We are committed to ensuring Community 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 charter sets out Community’s commitments to that.
As a festival and as a team we deeply value diversity and inclusion. We recognise and celebrate diversity in our audience and the team that brings Community Festival to life. 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 our festival.
Festivals bring together music fans of different backgrounds and from all walks of life. At Festival Republic/Live Nation (FR/LN) we are committed to doing everything we can to promote a culture of inclusion and accessibility for all of our customers. We aim to provide, and constantly improve on, accessible infrastructure and services, delivered in a way that respects the needs of each individual and does not exclude anyone.
We celebrate difference and believe that there is strength in diversity. We welcome all people equally, on, behind and in front of the stage. We have a comprehensive diversity training programme at Festival Republic that is available to each employee.
We recognise that there is a widely reported gender imbalance on the performers at Community 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. In 2017 we created the Rebalance programme to offer opportunities not just for artists but for studio engineers and producers. This started as an initial 3-year projection and has now been extended for a further 3 years. The project has provided studio time, mentoring and gig and festival slots to 33 people, many of whom have gone on to sign label deals or work permanently within the industry.
In addition, since 2018 we have committed to increasing the percentage of female identifying stage managers at our festivals, from 11% in 2018 to a total of 32% on average across our events in 2021. This far surpasses the industry average and we are looking to do the same in many more roles across our festivals. In 2021 we also contracted the first all-female stage crew at Download Pilot Festival. We are not passive about the work that needs to be done.
Although Community festival is not a camping event, we recognise the need for a joint agency approach to keep everyone safe. Festival Republic and Live Nation 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.
Together, as a team, we 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.
Helping us deliver our Safeguarding policy at Community Festival are:
As set out in our Green Nation Sustainability Charter,we recognise our responsibility to preserve the live music experience for generations to come and have a tremendous opportunity to inspire climate action at Community 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 on the flora and fauna of the 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.
Community Festival measures its carbon footprint annually.
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. Wireless is part of Vision 2025, contributed to the The Show Must Go On Reports in 2020 and 2015, and has signed up to Music Declares Emergency.
Community Festival is working towards a target of 50% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030. This is in line with the Paris Agreement goal of keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius, which we are still committed to despite the national pledges at COP26 being forecast to exceed this level of warming. We will review our progress annually in step with a science-based approach.
We support the London Borough of Haringey’s climate emergency plans and will work in partnership to help reach their goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2027.
The energy we use is the main contributor to the on-site GHG emissions at Community Festival. Our strategy is to first reduce our required usage, and then to replace our energy sources with renewables.
Energy Reduction
Replace with Renewable Energy
We strongly recommend and promote low-carbon travel options to get to Community Festival, and partner with national coach provider Big Green Coach.
We are committed to implementing closed-loop waste management systems at Community and work to support the development of a circular economy.
We apply the following waste hierarchy, as set out in the Waste Regulations 2011:
To mitigate the environmental impacts of plastic pollution, Community Festival does not sell any virgin single-use plastic. This includes sampling containers, cutlery, plates, cups, bottles, serve-ware, sachets, stirrers and straws. We implement a sourcing policy that prioritises products with the highest recycled content available, including at least 30% where alternatives are not available.
Community Festival has implemented the following measures to reduce single use plastic at the festival
We aim to achieve at least a 50% recycling rate by 2030, and to go beyond the London Borough of Haringey’s recycling rate. Community Festival is zero waste to landfill, as all festival waste is either recycled, composted, or used to generate energy from waste.
Community has a waste management plan, we receive annual reports from the waste facility and have tracked our waste and recycling since 2015.
We operate a three-bin system we implement site-wide, allowing separation of recyclable, non-recyclable, and compostable waste. Our deposit return scheme on paper cups and water bottles, incentivises recycling in the arena.
We advise our food vendors and caterers to follow minimum standards with regards to food sourcing.
We are committed to engaging with our customers, staff and artists on environmental issues, and to collaborate with local and national environmental causes and organisations. Our recent projects include:
We carry out measures to ensure that Community Festival avoids negatively impacting the wildlife that live on the site all year round.
7 July 2023