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Big Tent Hullabaloo returns for 2008!
2008-03-13
Recent iTunes 'download of the week' artist King Creosote and hugely popular music festival dynamos The Peatbog Faeries will light up the inaugural 'Big Hullaballoo' concerts during The Big Tent Festival, Scotland's Festival of Stewardship which takes place in Falkland over the weekend of 26th and 27th July.
Year Three for the Big Tent and a chance for the organisers, Falkland Centre for Stewardship, to host what is rapidly becoming the premier event which allows visitors and participants to contribute, change and celebrate the work of the environmental movement and conservation of the living world. Music has always been part of the Big Tent but this year the creation of The Big Hullabaloo tent pitches the festival up into a higher league. The confirmation of headline acts of King Creosote (a.k.a. Kenny Anderson) whose latest album has enjoyed astonishing critical acclaim together with The Peatbog Faeries, one of the most electrifying and sought after bands on the UK?s summer festival circuit underlines the Big Tent's emergence as a credible cultural event as well as a showcase and debating forum for those involved in safeguarding the future of Planet Earth.
"Stewardship isn't solely about the environment, it's also about the wider culture we create and inhabit" comments Programme Director Mike Small. "Big Tent is still at its heart a stewardship festival now with a great music line up, not another music festival with a green makeover"!
"There is much to celebrate" claims Mike: "There is now growing consensus and sense of urgency about socio-ecological matters. Demand for local and organic food is growing at a rate that suppliers cannot match. Here in Scotland we have the natural resources for alternative and renewable energy. Products are coming onto the market that will help us save energy and reduce consumption and design and architecture innovations are at the forefront of helping create genuinely sustainable homes of the future".
"In fact, at this very time the Scottish Government is leading the way, Scotland's proposed Climate Changed Bill is acknowledged by WWF and others as 'the most important piece of legislation in our lifetime' and 'could establish our nation as an international leader in tackling climate change' with its aims of 80% reduction of greenhouse gases by 2050".
This year's Big Tent Festival with is theme of 'Journeys' both collective and personal will touch on heads, hands and hearts and will introduce many new initiatives in addition to a packed weekend of music and dance during the day from a 'Culture Stage' featuring international performances such as Grassroots Zimbabwe, Voces del Sur and Moishe's Bagel. A full programme of interesting debates is shaping up in the Head Zone, with author Alastair McIntosh launching his new book 'From Hell and High Water' (Birlinn). Food writer and cook Colin Tudge is also making a visit and will talk about his book on how to reclaim the food industry 'Feeding People is Easy' as well as other writers. Visitors will be encouraged to give their ideas for green solutions in a big brother style video diary room called the 'Booth of Truth' whilst the expanded interactive Children's Zone should keep the kids busy and entertained. Mapland Scotland are sure to create a stir with their giant Jigsaw map of Scotland and there will be activities, workshops and games a plenty in wildlife and conservation, theatre, puppetry and storytelling as well as crafts and music. The Food Village organised by top chef and food author Christopher Trotter will feature the freshest local and organic food from local food producers including a vegetarian café, Fife's newest cheese, Fife ice cream and crucially fresh organic beef and burgers cooked on the BBQ. The Black Isle Brewery Tent with its gallons of organic beer and sublime malt whiskys should provide a more contemplative setting for those who like to chill and explore deeper and more tranquil things in life! The Sustainable Living Zone will host all that you need in an environmentally sustainable household, from paints to clothes, from carpets to cleaning products. The Craft Experience and Body & Soul Zones as well as the One Planet Zone will spotlight the work of activists groups, environmental and reforestation bodies as well as a purpose built Carbon Clinic which will be running in association with the WWF Scotland. How we get around and the transport we use always proves to be a heated and controversial part of the climate change debate and is an issue that the Big Tent Festival given its unique location in the small picturesque village of Falkland is keen to address.
A campsite is added this year giving visitors and families the chance to stay the weekend in one of the most delightful parts of Fife and much work has been done with Fife Council, Sestran car share scheme, Stagecoach, First Scotrail and even Edinburgh Car Club to create a sustainable travel plan which will encourage as many people as possible to travel to the event without blocking the roads and festival site using cars. A major national newspaper wrote a review of last years Big Tent stating "Big Tent?s small is beautiful ethos makes it a very special festival indeed. One of Scotland?s best kept 'new' secrets, its programme simultaneously stimulates body and mind."
It's clear that Falkland Centre for Stewardship is focused on preserving that ethos of the festival and working hard to make it an even more attractive and dynamic offering for anyone who cares about the future of the planet.
