Global Hubcap Culture

Ever mindful of discovering new ways of running greener outdoor events, Yourope has teamed with a U.K. Web site to create the Global Festival Forum.

The European festivals’ association is working with probert.biz, an Internet portal that describes itself as "the essential guide to green and groovy music events in the U.K."

Apart from the usual range of advice on how best to conserve energy, reduce waste at festivals and concerts and the save the planet, it’s also taken a less obvious approach by explaining such things as how to make sculptures from car hubcaps that have been left behind.

The Global Festival Forum started on the back of a January 11 Yourope meeting at Holland’s Eurosonic-Noorderslag weekend.

It was hosted by Christof Huber of Switzerland’s Open Air St.Gallen, who is the organisation’s general secretary, with Holger Jan Schmidt of Rheinkultur Festival (Germany), Arnt Anderson from Oya Festivalen (Norway), and Probert.biz founder Robert Hill.

Hill’s site will now provide a platform where Yourope and others can exchange ideas and issue ad-hoc newsletters under the title Accelerating Change.

To encourage participation, Hill is asking people to write 200 words on "How can we achieve sustainable festivals?" and submit it for publication before April 14.