10th Green Operations Europe Workshop – Aktionsnetzwerk Nachhaltigkeit in Kultur und Medien

Only a few more weeks to until GO Group’s 10th international workshop at Nova Cvernovka, Bratislava (Slovakia) on 8 & 9 April 2024, kindly co-hosted by Pohoda Festival. This is your kind reminder to register here for this 10th anniversary edition of our traditional 2-day seminar taking place at the beautiful Atelier Svelnik (Nadácia Cvernovka). Join a great group of speakers and participants from 11 European countries that are already on our list.

The 10th international GO Group workshop will deal with what is needed to help festivals in all of Europe to become sustainable and circular as well as how other stakholders such as artists can be included in the efforts. We almost finished a very exciting program featuring an extraordinary mix of inspiring keynotes, presentations of brand new tools and inspiring case studies combined with creative workshops, discussions, talks and networking events on three days. We are looking forward to speakers from major events as well as scientists, experts and activists

Confirmed Sessions

GO Group opening – going green while going crazy?
Juicy stats – the impact of festivals and events
The art of getting the artists on board – roundtable discussion
Lost in transformation? The challenges of event organisers going green…
Group Workshop: Driving Sustainability in the European Festival Sector
Case study: Pohoda Festival
Case study: Labor Tempelhof Berlin
Scaling Impact – presentationTransport Emissions: Mapping Greener Paths for Festivals
Music Dialogue – From Groningen to Bratislava
The green blackbox – where are we going from here?
GO Group dinner – the secret star of every GO Group workshop.

Confirmed Speakers

Registration & Discount Code

Registration Fee: 150€ regular price incl. all fees and lunch on both days.You might want to use Green Music Initiative’s 50% partner discount: In the booking process you need to chose „ticket number“ and use discount code „Partnercode“ leading to a price of only 75€

We cannot wait… This will be amazing!
All the best & see you all in Bratislava,
Holger Jan Schmidt – GO Group / Yourope
Jacob Sylvester Bilabel – Green Music Initiative

Program details

Juicy stats – the Impact of festivals and events
By Claire O’Neill (A Greener Future, UK)
Each year AGF produces a report from aggregate analysis of all of the events and festivals who apply for certification and Sustainability Diagnosis. We will learn about the results and developments from 2023 and also take a closer look at the carbon emissions measured by the assessed festivals. The numbers show a more differentiated picture especially in fields like audience and production/artist travel and transport, food & beverage as well as material procurement. Are you ready for a holistic view that also acknowledges the importance of festivals for social, cultural and mental health benefits for society.

The art of getting the artists on board – roundtable discussion
hosts: Barbora Bodnarova (Pohoda Festival, SK) & Holger Jan Schmidt (YOUROPE, DE)
What is the best sustainable plan worth if it is not supported by your partners? For many events there is a dependency on headline artists or popular international acts that may interfere with the festival’s efforts to go green. We want to openly discuss approaches and solutions how to integrate artists and other stakeholders. What are the tools and arguments you are using and what didn’t work at all?

Lost in transformation. The challenges of event organisers going green…
feat. Bianca Damian (Artmania, RO), Peter Dimitrov (A To Jazz, BG) and more
host: Linnéa Vagen Svensson (Greener Events, NO)
GO Group is around for 13 years now and highlighting great successes and achievements since. But honestly, that is pretty comfortable and absolutely not enough. Basically our common task is neither a race nor a competition. The goal is to make the hole sector greener, smarter, more sustainable and raise the level for all. Let’s take the time and discuss the every day challenges and bottlenecks for colleagues willing to take part in this transition. The reasons are manifold: lack of infrstructure, knowledge transfer or even regulation as well as an attitude-behaviour gap of stakeholders and audience. We will start the honest discussion here and now to define the most important steps to be taken to make a real change in the few years we have left.

Group Workshop: Driving Sustainability in the European Festival Sector
In cooperation with Green Deal Circular Festivals
hosted by Ian Tellam (Ecotunes NL/UK)

Let’s come together to shape how sustainability can form the heart of festivals across Europe. In this collaborative workshop, we’ll dive into the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. How can we collectively foster sustainability across such a vibrant and varied sector? Drawing on the success stories and expertise of sustainability frontrunners and the needs of those following them, we’ll explore which innovative solutions can propel us forward, and in what ways governments and industry stakeholders should lend their support. This is not just about achieving sustainability for every festival in Europe, it’s about festivals as real-life examples of how to use resources sustainably. Sustainable festivals can catalyze similar practices throughout the entire economy.
We need your hearts and minds in this interactive session, because your insight, creativity, and passion are crucial to this mission as we work together to identify key steps forward. The results will help us develop a joint strategy with concrete proposals for EU funded projects to accelerate the sustainable transformation of the European festival and event sector.

Case study: Pohoda Festival
by Ondrej Polacek (Pohoda Festival, SK)
We will learn about Pohoda’s green oprerations. The festival was awarded best medium sized festival at the European Festival Awards 2023, is a former Green Operations Award winner and participants in the Green Deal Circular Festivals. Pohoda is one of the green lighthouses in the eastern festival sphere and will show us how they do it.

Case study: Labor Tempelhof Berlin
by Tabea Kaplan (Loft Concerts, DE)
Three concerts, 180,000 people. This living laboratory project shows us in which ways climate- and resource-positive event management is already possible today and where there are still limitations. It also is a best practise example of how artists, tour and local promoters, venue and science can work hand in hand.

Scaling Impact – presentation
by Bryonie Mathews (Hope Solutions)
get ready for insights from Hope Solutions across a range of festivals, events & projects from their client portfolio which includes Glastonbury Festival, Coldplay Music Of The Spheres World Tour, Depeche Mode tour, Frieze Art Fair, Kew the Music, Corona Sunsets, BBC Earth Experience, and more. We will look at how action on climate change and sustainability interventions have become key for a number of global entertainment projects and Bryonie will talk through how waste and power programmes can be delivered at scale and what challenges still remain.

Transport Emissions: Mapping Greener Paths for Festivals
by Linnéa Vagen Svensson (Greener Events, NO)
Transportation is the main source of emissions for festivals across Europe. This introduction will explore methodologies for mapping and quantifying emission sources associated with festival logistics and audience travel. We will look into the complexities of accurately calculating emissions, whilst debating the balance between thoroughness and practicality. To exemplify Rosendal Garden Party (SE) and the carbon calculator Green Producers Tool will be used as a case.
In the session we invite participants to engage in discussions about creating a standardised framework for eco-conscious transport planning and mapping audience mobility, with the goal of collectively moving towards more sustainable festival experiences.

Music Dialogue – From Groningen to Bratislava
by Rob van Wengen (ESNS, NL)
At the GO Group workshop in Bratislava ESNS head of sustainability Rob van Wegen will share key findings of the Music Dialogue conducted at this year’s ESNS in Groningen. The Dialogue is part of the Music Moves Europe actions within the Creative Europe program of the European Commission. The dialogue focused these questions:

How do we create equal possibilities to work on environmental sustainability in the
music sector?
How do we provide better access to the information that is available on
environmental sustainability in the music sector?
How do we move from knowledge to action?
We are looking forward to the key results of the dialogue and further discuss these and the underlying questions with the GO Group participants collecting input from practical approach to policy suggestions.

The green blackbox – where are we going from here?
host: Holger Jan Schmidt (YOUROPE, DE)
At the end of two exciting days, this last item on the program awaits us. No clairvoyant abilities are required to predict that many will again draw energy and inspiration from this GO Group workshop. Fortunately, it has always been that way and we are grateful for it. But how do we use this and where do we direct our (joint) efforts when we leave Bratislava behind us. We are using our last hour as a group to look into the backbox and bring some (green) light into the darkness together. Make plans, set goals, dream… What do you think? Are you with us?

GO Group dinner
kindly hosted by YOUROPE
The (not so) secret star of every GO Group workshop is the Monday night GO Group dinner. Always at a special place recommended by our hosts we invite our participants to follow up the day’s hot topics, get to know each other more, start a friendship… everything can happen here! This time our destination will be the restaurant „Otto“ in the heart of the old town of Bratislava. Dobrú chuť a vychutnajte si jedlo!