Tag Archives: Julie’s Bicycle

Biofuels Update

Biofuels: The latest advice

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Responding to the complexity and confusion around which biofuels are good environmental choices, Julie’s Bicycle and Powerful Thinking Steering Group members have created a comprehensive new guidance sheet to answer all your questions.

The downloadable PDF will help you to understand the environmental impacts of the different biofuels available, including supply chain impacts; give an overview of the legislative landscape, highlight the issues around paim oil based biodiesel and provide advice on choosing a biofuel supplier.

Download the Guidance Sheet

Julie’s Bicycle & ACE offer Accelerator Programme

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Since 2012, Arts Council England has partnered with Julie’s Bicycle to deliver a flagship Environmental Programme, inspiring new ideas and sustainable practice across the country. Collectively, National Portfolio Organisations have reduced energy consumption by 22% and made savings of £11 million.

The Accelerator Programme is a new strand of this work, recruiting two cohorts of up to ten organisations to work with Julie’s Bicycle to advance their sustainable practice and share insights with their peers and the wider sector. The programme will be looking at everything from touring models and audience engagement to design and supply chains to income generation and governance.

Applications are open from 28th May – 8th June  find out more about the programme and how to apply at www.juliesbicycle.com

Download Festival Greenest yet

Download aims to be “greenest ever” in 2018

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Earlier this month Download Festival, one of the Vision:2025 festivals pledged to tackle their CO2 footprint with Powerful Thinking, announced the major improvements being made to this year’s festival to make it the greenest Download yet.

At last year’s festival there was a decrease in the overall carbon footprint by 96 tonnes of CO2e compared to 2016. For this year they’ve introduced carbon balancing by adding £1 to the cost of all parking passes, which will be donated to the charity Energy Revolution, who balance travel by investing in renewable energy projects. This is on top of all our other current travel initiatives with Big Green Coach, Liftshare and shuttle buses to encourage the reduction of traffic coming to the site.

Last year Download received a 4-star Creative Green Certification from Julie’s Bicycle and this year the Promoter, Festival Republic, are raising the bar in their commitment to environmental protection with the introduction of their first ever Eco Campsite with Greenpeace UK.

Last year they decreased the overall waste at the festival by 61% compared to 2016 and introduced reusable cups, resulting in a half a million single use cups being saved! The Deposit Return System has seen over 100,000 bottles collected and recycled since 2016.

To ensure 2018 is the most environmentally friendly yet, they’ve increased the number of campsite recycling points and food traders are not allowed to use single use plastic cutlery or food containers – and they are ahead of the curve in having banned plastic straws since 2016.

Victoria Chapman, Sustainability Coordinator at Festival Republic says:

“Download fans have been shown to be extremely environmental conscious and I am delighted that this has been reflected in the achievement of a 4 out of 5 star award, in only the second year of undertaking Creative Green Certification.”

 Read the full the story on the Download website.

Vision:2025 Festivals win Julie’s Bicycle Creative Green Awards

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Congratulations to Shambala Festival and Festival Republic for their recognition in Julie’s Bicycle’s Creative Green Awards last month.

Festival Republic won Best Creative Group and Shambala scooped a double win, receiving both the Best Festival and Outstanding Achievement Awards. Inspiring stuff!

The awards were presented at Somerset House on the Tuesday 25th April by Caroline Lucas, Co-Leader of the Green Party and MP for Brighton Pavilion.

The Creative Green Award is the only pan arts award recognising the contribution of the creative industries to climate change, and celebrates over 50 arts organisations undertaking Creative Green certification in 2016/17.

Running since 2009, Creative Green is a certification enabling venues, museums & galleries, festivals and offices to assess their environmental commitment, understanding and improvement.  With over 250 Creative Green certificates awarded this is the only scheme designed specifically for the cultural sector.

Full details on the Julie’s Bicycle news pages.

40 festivals meet to shape the future of Festival Vision 2025

40 Vision: 2025 Festivals met to shape the future

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40 Festivals and organisations met on the 26th January to shape the future of the Festival Vision: 2025.

Hosted by Chris Johnson (Shambala Festival/Powerful Thinking) and Julie’s Bicycle founder and CEO Alison Tickell, the day included presentations from Richard Gilles, former Sustainability Director at M&S and Director of Festival On The Wall, ZAP Concepts event sustainability consultants Rob Scully and Paul Schurink, Programme Manager Laura Pando from Julie’s Bicycle and Victoria Chapman, Sustainability Coordinator at Festival Republic.

Topics included cup deposit systems, changing the supply chain, energy efficiency and water management. Workshops on managing and monitoring energy effectively and understanding travel and waste data gave delegates the chance to share experiences, get advice, and gain practical knowledge to help with meeting the shared vision for a sustainable future for the UK festival industry.

Outcomes from the day include a call for clearly defined standards and reporting on waste across the events industry; the development of affordable energy monitoring equipment accessible by all Festival Vision:2025 events, and exploration of a purchasing consortium.

Find out more about Festival Vision: 2025 and join the 56 festivals who have already pledged to work together for a more sustainable festival industry  at www.festivalvision2025.net

Programme released: Shaping Festival Vision:2025

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The programme for the Festival Vision:2025 meeting at the Festival Supplier Awards on January 26th 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
26th 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

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Powerful Thinking and Julie’s Bicycle will hold the first Festival Vision:2025 Meeting at The Festival Suppliers Awards on January 26th 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

ADE Green Conference returns for its fourth edition

ADE GREEN Conference 2016

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Now in its fourth edition, the ADE green conference returns to De Brakke Grond in Amsterdam on October 19th 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.

Festival Vision News Update

Festival Vision: 2025 unites UK festivals for a sustainable future.

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Over 40 UK music festivals have pledged to work together to create a more environmentally sustainable festival industry by signing Festival Vision: 2025 — the vision and roadmap for a sustainable future presented by industry think-do tank Powerful Thinking in its seminal environmental report, The Show Must Go On.

Festivals both large and small, with genres from rock music to words, are united around the vision. Bestival, Hay Festival, Shambala and Secret Garden Party have all taken the pledge, and Festival Republic have signed up their entire portfolio of 11 UK festivals including: Latitude, V Festival, Reading, Leeds and BBC Proms in the Park.

The Vision: 2025 Festivals aim to halve festival emissions and reach 50% recycling rates by 2025. They have also pledged to reduce travel-related emissions and improve the sustainability of food sourcing. Integral to the pledge is the intention to measure, record and share key environmental impacts from festival operations using credible methods, such as the Julie’s Bicycle free Creative Green IG tools or by working with the A Greener Festival Awards, in order to track progress.

A full list of the participating Festivals and details of the pledge can be found on the Festival Vision: 2025 webpage along with key resources from The Show Must Go On report to help festival organisers make successful changes toward sustainable practices.

Festival Vision: 2025 Webpage: www.festivalvision2025.net

Follow Powerful Thinking on Facebook and Twitter for the latest updates and to ask questions and share information. Join the conversation with #FestivalVision2025  #PowerfulThinking

“As festival organisers we know how to create unforgettable experiences and how to inspire people. We know how to get things done in challenging circumstances and we are accomplished at communicating with audiences.

Festival organisers working with their many and diverse partners…can provide leadership for what is perhaps the most important conversation of our time…[and] make a vital and significant contribution to a future that we want our children to inherit.”

The Show Must Go On report.

Powerful Thinkers: Sustaining Creativity in the Events Industry Seminar

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Chair of Powerful Thinking, Chris Johnson, will be hosting a panel at The Event Production Show, discussing ‘Sustaining Creativity in the Events Industry’; speakers include Alison Tickell, CEO & Founder of Julie’s Bicycle, Emma Hudson of Access All Areas, Melvin Benn from Festival Republic and Nick Green from Arts Council England. Join the seminar from 2–3pm on 3 March in Olympia, London.

In the promised sequel to the EPS 2014 panel (People, Planet, Profit), these leading figures in the UK creative industries will discuss combining successful business with responsible approaches, and how creativity can be harnessed to enhance the audience experience and communicate about the future.

With COP21 still fresh in the world’s mind, the recently published Show Must Go On report provides the most comprehensive review of the industry’s environmental impacts to date, and launches Festival Vision: 2025, a manifesto for change. The panel discusses the report, the vision, and reflects on how creative approaches can unlock potential for change and help the bottom line.

For more details about EPS 2016 and to book click HERE.