If You Could Give Away Your Vote Supposing you could give away your vote. That your decision on where to mark your X was not about how much tax you want to pay. About who will create the best schools or protect the NHS. Not about the most trustworthy leader, how soon we pay down the national debt or deal with greedy bankers.
Today
With 21,000 people, music, campers and traders aplenty, Greenbelt might look like any other Festival. But scratch beneath the surface and you find something special…
Alongside musicians such as Billy Bragg, Fightstar, Royksopp, Athlete, Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, José Gonzalez, Gilles Peterson, The Proclaimers and Seth Lakeman, each year the Festival hosts a rich programme of visual and performing arts, spirituality, comedy and talks and discussion – recently welcoming the likes of Michael Morpurgo, Tamsin Omond, Anita Roddick, Jasper Fforde and Billy Childish, Union Dance and The Reduced Shakespeare Company The diversity of content not only demonstrates our commitment to the arts, faith and justice, but also our underlying values of tolerance, dialogue and hope.
Our 37-year history is firmly rooted within a Christian tradition which is world-affirming, politically and culturally engaged. Ours is a belief that embraces instead of excludes. And, as such, the Festival is family-friendly celebration, inclusive and accepting of all, regardless of ethnicity, gender, sexuality, background or belief.
We do all we can to keep the Festival as accessible as we can, offering a range of discounted, family and local ticket deals as well as giving away 1% of tickets each year (through our Open Festival scheme) to people who otherwise would not be able to afford to go to Greenbelt – or any other Festival. And we try to make a difference beyond the Festival, through our campaigning activity and through Trust Greenbelt, which gives grants to quirky, entrepreneurial, risky community projects combining arts, faith and justice.
To celebrate the launch of this year's lineup – you have bought your tickets haven't you? – here is one of our most popular talk from last year's Festival.
Rob Bell's conversation with Greenbelt trustee Martin Wroe is an insight into his life and work and his views on everything from animal noises to the afterlife.
If [...]
Blob Football
New Greenbelt trustee Esther Baker is the Artistic Director of the Synergy Theatre Project, which works with prisoners and ex-prisoners to make performance in both theatres and prisons.
Synergy's current production – Jesus Hopped The 'A' Train – has been directed by Esther, and is on at the Trafalgar Studios in London from 6th to 24th [...]
In a new series on the blog, we're going to be hearing about parts of the programme that people are particularly looking forward to. To kick us off, Paul Northup lets us know about Stanley Hauerwas in the Talks programme…
—
I’m excited that Stanley Hauerwas will be at Greenbelt 2010. I’m excited because he’s a world-leading [...]
![[product thumbnail]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sF6YL6w9Udk7Z_Ahp1RywHjp5GR0e-yljjWarpgxX4NIo3YNJ0lUIp0_1T6NXJLuPU6vKssdKRf3jz1EL8m7MNXsH2-WSR5jOZ3Flfe_HC9DktL-YOWqNpHzypMq80EWIQNRBikuSOGyo=s0-d)