Vegan Advocacy in the Heart of England:
The West Midlands Vegan Festival
It’s a hard act to follow: the London Vegan Festival is flourishing in its second decade with two thousand participants a year now. And then there’s the size of some of the other Southern vegan ventures: Bristol and Brighton are formidable in their scope and ambition. One might be forgiven for feeling some apprehension before entering the fray with a new festival.
Nevertheless…enter Midlands Vegan Campaigns.
It’s the second season for the group’s West Midlands Vegan Festival, after the inaugural event in 2008. After somehow managing to fit the massive Veggie Pride (in Britain) in between, the facilitators are back more enthusiasm, more experience and a vision for a vegan future. Lee of Vegan Means sat down with Alex Claridge and Catriona Gold of MVC to learn how a festival happens.
VM: How is this year’s festival looking?
Catriona: Rather good, if we do say so ourselves! We’ve taken the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ approach to much of the festival. After last year’s success, which saw us exceeding venue capacity, we have tried to stick with all that people loved about last year’s event and expand on that. We’ve stuck with the same venue, with its great transport links and a central city location that appeals to the general public.
Alex: We’re pleased to bring ever more interesting stallholders and caterers to the Midlands. We’ve got an all-vegan bar, entertainment including live music, and outstanding vegan caterers -- some of whom we’ve tempted up from the south. Shambhu’s cheesecake alone is reason enough to attend!
Catriona Gold (L) and Alex Claridge (M) get the low-down on vegan festival history from London-based campaigner Robin Lane (R). Photo by Lee Hall at inSpiral Lounge, Camden, London.
VM: How do you plan a festival?
Catriona: Time, energy and persistence. It’s often repetitive, hard work to bring it all together. We’re a relatively small, albeit committed, group. Our committee tackles booking and working with the venue, focusing on marketing and publicity, insurance, booking stalls, designing posters and fliers, and volunteers -- without whom we would be lost on the day.
Alex: We started with drawing up a list of tasks and allocating from them, trying to match people’s own interests and skills where possible. Hard work included, organising a festival is such a rewarding experience and such a great chance to promote veganism to loads of people that it’s absolutely worth it.
Q: Where do you see vegan festivals developing?
Alex: Well, there are more than ever, and that’s great news for veganism. Companies must be inundated with invitations to attend vegan events! With more and more local events across the country, festivals seem to be becoming smaller and more closely tailored to the local community, supporting local vegan businesses and enterprises. Yet with our accession to the mainstream, it’s highly possible that sooner or later someone will crack the winning formula for massive vegan events (please someone get us a BBC Vegan Food Show!) It’s brilliant to see so many different groups eager to organise and create something new in their area. It will be exciting to see how things continue to progress.
Q: What next for Midlands Vegan Campaigns?
Now that would be telling! Ha. No, seriously, we’re trying to keep our sights set on the festival, one challenge at a time. After that? We’ve got too many ideas, too little time. We’re anxious to keep driving veganism forward, and we learn from every event we do what people want. After Veggie Pride (an outdoor event in Birmingham, England’s second city, with thousands of attendees) and the festival, we’re already looking for our next event. You tell us what you want! We only live to serve (and eat vegan cakes).
Write to Alex and Catriona at less.is.moral[AT]gmail.com