Green Man Festival facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Green Man Festival |
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Green Man Festival, Mountain Stage, 2018
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| Genre | Folk music /Indie / Dance / World Music / Americana / Electronica |
| Location(s) | Near Crickhowell, South Wales |
| Years active | 2003–present |
The Green Man Festival is an independent music, science and arts festival held annually in mid-August in the Brecon Beacons, Wales. Green Man has evolved into a 25,000 capacity week long event, showcasing predominantly live music (in particular alternative, indie, rock, folk, dance and Americana). The festival site is divided into 10 areas, hosting literature, film, comedy, science, theatre, wellness and family acts. It is also possible to stay for a week at the festival site, known as the Settlement, and explore the surrounding area.
The festival has expanded into other ventures, including setting up a charitable wing called the Green Man Trust and launching its own beer range called Green Man Growler. In 2018, headline acts including Fleet Foxes, The War on Drugs and Public Service Broadcasting. In 2019, headliners included Father John Misty, Four Tet and Idles. In 2021, headliners included Mogwai, Caribou, Tirzah and Fontaines D.C.
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Awards and press
Renowned for its non-corporate, ethical approach, the Green Man Festival has won several awards including "Best Medium Sized Festival 2010", and "Grass Roots Festival 2012". In 2015, Green Man won "Best Festival" at the Live Music Business Awards. As Managing Director, Fiona Stewart received the Outstanding Achievement Award at the UK Festival Awards in 2013. It is the largest contemporary music and arts festival in Wales and has been given major event status by Welsh Government due to the festival's positive impact and wealth creation.
Green Man receives regular features and reviews in international, national and local press. In 2021, it was awarded 5 star reviews by the Guardian, NME and iPaper. The Quietus stated that it "stakes its claim as one of Europe's very finest festivals", the Guardian wrote that the 2018 festival "proved again why Green Man is one of the UK's most beloved festivals" and Cosmopolitan stated that "Green Man is the most queer-friendly festival in the UK".
History
Green Man Festival was founded by Jo Bartlett and Danny Hagan as a 300-person one-day event at Craig-y-Nos Castle, Brecon, in 2003 [1]. The festival moved to Baskerville Hall, outside Hay-on-Wye, for a two-day event in 2004, and by 2005 it had evolved into a three-day event. The festival was attended by 300 people in 2003, its first year, by 1,000 in 2004, and by 3,000 in 2005 [2]. Fiona Stewart joined in 2006 as joint Managing Director. In the same year, Press Officer Ken Lower was made a non-voting minority shareholder, and the team moved the festival to its current location on Glanusk Park near Crickhowell, in the Brecon Beacons National Park in Wales and increased Green Man to a 6,000 capacity festival. In 2009 Danny Hagan resigned as Director, retaining his shares, and Ken Lower sold his shares. In 2011 Jo and Danny sold their shares to Fiona Stewart and left the company. Fiona increased the capacity from 15,000 to 25,000 and Green Man is currently the only major independent UK music festival to have a female director with controlling ownership.
In 2012, the festival had a daily capacity of 15,000 people and the headline acts were Mogwai, Van Morrisson and Feist. By 2013, the festival had 20,000 visitors. The 2017 festival celebrated the event's 15th anniversary. In 2018, it had 25,000 visitors, with headline acts including Fleet Foxes, The War on Drugs and Public Service Broadcasting. Bands and DJs play a range of musical styles, including indie, Americana, folk, reggae, and electro. In 2019, the headliners were Stereolab, Four Tet and Idles. Headline acts announced for 2020 were Caribou, Goldfrapp, Michael Kiwanuka, Mac DeMarco and Little Dragon - the 2020 edition was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, replaced by a digital version that year.
As well as music areas, the festival has a wellness and spa, children and teen zones, a science engagement area called Einstein's Garden, tents for literature, film and comedy. The festival regularly sells out months in advance and in 2018 contributed £10.4 million to the Welsh economy.
Green Man Festival refuses commercial sponsorship and therefore can focus on local Welsh food and drink providers, rather than being tied into corporate deals. It directly employs its workers, paying a living wage. The festival has a strong ethical and environmental focus, using solar power as much as possible. The food and drink services are required to meet standards such as being Fairtrade, Red Tractor and Marine Conservation Society accredited. In 2019, Help Refugees (now known as Choose Love) and Newport to Calais Aid Collective collected donated tents to be recycled and reused. The festival has never used single-use plastics and encourages caterers to use Welsh produce.
Charities, community work and regional partnerships
The festival is a charitable partner of The Bevan Foundation and Oxfam Cymru, Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, RSPB Cymru and Brecon Beacons National Park Authority all host stalls at the festival. Each year 40 stalls (worth over £17,000) are allocated to Welsh Charities and Not-for-Profit Organisations. £20,000 is raised annually for local arts and sports projects through a stall run by the Cwmdu Friends. In 2013 more than £16,000 was raised for a charitable trip to Uganda for students at the local Crickhowell High School. Since 2010, Green Man has raised £250,000 of donations for charities. A 2015 UK Music report, compiled based on research from Oxford Economics, identified Green Man, alongside the Wales Millennium Centre, as a major driver of Music Tourism in Wales. In 2021 Green Man partnered with My Discombobulated Brain, a Welsh mental health charity, to train their stewards in Mental Health Awareness.
Green Man Trust
The Green Man Trust is the charitable wing of the festival, its aim is to create arts development programmes, training opportunities, science engagement and bring about positive change to Welsh communities. The current ambassador for Green Man Trust is Welsh actor and musician, Iwan Rheon, whose work has included Game of Thrones, Misfits and Riviera. As of 2020, it had provided 92 community grants, supported more than 5,000 emerging artists, trained over 2,000 people and funded more than 200 science projects. Training programs have included partnering with Merthyr Tydfil College and the Salvation Army in Cardiff to give training and mentoring to young adults from disadvantaged backgrounds. In 2020, the trust pledged an emergency fund supporting Welsh people affected by flooding caused by Storm Dennis. and raised over £20,000.
Other ventures
- Launched in 2008, Green Man Rising is an annual contest in which an emerging act is chosen by a panel of music industry experts to open the Mountain Stage on the first day of the festival.
- Green Man Growler is the festival's specially brewed beer, it has been sold at the festival since 2012 and was made available to buy online as a canned beer in 2020.
- In 2006, Green Man hosted its first annual Boat Party on the River Thames. The event usually featured a line-up of both live music and DJ sets and a bar. The last boat party in 2012 featured performances by Field Music, Three Trapped Tigers and Tom Williams & The Boat. In 2016, Green Man renamed the boat party Green Man Ahoy!. The event took place on 7 May 2016 and featured Slow Club, Gengahr and Palace Winter.
- In September 2015, the Green Man took its Courtyard bar to King's Cross in London for a four-day celebration of Welsh beer and cider. Over 180 beers and ciders were bought from independent Welsh brewers. Live music came from Ibibio Sound Machine, Stealing Sheep, Boxed In, Meilyr Jones, C Duncan, Cairobi and The Wave Pictures. The line-up on the Sunday was co-curated with Moshi Moshi Records.
- The Green Man Festival celebrated St David's Day with a special one-day event in London's Cecil Sharp House. It was named ‘Hwyl’ (a lyrical Welsh term for ‘fun’) and was a celebration of Welsh culture, crafts and gastronomy with talks, theatre, storytelling and comedy. In 2015, live music came from Teleman, Georgia Ruth, Stanley Brinks, Sweet Baboo and Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog. HWYL did not take place in 2016.
- Busk On The Usk was a free one-day festival held in Newport, South Wales at various locations along the banks of the River Usk. The event was The Welsh Contemporary Music's contribution to the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad and was co-produced by Fiona Stewart. The event featured a program of live music, discussions and lectures, art installations and local food stalls. The event was organised by Green Man with help from the people of Newport along with contributions from a number of Wales’ most important cultural organisations including Sŵn Festival, the Do Lectures, the Laugharne Weekend, the Bevan Foundation, the Centre for Regeneration Excellence Wales, Riverfront Theatre, University of Wales Newport and Arts Council Wales. The music line-up included Scritti Politti, Anna Calvi, Cate Le Bon and Jon Langford. An estimated 6,000 people attended the event.
See also
- List of music festivals in the United Kingdom
