10 ways festivals are tackling social and environmental issues

Louisville, Kentucky’s Forecastle Festival has its own non-profit dedicated to activism. The Forecastle Foundation raises money, awareness, and recruits volunteers for projects both domestic and abroad. Current projects include supporting the Guayaki Foundation’s efforts to regenerate ecosystems and empowering local indigenous communities across Latin America, as well as working with the Kentucky Natural Lands Trust to protect and restore the wildlands of Pine Mountain, a vital migratory and ecological corridor for hundreds of animal and plant species.

Festivals are also joining, supporting and forming critical trade associations and alliances – harnessing the collective power of event organizers, music industry stakeholders, journalists, researchers and more to respond to pivotal subjects such as drug policy, sustainability and sexual assault. Such organizations include the Association for Electronic Music, A Greener Festival, the Drug Policy Alliance, the Association of Independent Festivals, and Yourope.

Earlier this month, over 25 UK festivals took part in the ‘Safer Spaces’ campaign, blacking out their websites for 24 hours and sharing a short animation over social media with the hashtag #saferspacesatfestivals. The animation encouraged festival attendees to take a more active role in preventing sexual assault, pleading the following messages: Zero Tolerance to Sexual Assault, Hands Off Unless Consent, and Don’t Be a Bystander.

The campaign was complimented by over 60 UK festivals joining together in signing a Charter of Best Practices outlining measures to be taken to prevent sexual assault. The measures included a zero tolerance policy, confidential welfare services, training on issues related to sexual violence and pledging to take a “victim-led approach to sexual assault incidents.” The Association of Independent Festivals, who mobilized these campaigns, counts festivals like Secret Garden Party, Bestival, and Parklife amongst its members.

Festivals such as Electric Forest, Shambhala, ARISE, Bass Coast, Rainbow Serpent, Fusion Fest, and more are already manifesting these principles by integrating dedicated camp-sites and safe spaces for those who identify as women to take refuge when needed, while also making it plain that “consent is sexy.”

Not to be confused with Shambhala, the Canadian festival put on by an entirely different entity, the UK’s Shambala festival made a bold stand in 2016 by going 100 per cent vegetarian and removing all meat and fish products from their on-site food offerings – for both staff and the public. While there’s still much debate over what meat does to our bodies, the harmful effects of meat production on our ecosystems are much more decisive and well documented by global authorities such as the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.

In a post-event analysis, 77 per cent of Shambala attendees surveyed indicated they wanted to keep the event vegetarian and about a third of respondents reported actually reducing their intake of meat and fish since (excluding the 30 per cent who responded that they were already vegan or vegetarian.) This year they plan to keep it meat and fish free, however they haven’t ruled out possibly introducing some “uber-sustainable meat and fish options around the site in surprising and thought-provoking ways".

Paris, France’s We Love Green festival mentors emerging leaders interested in green design. Their Laboratoire D’expérimentations Scenographiques hosts a two-week residency for applicants chosen from a prestigious jury of design community members. Chosen graduate students and designers use recycled materials in their projects, which are financed and supported by dedicated production teams and stage designers. Though they receive mentorship and assistance, the young artists still maintain autonomy and ownership of their projects and enjoy the broad network of professionals and increased exposure gained as a resident of We Love Green’s Laboratoire D’experimentations Scenographiques. While the name may lead you to think the festival is solely “Green”-focused, the event attracts a first-rate set of electronic music talent such as this year’s acts, Nicolas Jaar, Moderat, DJ Koze, Motor City Drum Ensemble and more.

Festivals need to regularly review their progress and output data to inform what must be improved upon. Making some of those numbers and reports available to the public is a vital step towards empowering the festival community to keep organizers accountable to their purported economic and environmental impacts. San Francisco’s Outside Lands shares some of their numbers, as has Glastonbury. Even Coachella organizer, AEG, has shared an in-depth report on its sustainability performance.

Vi Nguyen is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles. Follow her here and see her portfolio here