SUMMER | FEATURE
Becoming a social enterprise
The Secret Garden Party festival is to adopt a social enterprise model and commit 65 % of its profits to being a “ force for good ”. The festival ’ s founder Freddie Fellowes tells Access All Areas why he ’ s taking the step and what is involved .
Words : Christopher Barrett
Since launching Secret Garden Party ( SGP ) in 2002 on his family ’ s 6,000-acre estate in Huntingdonshire , Freddie Fellowes has built the event from a party for hundreds into one of the UK ’ s most established and successful independent festivals . After a fiveyear hiatus , SGP was relaunched last year with a 30,000 capacity .
Ahead of this year ’ s event , Fellowes , who is the eldest son of Lord De
Ramsey , has decided that SGP should be transformed into a social enterprise . That means at least 65 % of the festival ’ s profits will be channelled into helping in the rehabilitation of at risk and disenfranchised individuals .
“ The one thing about having privileges is there are plenty of people without and it seems the right thing to do to enable that privilege to be shared ,” he says .
SGP is renowned for being one of the more creative and hedonistic events in the festival calendar , with nudity , wild swimming and other spontaneity encouraged . There have been countless colourful moments along the way but among the most memorable must be the 2013 edition , which saw a pirate ship installed on the Estate ’ s lake . After the vessel was attacked by a giant octopus , Fellowes decided to blow it up .
“ There ’ s an old phrase ; ‘ art is the preserve of the privileged ’. If they didn ’ t have rent to pay , everyone would want to be an artist but that ’ s not everyone ’ s reality . The festival has changed lives in its informal structure up until this point , the aim now is to carry that forward but with a more formal structure . The focus is to help people who haven ’ t had that privilege .”
With his father on the cusp of retirement , Fellowes is now living on the estate and has become increasingly aware of the issues impacting local people .
“ When I started the Garden Party I lived in London , and we came up to this area just to do the party . My wife and I are permanently here now and that has enabled us to look at the whole community , the rural economies , and realise it can be pretty bleak . It ’ s not the wonderful cut and thrust of London .
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