Greenbelt festival

The Greenbelt festival is an annual Christian festival of music, art and faith. Held annually in England since 1974. Greenbelt has grown from a music event, to which 1500 people came, to seeing crowds of nearly 30,000 with a much broader scope of arts, faith, and justice.

The festival regularly attracts the biggest names of Christian music and many mainstream musicians. Those that have played the festival in the past include old rockers, new folksters and soaring pop-stars. This list has encompassed U2, Moby, Cliff Richard, Bruce Cockburn, Martyn Joseph, Steve Taylor, Daniel Amos, Phatfish, Midnight Oil, Over the Rhine, Iona, Amy Grant, Miles Cain, Lamb, Kevin Max, dfg, Lambchop, Goldie, Jamelia, After the Fire, Larry Norman, Randy Stonehill, Asian Dub Foundation, The Polyphonic Spree, Aqualung, Dum Dums, The Proclaimers, Daniel Bedingfield, Eden Burning, Duke Special, Why? and Delirious?. The festival has also featured Christian rock bands aimed at younger Greenbelters.

Greenbelt is also a venue for teaching and discussion around (but not exclusively within) the Christian faith, and has attracted a large number of famous Christian speakers, including Rowan Williams (now Archbishop of Canterbury) who is currently the festival's patron. However, it is not just about inviting Christians to speak. The festival welcomes anyone who the organisers believe 'speaks for justice', usually meaning that they are on the political left, and has recently had Anita Roddick, Peter Tatchell, Bill Drummond and Billy Bragg sharing their thoughts. Greenbelt sees itself as having never been shy of tackling controversial issues and providing a 'safe space for honest debate'.

More recently with its links to the NGO Christian Aid, Greenbelt has become heavily involved in campaigns for trade justice. The festival was one of the main catalysts for the huge Jubilee 2000 movement. Greenbelt is also a showcase for performing arts, visual arts and alternative worship, again, not exclusively Christian.

History

Greenbelt is a nomadic festival which has so far been held at six different locations in England. While the venue has changed, the core event has remained the same: a celebration of faith, justice and arts with a particular Christian perspective.

The first Greenbelt Festival was held on a pig farm just outside the village of Charsfield near Woodbridge, Suffolk over the August 1974 bank holiday weekend. Local fears concerning the festival in the weeks running up to it proved to be unfounded, but the festival didn't return to the venue.

Between 1975 and 1981 the festival was held in the grounds of Odell Castle in Bedfordshire. The largest audiences for Greenbelt were during its two-year stay at Knebworth Park in Hertfordshire, 1982 and 1983.

1984 saw Greenbelt move to one of its longest-serving homes, Castle Ashby, Northamptonshire. While at Castle Ashby, Greenbelt begun the practise of naming festivals. Artists are encouraged to draw from the theme where possible.

Originally the 1992 festival was expected to be held at a new, permanent home on a farm a few miles away in Church Stowe. Greenbelt had finances in place to purchase the site, but met strong resistance from local residents. The plans collapsed and the festival returned to Castle Ashby one last time.

From 1993 to 1998 Greenbelt's home was the grounds of Deene Park, Northamptonshire. Putting the plan to purchase a permanent site on hold, Greenbelt instead negotiated with Deene Park's owner and invested in infrastructure improvements to this temporary site instead.

Following a downturn in audience figures and rising production costs, Greenbelt faced up to the inevitable in 1998: it was no longer financially viable to continue using the Deene Park site. A bold plan was devised. The 1998 festival was pitched as the "last Greenbelt of its kind", with two festivals planned for 1999: a youth-oriented festival "Freestate" in partnership with Spring Harvest to be held the August Bank Holiday weekend in 1999 and a more family-oriented "Greenbelt" to be held over the last weekend in July in 1999 at Cheltenham Racecourse.

In early 1999 plans for Freestate collapsed and its embryonic programme was hastily rolled into the Greenbelt planned for Cheltenham. The 1999 Greenbelt Festival took place at Cheltenham but saw the lowest audiences since the 1970s. It remains the only Greenbelt to have taken place other than on an August Bank Holiday weekend.

Greenbelt worked through its financial difficulties and has returned to its Christian roots, welcoming all wings of the church equally. Recent festivals at the new Cheltenham racecourse have had ever-increasing audiences. Today Greenbelt sees audiences comparable in numbers to those of its "glory days" in the early 1980s.

Locations, Themes and Contributors

External links

* [http://www.greenbelt.org.uk/ Greenbelt official site]
* Cross Rhythms [http://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/artists/Greenbelt/15651/ reviews music] at the festival
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/content/image_galleries/greenbelt_2007_gallery.shtml Photos of Greenbelt 2007 from BBC Gloucestershire]