Organisation
The inspiration for the festival came in 1990 when James Shepard came across the Larmer Tree Gardens while out jogging one day in Cranborne Chase. The first festival was held in 1990 and was a one-day event, featuring jazz and blues music, with about 200 attenders. The next festivals were two-day affairs, held over a weekend, with co-director Julia Safe joining the festival team in 1993. In 1995 the festival was extended to include the Friday night, and on-site camping was introduced.
The festival is now a five-day event licensed for 5,000 people. The organisers state that "numbers are still strictly limited to protect the intimate atmosphere cherished by devotees." Tickets for the event have sold out months in advance every year since 1995.
Shepard and Safe's company J & J Events Ltd. produces the festival. Shepard and Safe have rejected several major sponsorship deals as they are keen to protect their original concept. The ensuing independence and lack of sponsors' interference has allowed the small team of staff to develop the festival along its own unique lines.
A community spirit is encouraged at the festival: nearly 500 volunteers from the local area, covering 13 different roles, help out before, during and after the event, and it has links with many local organisations.
The festival organisers try to minimise its environmental impact, by such measures as recycling as much as possible and insisting on the use of biodegradable trays and wooden cutlery by the catering outlets at the event. They also encourage festival-goers to take green living measures such as lift-sharing, recycling and saving water on site.
Read more about this topic: Larmer Tree Festival
Famous quotes containing the word organisation:
“It is because the body is a machine that education is possible. Education is the formation of habits, a superinducing of an artificial organisation upon the natural organisation of the body.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895)