• Kilimanjaro Live CEO Stuart Galbraith joins board of AIF
• Kili Live festivals Wakestock, Vans Warped Tour and Sonisphere join AIF
• Other new AIF additions include Blissfields, Festibelly, SWN and Brecon Jazz

Prolific music promoter and Kilimanjaro Live CEO Stuart Galbraith has joined the Association of Independent Festivals as a board member, adding Wakestock, Vans Warped Tour and Sonisphere to the ever-expanding list of names under the AIF umbrella.

Other new additions to the AIF roster in recent months also include Tramlines, In The Woods Festival, Greenbelt, London Summer Jam, Folk on the Water, Brecon Jazz, Larmer Tree, Festibelly, Imaginadium, Open House Festival, Blissfields and Huw Stevens’ SWN Festival.

The three Kilimanjaro festivals add even more variety to the AIF’s eclectic group. Wakestock brings a fusion of wakeboarding and music from the stunning Llyn Peninsula whilst the UK leg of the Vans Warped Tour showcases the best in skateboarding talent alongside top pop-punk, emo and metal bands. Back for its second consecutive year, Vans Warped Tour will once again take place at Alexandra Palace but will expand from a one-day, to a two-day festival. Sonisphere will bring its brand of punk, hard rock and heavy metal to AIF and can boast such past heavyweights as Iron Maiden, Metallica and Slayer.

Galbraith joins a board at AIF that includes Rob Challice, Coda Booking Agent and Festival Director for Summer Sundae, Radio One DJ and Bestival Curator Rob da Bank, WOMAD Festival Director Chris Smith, CEO of Generator and Evolution Festival Director Jim Mawdsley and Sid Sharma, Founder and Creative Director of Shambala.

Following Galbraith’s buying AEG out of Kilimanjaro Live in March last year, the founder and former Live Nation MD gained full control of the company rendering it completely independent. As an independent entity Kilimanjaro Live was then able to put its festivals forward to enter the AIF festival group.

All additions included, the festivals under AIF’s banner now number 42 and include likes of Secret Garden Party, Bestival, Kendal Calling, WOMAD, Nozstock: The Hidden Valley Festival, Green Man and Eden Sessions.

Stuart Galbraith, CEO Kilimanjaro Live said “Kilimanjaro are delighted to be joining AIF, bringing with us the festival brands we’re involved with – including Wakestock, Vans Warped and Sonisphere.

We’re already enjoying working with the independent entrepreneurs that are driving so many wonderful festivals throughout the UK and look forward to sharing information and experiences with them going forward.”

Co-founder and Deputy Chair of AIF, Ben Turner said “AIF's board will be a livelier place with the addition of Stuart. He has wanted to be a part of AIF for some time, and now he's finally become fully independent it’s the right time. His knowledge, expertise and relationships within the live music sector are already proving to be hugely valuable to the conversations and actions around AIF.”

The fifth installment of Green Events and Innovations Conference has been another great success. Organised by A Greener Festival, Association of Independent Festivals and Bucks New University the GEI welcomed delegates from around the globe at this annual event hosted for the first time at the International Live Music Conference.

The event was streamed live on the internet via Etherliveand Pictureworks, and ID&C provided passes including QR codes for delegates to scan and download the “event pack” with lots of useful guides and information.

Jacqui Reeves and Rebecca Sarll introduced Fareshare and the incredible work they are doing to divert food from waste along the food supply chain and bring it to feed vulnerable people. Up to half of the edible food in the world is thrown away. Most of this occurs earlier in the supply chain than when it is purchased by the public. Approximately 4 million people in the UK cannot afford to feed themselves properly. Fareshare are now operating a catering service for festivals and can also collect edible food waste from festival caterers minimising the waste tonnage and feeding people in the process! We are hugely supportive of what they do and you can find more information here:http://www.fareshare.org.uk/

Holger Jan Schmidt and Rick Storey then presented the excellent work being done by the Love Your Tent Campaign. It is a problem experienced across Europe that audiences are leaving tents and camping equipment behind at festivals as disposable waste. This results in incredible waste of resources and a large expense to the organisers in manpower and waste disposal. The majority of discarded camping equipment at festivals goes to landfill or incinerator.

Love Your Tent was launched by Eco Action Partnership supported by A Greener Festival in 2011. International network Go Group have joined the campaign and together resources such as video and banners for events to help spread the message, and dedicated “Love Your Tent” camping zones for festivals have been developed. LYT has received notable support including from BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 6, DEFRA, AIF and the A Greener Festival. LYT has already led campaigns at Reading, Leeds and Glastonbury and now 25 festivals in 8 countries are participating in 2013. There is a call for more festivals to get on board. This is an international campaign to raise awareness amongst our audiences. You can find more details and get involved at www.loveyourtent.com

Nic Howden (Access All Areas) welcomed a panel of expertise, passion, experience and innovation for thePowerful Thinking session, concerning the future of power for events. Chris Johnson gave account of how Shambala have saved 30% in fuel and hence fuel bills by working with suppliers to ensure that demand is closely matched to supply. The Powerful Behind festivals Guide released at the end of 2012 revealed huge inefficiencies in generator use on site, showing that much of the fuel burned was purely making the generators “tick over” due to over stated power requirements. Bill Egan (Aggreko) highlighted the difficulty for power providers when there is fear by clients of falling short of the required power needs. No one wants to be responsible for making the reductions for fear of this happening. The problem is clients opt for what they know has worked before and often want back ups of back ups. All agreed that requiring detailed specification of intended power use on site from all power users is a way to make savings.

Rob Scully of Croissant Neuf Summer Party highlighted the vast improvements and innovations in equipment meaning that the overall power needs of stages can be dramatically reduced. Their event has run on 100% renewable energy since it began 5 years ago. Scully suggested that power budgets should be set by the organisers, and stages have to operate within that budget. Andy Mead is head of the highly acclaimed Firefly Solarwho provide solar power to events in the UK and Europe. Mead highlighted that larger shows can first dedicate an area to renewables to and build from there. Nic Howden suggested that a buy in from the major events could have the effect of increasing supply and reducing price. Bill Egan told of how they monitored and charged for power to traders on an event and the result was a clear reduction in energy use. Chris Johnson made reference to a new monitoring system soon to be revealed that will be trialed by 10 UK festivals in 2013.
The next panel focused on Waste Management at Events, a topic that could receive a year of discussion but unfortunately we had 1 hour only. Moderated by Claire O’Neill (A Greener Festival / AIF) the session kicked off with an impressive and informative presentation fromMarek Gordon, Chair of SITA Trust who were waste contractors to the London 2012 Olympics. The presentation, which details the process in achieving the highly commendable triumph of a zero waste games, can soon be seen here: http://www.agreenerfestival.com/green-events-innovations/  The issue of separation at source and difficulties with different audience profiles was discussed. Holger Jan Schmidt (Green Events Europe)highlighted that once the audience are drunk source separation stops working. James Goodall (Y Not Festival / Truck) highlighted that they’ve had to continuously review their waste plan as it is difficult to encourage consistent waste separation. Consultant Ed Cook, who formerly ran Network Recycling with over 15 years waste management experience described their 6 bin coloured system which they find to be the most effective. Cook highlighted that this is resource heavy and in fact will cost the organisers more, and the main driver for this has to be a desire to do the right thing and make the investment. There is an industry standard for colour coding separated from an organisation called Recycle Now. This is not used in all cases. It was not used at the Olympics.

Marek Gordon believes that there is a fundamental change in the way that waste contracts work, and that festivals should in fact be making money from their recyclables as they have value. Gordon suggested recycled material has significant financial value. Plastics can be sold for around £250 per tonne. Festivals should consider this in negotiations with waste companies.  The panel discussed Energy from Waste incinerators as an option for waste disposal by festivals. Whilst preferable to landfill, it was considered low down on the waste hierarchy. In mainland Europe some Energy from Waste incinerators have built capacity in excess of demand. The concern is that they are now seeking waste to burn to meet capacity. It was recommended and agreed by all that EfW should be a last resort only before landfill. Reducing waste is the first priority and then recycling. There is no standard for reporting recycling levels in the UK. It is important to ask waste companies the right questions such as the levels actually recycled rather than merely collected. Ed Cook highlighted corruption in some parts of the waste industry and that the reporting methods is an area that needs to be addressed. Waste deposit systems for Audiences were discussed. In Germany it is common to include a sum as part of the ticket, which is refunded when customers hand in a bag of rubbish at the end. A similar idea was piloted at Shambala Festival last year. There was 40% less waste and the audience survey suggested 96% support for the scheme.

Teresa Moore of Bucks New University gave a summary of the Audience Survey completed in 2012 by Bucks and A Greener Festival with support of AIF and Yourope. 2281 responses were gathered from festival goers around Europe.  Waste and Traffic were considered by audiences to be the highest impact of festivals with 87.4% and 81.4% respectively. 90% of audiences believe it is the festival organisers responsibility to minimize the events impact to the environment. However, there has been a significant rise in fans saying they should take personal responsibility for the impact, up from 56% in 2008 to 79.7% in 2012. There was another significant increase in fan’s green awareness with recycling with 86.6% of fans saying they will recycle in 2012 – up from 62% in 2008.Teresa Moore noted that “this represents a significant shift in audience attitudes since the last survey was conducted, and whilst very encouraging, it should be recognised that attitudes do not always translate into changes in behaviour.” That said, 43.1% of fans said that they had changed their behaviour as a result of green initiatives or ideas they had discovered at festivals.

Helen Wright of A Greener Festival explained how the Greener Festival Awards Scheme works, and the broader activities of A Greener Festival. All submissions for the awards in the UK/Europe and US this year need to be received by 30^th April 2013.  Wright also highlighted the reforestation scheme that has been launched by A Greener Festival in partnership with Trees for Life. Festivals, supplier and individuals can all contribute at £5 per tree. More details of this, the awards, and the other activities of A Greener Festival can be found here:www.agreenerfestival.com.

Wright also presented key findings from Nicolas Pianet’s aggregated 2012 Greener Festival Awards results. More festivals assessed have environmental policies and measure CO2. 17% of the award winners use 100% renewable energy. 68% of festivals encouraged their audience to bring their own bottle for water or provide refillable bottles that can be refilled onsite. Only 41% now promoted ethically sourced bottled water, with most preferring to avoid bottled water. Bad weather results in more left behind tents, and impacts negatively on salvage rates. Some larger items are re-used in art installations and similar in future years and some are reclaimed by charities, but left behind tents is becoming a major issue. More detailed results and analysis can be found here:http://www.agreenerfestival.com/2013/03/green-gains-at-festivals-in-2012/

Elina Levula and Salla Koivusalo (Greening Events Project) presented The EcoCompass Event – the Finnishenvironmental management system, and how Helsinki is implementing the environmental management of events. EcoCompass is a municipality project launched in the Helsinki metropolitan area in 2008, aimed at strengthening environmental management in small and medium-sized companies in the area. Activities are on voluntary basis, and participating companies are offered guidelines and instructions on how to develop eco-efficient operations. The programme is free to use during the project period and the certificate will expire after three years but will need to be updated annually.

Chris Cornish of Oakridge Environmental Services explained the legal framework in which events and watercompanies need to operate, as well as highlighting the hazards and safety issues surrounding water that need to be monitored. A highly detailed presentation relating to these issues will soon be available to view here:http://www.agreenerfestival.com/green-events-innovations/ When about uses for rainwater harvesting and water recycling, Cornish highlighted that at present in the UK grey water can only be used for non domestic purposes such as toilet flushing, however if water can be proven to be of safe drinking quality, it’s source is inconsequential. Cornish also highlighted that a risk to integrity of water supply is illegal/unpermitted connections being made by traders along the pipework. Cornish suggested education of the traders, and consideration for water point layout on festival sites is needed to address this risk.

Finally, a very entertaining as well as informative presentation was delivered by Dave Newton (We Got Tickets) andSam Chapman (PhD at Heriot-Watt University). The audience was not as sharp, as none realised the theme that the Smiths titles had been used to build Newton’s presentation. Chapman completed research in to the CO2 impact of posted paper tickets v print at home v paperless ticket delivery methods. It was found that paperless tickets were 107 times more efficient than posted paper tickets, and 47 times more efficient than print at home methods. More details of the research and methodologies can be found here: http://www.agreenerfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/GEandI_Resources/Carbon_Study-WeGotTicketsFINAL.pdf

At the end of a long day with a huge amount of information to digest, the delegates and speakers went for a hard earned drink courtesy of the events sponsor Eventbrite. So thank you to them and thank you to everyone who made the event a success once again.

You will soon be able to access the downloads, presentations and footage from the events at www.agreenerfestival.com. To register your interest for the conference in 2014 please contact hello@agreenerfestival.com

AIF hosted a group of seminars on Wednesday the 6th of February that tackled the topics of festival marketing on a shoestring, and the ins and outs of how to prepare for bad weather at festivals to avoid disaster.

The event was attended by over 80 delegates from across the live business, including representatives of London Jazz Festival, SWN Festival, Beggars Group, Standon Calling and Secret Garden Party. 

The morning session panelists delved knee-deep into the murky waters of bad weather at festivals, or rather how best to prepare for it. Simon James of The Event Safety Shop mentioned "It is almost impossible to pedantically plan for every eventuality” however he went on to say “it’s important to ensure that events have a robust management structure and competent decision makers within their management team ”. 

The afternoon was kicked off with a detailed presentation by festival marketing expert Ian Compton of CMS Music Media. This delved into the changing role of advertising in the world of online banners and social media, and focused on the need  to optimise any messaging put out by seeing what worked and adapt accordingly; with Facebook engagement being the ideal litmus test for this. This was followed with an engaging panel on the maturing market for sponsorship, which looked at the opportunities and pitfalls of different arrangements,  as well as the dangers  of becoming over-reliant on sponsorship as a revenue stream. 

Will Brown of In The Woods Festival said "As a relatively new event we're constantly learning in all areas and therefore attending this AIF seminar was important to us. The quality of speakers was excellent, but what made it most useful was the conscious effort to be relevant to smaller events and budgets. Finally there is the added bonus of chatting to fellow organisers and other industry professionals that always been fruitful for us."

Lee Denny of Leefest said “I’ve been a member of the AIF for two years and decided to attend this seminar to try and understand some of the more organisational aspects that I’ve traditionally left to other members of my team. I felt as the overall organiser it was important that I increase my knowledge of the logistics and operations involved in staging the festival so that I can fully understand the job roles of those involved. This is a fantastic event that will also allow me to speak to other organisers about their own experiences.” 

Andrew Finnerty of Workers Beer Company said "The sessions were informative, professional and enjoyable. I'm working on a series of Free Film Festivals this year and will bring the expertise from [the AIF Seminars] to those events."

Photos of the event can be found here.

Please contact claire@aiforg.com for further information.

A Greener Festival, Bucks New University and the Association of Independent Festivals will be presenting the fifth edition of GREEN EVENTS & INNOVATIONS at The Royal Garden Hotel, Kensington, London, W8 4PT on Thursday 7th March 2013. The Conference is being hosted at the International Live Music Conference, the world leading gathering of live music business professionals from around the globe and Green Events & Innovations remains the UK’s leading conference looking at sustainability at events.

Tickets for the Conference (which include lunch, and a day of panels, keynotes and workshops) are £75, with a discount rate of £50 available for AIF Members, Yourope Members, ILMC delegates and students. You can REGISTER HERE.

Speakers from leading companies and festivals including Glastonbury, Aggreko, Shambala, Firefly Solar, Ed Cook, Green Events Europe, Isle of Wight, FareShare, Croissant Neuf Summer Party, Eco Action partnership and more. Topics which will be covered will include powering events, including an update of the ‘Powerful Thinking’ campaign, updates on new technology and innovations, advice on managing waste at events including obstacles and new solutions, and exclusive research into audience behaviour, digital vs paper tickets, and festivals current sustainability activities and more. As ever, Green Events & Innovations will have speakers and panellists who are experts in their field.

SCHEDULE: 09:30 - 17:30 

Reducing food waste:               Jacqui Reeves & Rebecca Sarll (Fareshare South West)

Reducing campsite waste:       Rick Story (Eco-action Partnership) and Holger Jan Schmidt (Green Events Europe), 
Love Your Tent.                            

The Power Behind Festivals Panel: 
Chris Johnson, The Shambala Festival, Andy Mead Festivals (Firefly Solar), Bill Egan (Aggreko) 

Managing waste at festivals:     
Panel Moderator: Claire O’Neill, A Greener Festival with Holger Jan Schmidt (Green Events Germany), Ed Cook (Ed Cook Consultancy), Marek Gordon (SITA, Olympics 2012 waste contractor)

Break out session 1:               
Understanding the Audience: Exclusive Audience research data for UK & European festivals in 2012. Teresa Moore (Bucks New University)

Break out session 2:                               
The Greener Festival Award 2013: Helen Wright, A Greener Festival (Victoria Suite, for AGF assesors)

Workshop 3:                           
The Greener Festival Award 2013 & the aggregated 2012 results. Helen Wright (AGF) and Nicolas Pianet (AGF)

Focus on Finland:                    
The EcoCompass Event – the Finnish environmental management system and also a focus on the Helsinki area’s environmental plans:   Elina Levula

The Green Ticket:                   
New research reveals the environmental impact of the various methods of ticket delivery with Dave Newton (We Got Tickets) and Sam Chapman (Edinburgh University)

More speakers and session to be announced soon! To get your tickets now: REGISTER HERE.

More on the ILMC (8th – 10th March 2013) HERE

Kindly Supported By:

After a hugely succesful event last Feburary, focusing on structural safety and crowd management AIF are proud to present the second day of seminars. Aiming to provide festival organisers and festival staff with the required tools and understanding to continue to safely and efficiently run world class festivals.

The conference is split into two parts, each focusing on a separate current topic of importance to the festival industry. An overview along with a full schedule and ticket shop can be found here

• AIF Winners: Y-Not Festival - Best Small Festival, Green Man - Best Grassroots Festival, Bestival - Best Major Festival.

• Other AIF nominees included Camp Bestival, Kendal Calling, Secret Garden Party, Glasgowbury, Beat Herder, No Direction Home, Nozstock, Glade, London Summer Jamm,  Tramlines, LeeFest, Truck and Bearded Theory, Belladrum Tartan Heart , End of the Road, Greenbelt, Shambala Festival. 

05.12.12, London:- Y-Not, Green Man and Bestival - all three members of the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) - won awards at the 9^th UK Festival Awards, which took place at the London Roundhouse on Monday December 3^rd.

Founded by Radio 1 DJ Rob Da Bank, Bestival received Best Major Festival in a huge win all round for independent festivals. Other winners from the AIF were Green Man for Best Grasssroots Festival and Y-Not for Best Small Festival.

Other AIF members that were nominated included Camp Bestival, Kendal Calling, Secret Garden Party, Glasgowbury, Beat Herder, No Direction Home, Nozstock, Glade, London Summer Jamm,  Tramlines, LeeFest, Truck and Bearded Theory, Belladrum Tartan Heart , End of the Road, Greenbelt and Shambala Festival.  The full list of nominees is below

Said Claire O’ Neill, AIF General Manager “Receiving awards for both Best Small and Best Major Festival highlights the diversity of festivals sitting together around the AIF table. Furthermore it’s great to see the huge number of AIF nominees who've all continued to achieve amazing things despite a tough year for some festivals in the UK.  Things are looking bright for 2013!”

AIF member UK Festival Award Nominees

Camp Bestival / Green Man / Kendal Calling / Secret Garden Party = Best Medium Festival

Glasgowbury / Beat Herder = Best Small Festival (Y-Not winner)

No Direction Home Festival = Best New Festival

Beat Herder / Bestival / Nozstock / Glade Festival = Best Dance Festival

London Summer Jamm / Tramlines = Best Metropolitan Festival

Bestival / LeeFest / Truck / Y-Not = Best Line up

Bearded Theory / Camp Bestival = Best Family Festival

Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival / End of the Road / Greenbelt / Y Not = Best Grassroots Festival (Green Man Winner)

Shambala Festival = The Greener Festival Award

Bestival = Best Toilets

Stevie Wonder @ Bestival / Mogwai @ Green Man / Dizzee Rascal @ Kendal Calling = Headline Performance of the Year

Rob da Bank (Bestival) / Y-Not Team (Y-Not) = Promoter of the Year

Beat Herder (Attention to detail) / Bearded Theory (Angel Gardens) / Green Man (Holiday Ticket) = The Extra-Festival Activity Award

The Association of Independent Festivals re launches its  monthly night of networking and live music ‘The Festival Social’ on the first Tuesday of each month.  

The events create a forum for informal dialogue among the creative side of the festival business with agents, managers and creatives invited to join the AIF and its promoters for some musical merry-making, festival-related launches and bookings gossip.

The first event of this season will be held on October 2nd, 2012 at The Social (5 Little Portland Street , London W1W 7JD) off Great Titchfield Street. Curated by Rob da Bank and Huw Stephens the event will feature Dam Mantle, China Rats and some Very Special Guests.

The first event of the season will be free all night, with subsequent events costing only £2.

Please email social@aiforg.com to join the guestlist for entry.

Event Details

Title:                                          Festival Social

Date:                                         Tuesday October 2^nd 2012

Time:                                         7pm – 12am

Venue:                                      The Social, 5 Little Portland Street  London W1W 7JD

Cost:                                          Free all night 

The Good Food for Festivals Guide (free download)

Festivals and other events offer a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the best of fresh, delicious and sustainable food.

We understand that while many festivals are keen to improve their ethical credentials, tackling the food being served can be daunting - hence this Good Food for Festivals Guide, published by Sustain in partnership with A Greener Festival. The guide provides practical advice to festival organisers within the UK and internationally on how to implement positive changes. 

By adopting the simple, affordable and effective actions outlined in this guide, many of which are already being taken by some forward-thinking festival organisers, your event can play a part in improving the health and well-being of visitors, the livelihoods of farmers and producers, the welfare of farm animals, the conservation of precious wildlife and fish stocks, and the long-term sustainability of our food system.

"An ever-growing number of festivals in the United Kingdom and around the world have been at the forefront of promoting sustainability, whether by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, minimising waste, reducing their event's environmental impact or championing positive behaviour such as recycling. With often large numbers of people using shared catering, festivals provide an interesting and enjoyable space to engage with the audience and promote food sustainability. A Greener Festival has identified food sustainability as a priority for 2012 and we are actively looking for better and healthier food at festivals, and to support sustainable farming. This clear and relevant set of guidelines is a real and important step forward and will be a massive help to festival organisers and others involved with live events." Ben Challis, Co-founder, A Greener Festival                             

The organisers of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games have taken a pioneering approach by committing to serve sustainable food for the 14 million meals served at the Games. Inspired by this, event organisers such as the Greater London Authority and Thames Festival have already committed to adopt these same food and catering standards in their work. Building on the response to the London 2012 Food Vision, the Food Legacy programme has been established to encourage other caterers and event organisers to join in.

The Good Food for Festivals Guide, and the Good Food Guide for Festival and Street-food Caterers have been jointly produced by two Sustain projects – ‘Ethical Eats’ and ‘Food Legacy, inspired by the London 2012 Food Vision’ – in partnership with A Greener Festival. The guides provide practical advice to festival organisers, and mobile caterers, on how to implement positive changes to their food and drink. The guides are free to download at: www.ethicaleats.org