UK: The Festival Vision: 2025 initiative has launched a crowdfunding campaign that hopes to raise £25k in order to publish a second edition of its sustainability-centric The Show Must Go On Report. Providing comprehensive, free-to-use, practical resources and advice for festival organisers, the report’s stated goals involve developing networks to share best practice, strengthening a roadmap for change, and making sure the right information reaches decision makers with the power to implement new strategies.
Melvin Benn, Managing Director of Festival Republic, said: “We can no longer ignore the global impact of climate change and immediate action needs to be taken before it’s too late. The challenge is bigger than any one of us can tackle alone so it is essential more than ever that we collaborate as an industry to lead the way in protecting our world for future generations”.
Much has changed since the publication of the report’s first edition in 2015, and the update, to be published by early 2020, will provide fresh, relevant information and guidance. Events and companies will be supported through Festival Vision: 2025 to make and meet a pledge to reduce CO2 emissions by 50% by 2025 in the key areas of energy, resource management, water, food & drink, travel & transport and governance.
Already many key voices have pledged their support for the campaign, with some companies sponsoring relevant chapters: Grist Environmental on materials & waste, NCASS on food & drink, Tuned In Travel on travel & transport and Power Logistics on energy. Others have aligned their brands with the overall report, including PlayPass, The Showman’s Show, Enviral agency, Event Buyers Live and Immersa.
Festival Vision: 2025 began in 2015 when the initial Show Must Go On report was delivered to the COP21 talks in Paris as a festival industry response to climate change. The report has since become the foundation for the sector’s discourse about sustainability and over 75 festivals have taken the Festival Vision: 2025 pledge to cut their impacts using the advice provided.
Five years on and significant steps forward have been taken in the event industry, technology is changing, and there are many examples of innovation across the sector. The Festival Vision: 2025 campaign will gather and share the most up to date information so event professionals can make the best decisions for events and businesses.
“This is more than resources – it’s a movement,” said Chris Johnson of Powerful Thinking. “We have the opportunity for the events industry to come together and co-fund the best possible up-to-date resources, share information and support each other; to catalyse action on travel, waste, plastics, energy and emissions. It’s bold but achievable if we engage now and act, and the first step is to fund the work collaboratively”.
The campaign presents many opportunities for the live events industry to be part of this shared vision of environmental responsibility, and to align company brands and values with what is set to be the most read report on event sustainability this decade.
Visit the Festival Vision: 2025 Crowdfunder page for support and sponsorship opportunities.
