Green Music Fest has eight years under its belt, and four years of growing and refining its sustainability programming with help from Bright Beat. So we were delighted to see this hard work and commitment pay off, with the festival earning not one, but TWO awards for its efforts.

Highly Commended signifies a well-managed environmentally aware festival, which has taken significant steps to reduce waste, reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and to engage with the audience.

Putting music and sustainability hand-in-hand, and serving as a platform to educate and inspire attendees to embrace a more sustainable lifestyle, Green Music Fest took on the challenge of applying for the A Greener Festival Award, delving into all aspects of event operations and critically thinking about environmental impacts. Based on the twin aims of promoting greener practices and promoting sustainability, the Greener Festival Award required us to detail event efforts with our well-traveled, festival-junkie Australian evaluator, Madeleine, and submit an extensive, nearly 200-line item self-assessment that sharpened our attention to detail. It was hard not to appreciate A Greener Festival questioning our efforts and encouraging us to push the envelope of sustainable operations. An example, using 55-gallon water barrels to hold down tents rather than cinderblocks, sounds quite wasteful, right? We found that use of barrels, over cinderblocks, eliminates the need for 2 additional delivery trucks and staff to transport the heavy weight. Contemplating the wasted resource this non-potable water presented, we approached the Wicker Park Garden Club. Although the drain accepted the water this time, setting up a plan for reuse is a top priority for 2017.

Green Music Fest is humbled by this award and pleased to join the ranks of Bonaroo, Glastonbury and a handful of European festival heavy hitters as an award recipient.