A Sustainable Mindset: Meet The Green Man's Fiona Stewart

Nici Eberl – Green Man

Fiona Stewart, owner of the UK’s Green Man Festival, proves sustainability is about more than avoiding plastic onsite.

A giant wooden statue of the Green Man, the mythological figure representing nature, sustainability, good food and a bit of mischief, greets visitors of the eponymous festival. Rising up behind the awe-inspiring effigy are Wales’ spectacular Brecon Beacons mountains, where the festival is nestled. It’s a sight to feast one’s eyes on.

“The Green Man is a celebration of the good things in life, which can be up for interpretation, but great music and experiences, lovely food, it’s all very much part of it,” says Stewart. “Bringing people together in a fair and caring society is a very Green Man thing to do. Increasing opportunities for people comes through in all the areas we work in.”

Stewart has a knack for reinvigorating struggling events. Brought in to save England’s The Big Chill from going under in 2001, she grew it from a 5,000- to a 40,000-capacity festival that was synonymous with the word “boutique” until its last edition in 2011.

– At the end of each festival edition, the Green Man burns

By then, Stewart had already left, because she wanted to own her own festival. Enter Green Man, which had been launched in 2003 and was experiencing difficulties achieving viability. Much like The Big Chill, it needed development. Stewart took over Green Man in 2005, running both festivals for a while and bringing along much of her team, as well as a philosophy best described as one of care.

Green Man pays all hourly paid staff a living wage, including those working festival roles usually managed by volunteers. But it goes beyond fair pay. All Green Man staff, from senior production managers to stewards, share the same facilities backstage and know each other on a first-name basis. Artists and staff sit next to each other in the catering area and each festival role is valued equally.

This may sound a bit hippy, but it shouldn’t. Stewart has a commercial mindset, she just doesn’t believe one has to compromise quality and sustainability.

“A festival should make money,” she says. “It should be viable. It’s a business. This idea that you have these three years before making money is a fallacy. If you’re a big entertainment business that’s fine, you can have a concept and throw money at it for three years, but if you’re a small business it should be making a tiny loss or breaking even in the first year and then building in profit. Otherwise, what’s the point?”

In 2013 Stewart founded the Green Man Trust Charity which support arts development, offers opportunities to disadvantaged people, enables science education and creates positive change in Welsh communities. Emerging artists are offered mentoring, training and showcasing opportunities and dedicated festival areas facilitate scientific discussions about topics such as climate change. Much of Green Man’s staff takes part in voluntary initiatives that include mentoring disadvantaged young people, former refugees or recovering addicts who are offered work at the festival.

“They are treated like any other crew member, accepted and invested in,” says Stewart. “It’s not necessarily that they’ll end up in the business, make loads of money or become headline acts. It’s not that clickbait-y moment that’s going to be on Instagram. It’s got a much better legacy, because it’s real. They are part of something stimulating, that person-to-person interaction which creates positive memories, which I believe is the bedrock of the live experience.”

Green Man operates entirely in-house. “We started at a time when festival services companies did not exist in a way they do now, so we did it ourselves and still do,” Stewart says. “It keeps costs down and you have complete understanding of the whole operation.”

This also includes running their own bars – and not selling pouring rights to major beer sponsors has enabled another innovation. Many independent brewers in Wales produce “amazing beers,” but individually lack the capacity to supply a festival; by uniting, they do. “Without a doubt it is harder to run bars this way both financially and work wise,” Stewart says. “But it directs income to people who produce quality and rare products and the audience experience of having their own authentic beer festival on-site is brilliant.”

In fact, the event involves no headline sponsors, not because Stewart is opposed to the idea but because “it’s got to work with the ethos of Green Man, so it couldn’t be someone who’s going to take information about the audience and sell it on or offer samples which are not organic or try and affect the artistic or creational direction of the event. That’s difficult to find.”

All fresh foods at Green Man are sourced from the surrounding area and, according to Stewart, the event’s quality of food is similar to what’s offered at food festivals. “It’s common sense,” she says. “It’s really difficult for a trader to make money; they can get really burned very badly. I wouldn’t expect them to buy dry ingredients locally, but things like vegetables, meat, baking goods, eggs, et cetera, that generates a lot of economy in the area, in particular farming. We’ve worked with some of our artisan traders for 20 years, and their goods cost a lot of money.”

Apart from generating business for local brewers and farmers, the festival impact Wales’ economy more widely, contributing some £40 million to tourism, leisure, food and goods retailers in the country, according to a recent report by WalesOnline.

Many festivals made headlines this year by announcing plans to eliminate single-use plastics by 2021. But Green Man hasn’t ever used single-use plastics – its organizers just never shouted about it. The festival estimates that has saved 250,000 straws since 2007.

Like other UK events, Green Man’s traders and face painters started using biodegradable glitter made from plant cellulose and metallized aluminum. Festivalgoers must purchase reusable stacking cups – “Brilliant for carrying five pints at once and taking home as a souvenir after the festival,” according to the event’s website – to enjoy drinks at the bar. Cups that remain are washed, dried and stored for reuse the following year.

Every Green Man visitor has access to hot showers. “We don’t have VIP areas. Services are very high, but they need to be high for everyone,” says Stewart, adding that guests repay her team by being amazing, respectful and welcoming, and by cleaning up after themselves when the festival ends. They also have the option to donate food and equipment to refugee organizations at the end of the festival; many donate clothing as well.

Despite offering these services, music remains Green Man’s beating heart. The event has built a reputation for making headlines without relying on big names to sell tickets. The lineup for this year’s Green Man, scheduled for Aug. 15-18, includes Four Tet, Father John Misty, Eels, Stereolab, Amadou & Miriam, Idles, Maribou State, The Comet is Coming, Ezra Collective and many more.

When Stewart is onsite, she spends little time backstage. She likes to wander the festival site and linger among the people. “Discovery of music, culture, ideas, watching the excitement on the faces of the people you love, feeling the weight of your child on your shoulders as they’re watching – this is the fabric of the magic that we weave,” she says. “The stuff of dreams. The sum of a lifetime.”