findings in the New Year.

We are delighted to announce that the winners of the ‘Smart Energy Scan’ from ZAP Concepts: a free audit of festival energy to identify where to save fuel & money, are…
Boomtown Fair, Towersey Festival, Port Eliot Festival, Lambeth Country Show and End Of The Road Festival. The winner of the delegate place for the Green Events & Innovations Conference hosted by A Greener Festival is Fire in the Mountain.

Congratulations & Thank you to all of the festivals that took part!

(photo credit: Carolina Faruolo/Shambala Festival)

Powerful Thinking Launch 2nd Industry Green Survey

November 1, 2016Featured, NewsBethan Riach

Powerful Thinking Launch The Industry Green Survey 2016

Powerful Thinking, with support from the AIF, the AFO and Julie’s Bicycle, have launched the second annual industry survey focused on sustainable practices at UK festivals. A year on from the release of their seminal environmental report, The Show Must Go On, and the launch of Festival Vision: 2025, Powerful Thinking will publish a report in December based on the results from this survey, showing the movements in the industry.

By taking a few minutes to complete the Industry Green Survey 2016, event organisers can help Powerful Thinking to track industry progress and shape support for all festivals to move towards sustainable practices, and get entered into a raffle to win one of five ‘Smart Power Scans’ from ZAP Concepts Consultancy — a completely free audit of their festival’s energy to identify where to save fuel and money! Plus, the chance to win a free delegate place at the Green Events and Innovations Conference at the ILMC in March 2017.

TAKE THE SURVEY*

Powerful Thinking is not-for-profit industry think tank working towards an energy efficient, low carbon and cost effective future for festivals. The Show Must Go On report, published in November 2015, outlines the environmental impacts of the festival industry and aims to provide a robust basis for industry-wide action through the Festival Vision: 2025 Pledge which brings together festivals that wish to create a sustainable future. Over 50 festivals have now committed to Festival Vision: 2025 — find out more at www.festivalvision.net

*Please complete the survey by Nov 30th 2016. Winners announced early Dec.

UK Festival Awards & Conference to host Festival Vision: 2025 update

October 10, 2016Featured, NewsFestival Awards & Conference, Festival Vision: 2025Bethan Riach

Powerful Thinking’s Chair, Chris Johnson, will deliver an update on the progress and achievements of Festival Vision: 2025 at the 13th edition of the UK Festival Awards & Conference this Nov 28th at the Roundhouse, London.

Last year, at the 2015 UK Festival Awards, Powerful Thinking launched The Show Must Go On, a seminal environmental report on the UK festival industry, before going on to present it at the COP 21 climate change talks in Paris. As Powerful Thinking celebrates 50 UK Festivals signing the Festival Vision:2025 pledge to act on climate change, Chris will discuss the progress so far and invite more festival organisers to join the biggest environmental movement in the history of the UK festival industry.

The UK Festival Awards & Conference has revealed its first shortlists for 2016. The evening’s Awards are preceded by a comprehensive conference that runs throughout the day and covers the topics of cashless technology, ticketing, virtual reality, the plight of UK nightlife, and disaster planning. Awards present a wide array of accolades across categories that are decided via a combination of public voting and jury panels.

The Powerful Thinking team will be available throughout the conference to talk about the objectives of Festival Vision: 2025 and what organisers can do to take part.

More info about the Festival Awards and Conference and to buy tickets

Powerful Thinking hosts ‘smart power’ panel at The Showman’s Show

October 3, 2016Featured, NewsGlastonbury Festival, Plaster PR, Power at Outdoor Events, Rob Scully, Shaun Pearce, Showman's Show, Sid RogersonBethan Riach

Powerful Thinking is delighted to be hosting the panel for an innovations session on ‘Smart Power for Outdoor Events’ at this year’s Showman’s Show. The Show returns to Newbury Showground, Berkshire this October 19 – 20, with its comprehensive exhibition of products, services and entertainment for the outdoor and special event world.

The panel for the Smart Power session will include Rob Scully, site and production manager and energy consultant, speaking about his great work on sustainability with Glastonbury and other UK festivals; Shaun Pearce, Managing director of Pearce Hire and representative for the Production Services Association, Andy Mead, CEO of Firefly Clean Energy, Laura Pando, previously sustainability coordinator for Festival Republic and now programme manager at Julie’s Bicycle, and Sid Rogerson, who brings his many years of experience as system and power technician to the table. The panel will be hosted by Event PR veteran Graham Brown, MD of PR Plaster.

“As smarter and more efficient approaches to energy at outdoor events becomes normal, Powerful Thinking presents a panel of leading experts to discuss what practices are working across the sector, trends, and ultimately how to reduce your fuel bill and emissions.”

The ‘smart power for outdoor events’ innovation session will take place on 10 – 10.45am Thursday 20th October.

For more information and to book tickets visit:

showmans-directory.co.uk

ADE GREEN Conference 2016

September 9, 2016Featured, NewsADE Green, festivals, Julie's Bicycle, sustainability conferenceBethan Riach

Now in its fourth edition, the ADE green conference returns to De Brakke Grond in Amsterdam on October 19^th for a day of creativity, practical workshops on sustainability, technological showcases, interactive speakers, debates and inspiring speakers from across the music event industry.

Sustainability and social change are becoming ever more important for festival organisers. Event organisers and artists are becoming more and more aware of the platform they have and the message they can transmit to their audience, and this shows in the initiatives they support and the change of policies and production methods at festivals. ADE Green brings together brings together promoters, artists, suppliers, policymakers, thinkers, journalists, and more to amplify the industry’s movement towards sustainability and social change: from inspiration to practical action.

Representatives from Roskilde (DK), India’s Longest Guest List (IN), DGTL (NL), Welcome to the Future Festival (NL), Boom Festival (PT) and Ieperfest (BE) will share their experience and plans on how they intend to take action for the future at this year’s ADE Green.

ADE Green is part of industry event Amsterdam Dance Event and is a collaboration between ID&T and ADE, and is supported by Green Events Nederland, Green Music Initiative, Julie’s Bicycle and Open House.

Follow their Facebook event or website for all updates on the program.

Date: Wednesday October 19th
Venue: De Brakke Grond
Tickets for ADE Green (€ 35,-) are available here.