Save our World Festival 2000

Feedback Review & Summary

INTRODUCTION

The Festival was blessed with the hottest two days in June in England since the year 1940. Around 5000 people came, as planned, on Sunday 18 June to Brockwell Park in South London, and enjoyed contrasting music from two live stages and a DJ dance area, two presentations on Save the Rhino and other educational material in a geodesic dome, a fair ground, stalls, a variety of food outlets, bar, a healing area and a place for quiet retreat at the highest point in the Park.

PREPARATION

Our publicity went out to all the regular listings, musical and environmental outlets. 10,000 fliers were produced, showing a simulated photograph of the local town centre flooded as a result of global warming and consequent sea level rise. Our idea was to provide the public with a powerful visual symbol for the changes to our climate, which are normally invisible and all too easy to forget or deny, in the deluded attempt to carry on as if nothing is ever going radically to change.

Though printed only two weeks before the Festival, the fliers dispersed like lightning and, we were told, eagerly snapped up by those who came across them in shops and clubs around London. It was also illustrated on this web page, where it still can be seen.

On the day before the Festival, the main structures were erected. These consisted of the music stages and the geodesic dome, two marquees and the fun fair. A number of the organisers slept overnight on the site in order to provide security - under a practically full moon in a cloudless sky. Jim, the general co-ordinator, got up early to see the sun break the north-eastern horizon at 4.50 am at the highest point in the Park, just three days before the summer solstice, with the full moon above the opposite horizon. He then sang an ancient sanskrit chant from the stage facing east, as a form of dedication for the Festival. Another short chant was sung collectively from the same stage at 1 pm before the musical performances commenced.

THE EVENT ITSELF

The public continued to arrive throughout the afternoon and showed a reluctance to leave when the music shut down at 8.30 pm. Individual people commented: 'The Festival was a great event which all enjoyed', 'Overall I think there was a good atmosphere and a lot of people had a lovely day', 'The Festival looked, sounded and felt like one this year. I was impressed by its growth over 3 years.' 'Festival was very special and I was impressed by the written material.'

TYPES OF FEEDBACK

The feedback which follows is derived from the following sources: observations under the following headings which were made before, at or following an internal Debriefing Meeting on 24 July, the outcome of a Debriefing Meeting with officers of London Borough of Lambeth on 11 July, which have been included under the same headings, and analysed data from a Questionnaire which was handed out to members of the public, on the reverse of the Main Programme for the day's events.

ORGANISATION/PROGRAMME/INFORMATION

This was the third Save our World Festival to be organised in Brockwell Park on the nearest Sunday prior to the Summer Solstice, for reasons given under History on the About Us page. They have been on successive years, starting on the Solstice in 1998. The first was very small and attended by only a few hundred people. Last year's and this year's Festivals attracted 5000.

All three have been arranged on an entirely voluntary basis. Anyone who has experience of doing this will know that it can be nail-biting at times, as volunteers' other priorities intrude upon their commitments to preparing the event. One person who helped at Reception on the day observed: 'Organisation is weakened by total dependence on voluntary input, and consequent lack of confidence that systems will work'.

Most of the staff agree that this year's Festival overcame many of last year's problems: excessive sound levels that intruded on other activities on the site and drew complaints from surrounding residents, shortage of stewards, insufficient information about the message of the Festival, resulting in it being more a musical than an environmental one, no designated kids' area and not catering enough for families.

This year there was more printed information and a Programme for the day. Even so, they cost so much that we could not produce enough of them - or on recycled paper. There were still complaints that the message was not clear enough, though 'better than last year'. Some announcements about the cause were made from the stages, but not nearly as often or as effectively as at, say, Gay Pride events.

Although communication around the site was better than last year, there were still insufficient on-site radios for everybody who needed them and to keep enough fully charged, and Lambeth staff, in particular, did not know who was in charge of all the key areas.

SITE LAYOUT & MANAGEMENT

Comments were generally complementary, e.g. 'It seemed to function well and accommodate the numbers of people who came'. The site co-ordinator, Hugo, was especially praised. There was a complaint that the Main and World Music Stages were too close together, although their directions had been clearly separated after acute problems of sound 'clashing' last year. Signage around the site was known to be poor, as we did not make enough time, or have enough volunteers, to get more signs made. Last year's supplier of inexpensive tents suddenly ran out of them, a hunt was made for others, and finally we were reduced to two big and expensive ones - for the bar and for Stewards - who had to share theirs with Reception, quite successfully, as it turned out.

We responded to the absence of Save our World banners on the site last year by making flags with the logo painted by volunteers on them for this year. So we were very disappointed that the person who was commissioned to do so failed to erect most of them, including one at the top of the Park for some very special Tibetan Prayer Flags. These had been donated for a visit to London by the Dalai Lama last year, and lent to us to fly at the Festival, for the first time at a public event.

SECURITY & STEWARDING

The good news about Stewarding was that we managed to attractstewards in sufficient numbers, by offering them £25 for the day, £4 for food, and a free Save our World T Shirt. The bad news was that we knew very little about many of them and they varied a great deal in dependability. It turned out to be a mistake to depend on them to seek donations from the public in order to help defray the costs of putting on the Festival - in two respects. Firstly, the fact that they were paid usually reflected a lack of incentive to collect for us. Secondly, this function had to be made subsidiary to their fulfilling their duties as stewards.

MUSIC AND BACK-UP/SOUND PRODUCTION & LEVELS

Changes from the previous year included: making a clear distinction between main stream bands and world music, under different directors, alternatively powered sound (pedal-power, wind and solar) for the World Music stage, and having a smaller scale DJ dance music area, more integrated into the main arena. The siting of the Main Stage to point uphill provided a link to the Retreat Area at the top of the Park and enabled people to balance their choices between close involvement in the performances and enjoying distant views across London while hearing the music in the distance. Received comments ranged between: 'Very good feedback from many people on both stages and dance area', 'Sound levels seemed low - under heavy scrutiny & checking', 'World Music stage under-powered and overwhelmed by Main stage and by Scalliwags dance music area' 'We should have more local bands, especially reggae music'.

Well, at least the varied feed back showed we were right to provide a number of different types and presentations in order to meet different tastes, without expecting one to please all.

INTERACTIVE/EDUCATIONALCONTENT & PRESENTATIONS

These were held in a geodesic dome like last year, a visual focus across the arena, and on the edge of a grove of trees. It was intended to provide the main vehicle for the Festival's environmental message. This year it had a black covering, instead of white, in order to simplify the showing of environmental video tapes and provide lighting effects for theatrical production. The co-ordination of this area was arranged much earlier than last year, it had a fuller programme and last year's technical problems were largely overcome. It was generally agreed that by far the most successful of the productions here were two performanaces of 'Save the Rhino'. The dome was packed by the time of the second performanace. As one person said: 'Save the Rhino was excellent, held audiences, with powerful message - perfect for the event and a show for the whole family.'

Unfortunately, the same interest was not shown in the remainder of the programme: environmental videos, debate, presentation of the local Agenda 21 Action Plan, hatha yoga, and introductions to the Healing and Retreat Areas. Part of the reason was clearly that it was uncomfortably hot inside, given the very high temperatures outside.

Others were that most of 'the action' was taking place outside, that rolling up the coverings to make the interior more accessible did not happen (probably because of the amount of Save the Rhino equipment that lined the perimeter and the staff needed to do this) and 'lack of stand-ups' by speakers before and after Save the Rhino and at regular intervals on the stages to publicise the remaining activities. Also, the main political guest, Darren Johnson, was taken ill at the last moment and did not make it to the Festival.

At a more basic level, it was suspected that: 'Maybe the message only works in an entertaining form at what the public regard as still primarily a musical event.' Such a conclusion calls for serious reflection, since similar content was poorly supported at both the previous festivals - though both on sunny days; but it has also occurred at similar green events.

OTHER CONTENT: HEALING/CHILDREN'S/RETREAT AREA

The Healing Area was planned to have its own tent and six healers. The original tent was a casualty of the general tent problem already mentioned. Offers from volunteers either failed to materialise or proved inadequate. The organiser 'pulled out' but other helpers arrived and the Area worked out miraculously under a tree on a borrowed tarpaulin - all the better for being in the open air. With the help of one of the healers, and her client, the prayer flags were joyfully flown from trees at the top of the Park.

The Lost Children's Area also had to be improvised without a tent, and with a new co-ordinator taking over at short notice. Gentle games were played with children in the grove of trees. The Children's Area suffered from the general lack of sign-posting, and children's play facilities were split between a commercial Fun Fair operator and a local person, on a smaller scale.

The Retreat Area, at the top of the Park, suffered a lack of visual focus, in the absence of the intended flag pole for the prayer flags, but was nevertheless a naturally beautiful place, with a walled garden, clearer air and distant views across London. Green Adventure held an open day at its greenhouses there and ran a linked programme with the main Festival.

SUPPORTING SERVICES: TOILETS/WATER/FIRST AID ETC.

Toilets were separate cubicles, hired in from the same firm as the previous year, and generally trouble-free. Water points were provided by Lambeth Council, and containers were supplied by the Main Stage, and later to Scalliwags Dance Area, on account of the exceptionally hot weather.

It was, as previous years, difficult to get prior confirmation of resourcing by the First Aid service. Even then, only a week before the event we were told that the original team were unable to attend. In the last minute arrangements to find a replacement, an internal confusion resulted in the new team saying they had to leave an hour before the event was due to end. This resulted in a tense situation between them, ourselves and Lambeth Council representatives, which was only resolved by the team agreeing to stay on an extra half-hour - made inevitable by a minor injury on one of the Fairground rides. This apart, their service was fine.

Lambeth's own park keeping contractors were commissioned to provide refuse collection facilities, do the litter picking and clean up the site after the event. They did not fulfil all the conditions of our specification, particularly for separating cans from other rubbish, but did drop their price somewhat as a result. There was a huge amount of rubbish left behind at the end, and it was suggested we might, in future, supply bin bags to the public and ask them to help clear it up, towards the end of the Festival.

COMMERCIAL CONTENT/STALLS, BAR ETC.

Our own voluntary services being at full stretch, the commissioning of an outside experienced person to manage the stalls, on a percentage fee basis, worked out very well - despite her being based in Bristol. The takings came in at above the budget figure, and, as one person said: ' The stalls seemed varied and mostly in keeping with the intentions of the event'.

Following poor returns on the bar last year, and differences with the external operator, one of our number believed he could bring us in a much better return, as an internal operation. Unfortunately, due to a combination of high costs and losses, it did not work out that way. One person suggested the weather was too hot for people to want to drink alcohol, saying 'the bar receipts were down in the heat of the day, and later it got very busy'.

PUBLIC RELATIONS (INCLUDING LAMBETH) & PUBLICITY

In the general co-ordinator's view, which he expressed to representatives of Lambeth Parks Department at a post-briefing meeting, the latter showed a lack of consideration in their communications with us, increases in rent and deposit conditions - indicating some 'high handedness'. Their treatment of us was noticeably more arbitrary and forceful than in the last two years, and seemed to be connected with the Department being set up as a business unit during the year. Relations with the Council's Regulatory Services Department, on the other hand, were very similar to previous years, and, being predictable and their increase in licence fee moderate, were much simpler - despite carrying more legal penalties.

However, when it came to the unexpected prospect of the First Aiders leaving early during the Festival, representatives of both Parks and Regulatory Services appeared unwilling to embrace the real, as opposed to the procedural, implications of requiring the Festival to finish early. The same applied to their expecting us to clear the site quickly after the event, without allowing us to play the quiet music we had planned up till 9 p.m. (the original finishing time for the First aiders) to encourage people to drift away of their own accord.

It was generally agreed that the 'publicity was more effective this year'. Our flier had been produced in the same quantity (10,000) but the message, on climate change, was more challenging than last year. Our Press Officer had circulated the same outlets as last year, but there seemed to be fewer Festival Guides around at the time. Unlike last year the local press did not seem to cover the event at all, either before or afterwards. We also seem to have very few photographs of the event, plus some so-far unedited video footage.

On the other hand, we had more hand-outs at the Festival, including 1000 Main Programmes for the day with a Questionnaire to be filled and handed in, on the reverse. More announcements about the purpose and content of the Festival were made from the stage facing onto the arena, especially at the start and at the end of the event - though they are considered still to be insufficient.

ANYTHING ELSE

There remain the results of the Questionnaire, which was handed out at the Festival, and some suggestions that have been made for its future. Only eleven people completed the Questionnaire, and the most significant thing about them was that they all, without exception, cared a great deal 'about the state and the future of the environment' and all but one felt they 'can influence the future' of it. They were all glad that they came. Clearly the Questionnaire appealed particularly to this section of the public. All eight who were not previously known to us have left contact details.

The following internal suggestions have been made through the debriefing process: 'Could we invite people from the Press to review the Festival, and dedicate one of us to record the Festival photographically and on video with write-ups?' At this stage, we possibly need an additional catalyst - such as the USA Petition (see the Web page). Does anyone have any photos that we do not know about? Another suggestion is: 'The Festival needs to be community-based, like Ashton Court, Bristol, or Strawberry Fair, Cambridge, to be more successful.' This approach is tempting. Yet, Save our World Festival is specifically environmental and not representative of an area as such. On the other hand it is meant to be locally based and aimed at local populations, concurrently in any number of locations around the world. That also rules out being a totally green event mainly for already committed greens.

Let's have YOUR suggestions! Thanks for your devoted attention to all the above!