OUR IMPACT AT THE WEEKEND FESTIVAL
We are committed to ensuring The Weekend Festival is a place to celebrate connection in all its forms: not just to music, arts, and culture, but to the environment and each other. This page sets out The Weekend Festival’s commitments to that.
SOCIAL INCLUSION
As a festival and as a team we deeply value diversity and inclusion in all our events. We recognise and celebrate diversity in our audience and the team that brings the weekend festival to life.
Our directors and staff of the weekend festival are from a range of countries and we will not tolerate discrimination because of someone’s disability, religion, race, gender, sexual orientation, or gender identity in any form. Discriminatory words or actions have no place at the weekend festival.
RACE
We embrace diversity as a source of strength and celebrate the uniqueness of each individual. At The Weekend Festival, everyone is welcomed with equal enthusiasm—whether they're on, behind, or in front of the stage.
Our festival proudly implements a thorough diversity training program, and our staff comes from various corners of the world. Discriminatory or exclusionary behavior will not be tolerated at our event, as we are committed to fostering an environment where every person feels included and respected.
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
The Weekend Festival recognises our responsibility to preserve the live music experience for generations to come and have a tremendous opportunity to inspire climate action at The Weekend Festival.
We acknowledge the impact that our business has on the environment, are committed both to telling the truth about the scale of the climate and ecological emergency, and to taking urgent action.
Our primary impact areas are transport and energy, as well as waste, water, food and beverage, and the effect of the festival site. Each of the festival’s environmental impact areas have been assessed in the context of their impact on, and the contribution to reaching the relevant UN Sustainable Development Goals.
We employ a dedicated sustainability team who work as an integral part of the festival planning process, developing a sustainability action plan for the festival and ensuring these actions are undertaken on site.
We know that we cannot tackle climate change alone, and as such we support climate positive initiatives in the broader music industry.
TRAVEL
We strongly recommend and promote low-carbon travel options to get to the weekend Festival.
We will partner with a coach provider and provide shuttle buses from Notts center to provide lower-carbon alternatives to single-occupant car travel.
All car parking passes at the main festival parking will include a £1 surcharge, which is donated to Trees For Cities to fund tree planting projects which contribute to mitigating the emissions from audience travel.
GENDER
We recognise that there is a widely reported gender imbalance on the performers at many festival. Less widely reported is the same or greater imbalance in some of the producing roles but it is equally on our agenda.
Only 14% of songwriters and composers signed to publishers and fewer than 20% of artists signed to record label rosters are female and it is in this context that the challenge of achieving equal gender representation needs to be viewed. However, we have been proactive with our Rebalance programme.
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Owners are 50% Female 50% Male
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24 Male led acts
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23 Female Let acts
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2 transgender acts
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1 gender neutral act
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2 non-binary acts
In addition, we have committed to female identifying stage managers at our festivals, with 66.66%. This far surpasses the industry average and we are looking to do the same in many more roles across our festivals.
DISABILITY, D/DEAF ACCESS
AND NEURO-DIVERSITY
Festivals serve as a gathering place for music enthusiasts hailing from diverse backgrounds and various life experiences. At our weekend festival, we are dedicated to fostering an atmosphere of inclusion and accessibility for all attendees.
The Weekend Festival is committed to offering and continuously enhancing accessible infrastructure and services. Our approach prioritizes the unique needs of each individual, ensuring that no one is left out. We welcome and value any suggestions from attendees during our events, as your insights contribute to our growth and learning. Together, we aim to optimize the festival experience for everyone, ensuring that each person derives the utmost enjoyment from our event..
RESOURCE EFFICIENCY
We are committed to implementing closed-loop waste management systems at The Weekend Festival and work to support the development of a circular economy.
We apply the following waste hierarchy, as set out in the Waste Regulations 2011:
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Waste Reduction
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Reuse
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Recycling
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Energy Recovery
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Disposal
On the festival day we have a team who will try their best to seperate materials for better recycling process. There will also be a three-bin system we implement site-wide, allowing separation of recyclable, non-recyclable, and compostable waste.
PLASTIC REDUCTION
To mitigate the environmental impacts of plastic pollution, The Weekend Festival does not sell any virgin single use plastic. This includes sampling containers, cutlery, plates, bottles, serve-ware, sachets, stirrers and straws. We implement a sourcing policy that prioritises:
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Reuse over single use.
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Renewable over finite resources.
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Products with the highest recycled content available, including at least 30% where alternatives are not available.
The Weekend Festival has implemented the following measures to reduce single use plastic at the festival:
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We provide water refill stations across the site, and encourage fans, staff, and artists to use reusable bottles. These are also available for purchase onsite.
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No plastic pre bottled water is provided as standard to crew or artists.
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All soft drinks are served in either a recycled plastic bottle, a paper cup, or a can where permitted.
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Compostable materials are permitted for food service containers.
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Bulk condiment bottles are required to be used instead of single-use sachets.
WATER & WASTEWATER
Self-stopping taps are in operation at the Weekend Festival to minimise water wastage.
MENTAL HEALTH AND SAFEGUARDING
We have a number of staff that work at the weekend Festival to keep everyone safe. The Weekend Festival have developed a safeguarding policy that outlines our statement of intent towards the well-being and human rights of children, young people and vulnerable adults, and outlines the strategies that we have in place to safeguard customers and staff from abuse, which includes harm and neglect. We do not take this lightly.
Together, as a team, the weekend festival strive to offer a 24/7 all-inclusive safeguarding system meaning whatever support or treatment is required, it can be provided as quickly as possible within the festival site.
We believe that no one should experience abuse of any kind, and that we have a duty of care to protect customers and staff as much as is practicable and proportionate. This is regardless of age, disability, gender, race, domestic situation, religion, belief, or sexual orientation.
FOOD
We advise our food vendors and caterers to follow minimum standards with regards to food sourcing. Eggs are to be free range, fish sourced according to the MSC Good Fish Guide, and meat to be RSPCA Assured.
The weekend festival encourage using vendors local to the festival, and ensure a number of dedicated vegetarian and vegan options are available to festivalgoers.
We are reducing the carbon footprint of food consumed by our crew by not serving high-carbon food, and having at least one meat-free day per week in crew catering.
We are committed to collecting and redistributing any surplus food from the festival, to the local food bank.