Greenbelt festival

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The Greenbelt festival is the largest Christian arts and music festival in the world, taking place annually in England during the last bank holiday weekend in August.

Since its start in 1974 by Kenneth Frampton, Jim Palosaari, and a British national, Greenbelt has grown from a youth event, to which 1500 people came, to seeing crowds of nearly 30,000 in the mid-1980s. It now has a focus that is much broader than youth. The festival regularly attracts the biggest names of Christian music and many mainstream musicians. Those that have played the festival in the past include old rockers, new folksters and soaring pop-stars. This list has encompassed U2, Moby, Cliff Richard, Bruce Cockburn, Steve Taylor, Daniel Amos, Midnight Oil, Over the Rhine, Iona, Amy Grant, Miles Cain, Lamb, dfg, Lambchop, Goldie, Jamelia, After the Fire, Larry Norman, Randy Stonehill, Asian Dub Foundation, The Polyphonic Spree, Dum Dums, Daniel Bedingfield, Why? and Delirious?. The festival has also featured Christian rock bands aimed at the youth Greenbelters.

Greenbelt is also a venue for teaching and discussion around (but not exclusively) the Christian faith, and has attracted a large number of famous Christian speakers, including the Archbishop of Canterbury who is now the festival's patron. However, it is not just about inviting Christians to speak. The festival welcomes anyone who the organisers believe 'speaks for justice', usually meaning that they are on the political left, and has recently had Anita Roddick, Peter Tatchell, Bill Drummond and Billy Bragg sharing their thoughts. Greenbelt sees itself as having never been shy of tackling controversial issues and providing a 'safe space for honest debate'.

More recently with its links to the NGO Christian Aid, Greenbelt has become heavily involved in campaigns for trade justice. The festival was one of the main catalysts for the huge Jubilee 2000 movement. Greenbelt is also a showcase for performing arts, visual arts and alternative worship, again, not exclusively Christian.

Greenbelt has been staged at a number of different venues in its history. In 1999 it moved from open green field sites to the more permament facilities of Cheltenham Racecourse. For various reasons (including a one off move away from its traditional August Bank holiday weekend), it attracted under 5,000 die-hard Greenbelters. However it has grown each year since and in 2004 was attended by over 17,000 people.

When at its Odell Castle and later at its Castle Ashby location, it was well-known for its unsanitary toilet facilities, something which organisers and concert-goers treated as a running joke.