WOMAD
Created by British pop legend Peter Gabriel, the WOMAD – World of Music Arts & Dance – festival began back in 1982. Starting from humble beginnings at The Royal Bath and West Showground, WOMAD now runs over 160 festivals across 27 countries. WOMAD not only showcases music but also food and culture from all around the world.
Our partnership with WOMAD began back in 2013, and we look forward to many more years of partnership where we can focus on creating a greener Britain, fighting the climate crisis and improving the future sustainability of our planet. We hope to continue to demonstrate to the festival’s 40,000 audience each year what we believe in, and how together we can do more.
Since we first partnered with WOMAD, Ecotricity has played an active role at each festival. In that time, we’ve had many great moments. The Green Britain Debate, hosted by journalist and newsreader Jon Snow, has seen thousands of WOMAD spectators enjoy lively debates on subjects like fracking and climate change.
In a joint collaboration with WOMAD, we created The Young Green Briton Competition, where children aged 11 to 16 present their ideas for a greener Britain on stage to thousands of festival goers including Ecotricity founder, Dale Vince. The Young Green Britons are mentored and coached by leading environmentalists, journalists and business people such as Dale Vince (energy mentor), Robert Llewellyn (transport mentor), Geetie Singh-Watson (food mentor), Simon King (nature mentor) and Mark Avery (nature and environment mentor)
The partnership between WOMAD and Ecotricity has been a huge success over the years, meeting so many of our customers face-to-face and being able to chat to them in an informal, relaxed setting has really helped us understand what motivates our customers and other like-minded people who want to do something to fight the climate crisis. We’ve even worked with them to help reduce the festival’s carbon emissions.
The Taste the World stage, where festival goers are encouraged to get closer to the artists and gain insight into their culture and cuisine, has also allowed Ecotricity to showcase Forest Green Rovers (FGR), the world’s first vegan football club and show how people can live ‘another way’ with vegan food, and planet-saving vegan energy.
The history of Ecotricity at the WOMAD festival
2019
Green Britain Debate
Saturday – debate hosted by Jon Snow with guests Dale Vince (founder of Ecotricity), Shelia Dillon (BBC Radio 4 Food Programme presenter on veganism).
Sunday – debate hosted Natalie Fee (Environmentalist & Author) with guests Dale Vince and Gail Bradbrook (founder of Extinction Rebellion).
Taste the World Stage
Hosted by FGR chef Jade Crawford.
2018
Green Britain Debate
Saturday – ‘In conversation’ hosted by Lucy Siegle (reporter for BBC The One Show Ethical Living journalist for The Guardian), with Dale Vince.
Sunday – debate on fracking hosted by Jon Snow with guest Dale Vince.
Taste the World Stage
Hosted by FGR chef Jade Crawford.
2017
Green Britain Debate
Hosted by Jon Snow with guests Dale Vince, Lucy Siegle and Paul Sinton-Hewitt (founder of Parkrun).
Taste the World Stage
Hosted by FGR chef Em Franklin.
2016
Green Britain Debate
Hosted by Jon Snow, Dale, Joanna Yarrow (former Head of Sustainable & Healthy Living at IKEA Group) and Lucy Siegle.
Taste the World Stage
Hosted by Forest Green Rovers (FGR) chef Em Franklin.
Young Green Briton
2015
Green Britain Debate
Hosted Jon Snow with guests Dale Vince, Safia Minney (founder of sustainable fashion brand People Tree) and Mark Shayler (co-founder of the Do Lectures).
Young Green Briton
2014
The first year we had our own stage in the Arboretum. 2014 also saw the very first Green Britain Debate take place as well as the first ever Young Green Briton Competition.
Green Briton Debate
Hosted by Jon Snow with guests Dale Vince, Robert Llewellyn (Red Dwarf actor) Geetie Singh-Watson (co-founder of organic farm Riverford) and Simon King (conservationist and wildlife photographer).
Young Green Briton
Children aged 11 to 16 presented their ideas for a greener Britain on stage to thousands of festival goers.
2013
Ecotricity first started attending WOMAD festival in 2013. For our first year, we were located in Molly’s Bar.