APRIL | FEATURE
Love Saves The Day
The site of the Forwards Festival
initiatives at the heart of the festival , committing to nurturing new talent with Big Team CIC to open doors for underrepresented young people in the city through work experience , shadowing and paid job placements across the festival . These relationships will be supported through outreach , engagement and meaningful partnerships with local youth organisations such as ACE , Rising Arts Agency and Babbasa .
“ Forwards will also provide community catering at the festival with Team Canteen CIC , the independent
Jim King hospitality collective which fights against food vulnerability , who will host a pop-up cafe and cater backstage for talent and crew . These CICs are at the heart of Forwards ’ make up and will receive our charitable support .”
Aside from Team Love ’ s track history of handling the production of its own successful events and its involvement in the production of the likes of Glastonbury , Leeds , Latitude , Boomtown and Parklife , King says its focus on working with CICs was a major factor in AEG wanting to collaborate with the company .
“[ It is ] another area where we aligned so well with Team Love and their vision and ethos of how major events should be delivered . They epitomise a respectful and sustainable approach to events , which resonates not just with AEG but with the market we now all operate in ,” he says .
With Team Love being so well established in Bristol , King says it has enabled AEG Presents to benefit from the respected position it holds in the
Tom Paine city and , as a result , the event has been welcome by all stakeholders including Bristol City Council and The Downs Committee .
While 60,000 is an impressive
0 capacity for a debut festival , King says there is room for expansion : “ Bristol is a great music and culture city . We feel strongly that Forwards will grow in a measured and sustainable way that fits with the potential Bristol has , not just in the city itself but the wider South West region .”
On the subject of sustainability , Paine say it is integral to all future plans for Forwards : “ The festival team will collect data and create a three-year strategy on how to monitor and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions , develop a circular , responsible production and consumption ethos while promoting social cohesion . We are striving to do even more , learn and create new ways for our festivals to leave the minimal amount of environmental impact possible .” Despite the collective strength and experience of Forwards ’ founders , launching a new event in 2022 is a bold move , not least because of the strain on the supply chain . However , Paine is confident things will run smoothly . He says , “ We have a great local supply chain and the South West is home to many of the UK ’ s leading supply companies , which certainly helps . We are all feeling the pressure , but we have a great production team who are planning hard for the summer
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