Bristol's BIG Green Week Programme Brings Ideas to Life

01/02/2012

Categories: Official press releases

Bristol's leading reputation as a green city will take centre stage this June when it hosts the UK's first world class festival of sustainable development called BIG Green Week.

 

The outline programme, for BIG Green Week (9–17 June 2012) reveals a packed schedule of world class speakers, art, entertainment and family fun. 

Peter Madden, Chief Executive of Forum for the Future, who helped develop  BIG Green Week said:

“Bristol's BIG Green Week is a celebration of green ideas and action which aims to challenge and motivate people to engage with the sustainability issues we face. It is also a fantastic opportunity to hear some world class speakers, get involved in some fun activities and enjoy the buzz in one of the UK's greenest, most dynamic cities.” 

About the event

The week kicks off with a celebration of local food and’the UK's biggest ever Farmer's Market on Saturday 9 June, followed by a Sunday showcase for electric vehicles. 

From Monday to Friday (11-15 June), BIG Green Week will host a daily stream of speaker events to explore the latest green thinking, including the Morning Muse, Thought for the Day, the Festival of Green Ideas, a daily Big Green Lecture and evening entertainment at the Big Green Event. 

Wildlife lovers will have the chance to see some of the BBC's Natural History Unit's greatest films, with daily showings at the Watershed; there will be art on display at the Royal West of England Academy; BIG Green Week exhibits and activities at the Arnolfini, Colston Hall and the M-Shed;  a packed programme of Fringe events; and outside art and audio installations will transform the public space.    

Confirmed speakers include: Grand Designs' Kevin McCloud, US activist and author Bill McKibben, IPCC chair Rajendra Pachauri, chief executive of the Eden Project Tim Smit, the National Trust's Fiona Reynolds, Green Party leader Caroline Lucas, and author and activist Tony Juniper.  

The week will culminate in the Festival of Nature on 16-17 June  - Europe’s biggest free nature festival held in a tented village across the Bristol harbourside, and Bristol's Biggest Bike Ride  on Sunday 17 June when thousands are expected to join the family ride. 

Jointly organised by Bristol Green Capital and Forum for the Future, supported by Bristol City Council, BIG Green Week is expected to attract visitors from across the UK and virtual participants from around the world. 

Bristol City Council Leader, Barbara Janke, said:

“BIG Green Week is shaping up to be a top class festival, showcasing the creative and original work and projects going on that are helping to make Bristol such a sustainable city, and inspiring people with ideas of how they can get involved. With such a world-class panel of guest speakers throughout the week and a huge array of exhibitions and activities, the festival should appeal not only to Bristolians but also further afield, hopefully bringing us visitors from across the UK and even Europe.” 

BIG Green Week passes, providing advance booking, discounts on ticket prices, and other local benefits will go on sale in February 2012. For more details see www.biggreenweek.com, follow @biggreenweek on Twitter or check out Big Green Week on Facebook.

Draft Programme:

• Saturday 9 June: Love Life, Love Local Food – the UK’s biggest ever Farmer’s Market (in association with the Soil Association) radiating out from the famous St Nic’s covered market hall in Bristol’s old medieval centre. 
• Sunday 10 June: Love Life, Love My Bike - the first-ever World Electric Bike Championships with a time trial race on Park Street in the centre of Bristol. The world’s top manufacturers, with celebrity riders, competing for the top crown for electric bikes; plus a gravity powered downhill ‘soap-box’ Go-Kart Grand Prix, and electric bike ‘taster sessions’ for the public.
• Mon 11th to Fri 15th June:  A daily stream of events, including:
  7.45 – 8.45am The Morning Muse (Green Talk) Colston Hall – an eight-minute breakfast time provocation and open discussion (also to be broadcast online).
  
  9 – 10am Thought for the Day, Bristol Cathedral – a chance to reflect on the spiritual side of our connections with the natural world.
  
  10.30am – 12pm, Wonders of the Planet, at the Watershed - a week-long film programme screening some of the BBC’s greatest hits produced by Bristol's world famous Natural History Unit over the last 40 years.
  
  12.30 – 1.30pm Festival of Green Ideas Colston Hall – a lunchtime think-a-thon, with short talks followed by Q&A.
  
  2 – 4pm Film Documentaries & panel discussion Watershed
  
  6 – 7.30pm The BIG Green Lecture (Schumacher) Council House - our BIG daily daddy of an event, with keynote guest speakers, with virtual link ups with speakers overseas. Plus live poetry or music. Webcast live by Bristol City Council.
  
  8 – 10 The BIG Green Event (various venues) – music at St Georges, comedy at Colston Hall, poetry at the Bristol Old Vic, Green Talks at the Arnolfini.
  
  10 – Midnight Late Lounge (various venues) - hosted by the bar of the venue for that evening’s BIG Green Event (above). Have a drink, mingle and discuss.
• Saturday 16, Sunday 17 June: the Festival of Nature - Europe’s biggest free nature festival held in a tented village across the Bristol harbourside (with schools' day of the Friday).
• Sunday 17 June: Bristol’s Biggest Bike Ride - this annual traffic-free family ride, organised by Bristol City Council, starts and ends at the Festival of Nature giving a huge finale to BIG Green Week. 

Groups interested in organising an event as part of the BIG Green Week Fringe can register online at www.biggreenweek.com. 

For high resolution images and media details, contact  jessica.mcdonald@destinationbristol.co.uk or dial +44(0)117 230 9461

RSS feeds