The organisers of Sunderland’s Split Festival are hoping to make their event more eco-friendly.
This year’s festival, curated by The Futureheads and taking place for the third time in September, includes sets by The Charlatans, The Drums, Mystery Jets and Frankie and the Heartstrings.
The event chairman, Rob Deverson, works with organisations to help them reduce their carbon footprint. He and the festival team are working with Julie’s Bicycle, a project which endorses environmental sustainability through creative practices, to create a three-year plan to cut down Split Festival’s carbon impact.
“As our Festival has developed we wanted to bring a similar ethos to Split. We are aware that many people in the performing arts industry have concerns about the eco-credentials of live events,” Deverson says. “”We can do all we can inside the venue to reduce our carbon impact by using bio-fuels in local generators to power the site as well as carefully managed waste streams and recyclable food and drink materials.”
Those attending the festival are being persuaded to leave their cars at home and make use of public transport to travel to the site. Free buses will be provided from the city’s Park Lane Interchange to the venue.
Deverson adds, “A team of volunteers will be conducting entry interviews on methods of travel and we will be offering spot prizes throughout the weekend for festival goers who can show public transport tickets for their trip to the event.”
The Split Festival takes place at Ashbrooke Sports Club, Sunderland on September 17 and 18. Tickets for the event, as well as further information about the weekend, is available on its website.
