Fiona Stewart, owner and Managing Director of Wales’ Green Man, was honoured by the festival industry at London’s O2 Arena at the annual Access All Areas (AAA) live industry celebration and conference.
The AAA Awards celebrate excellence in the live events industry, with the Editors Award being the top award offered. This year’s 2024 AAA Editor’s Award was awarded to Fiona in recognition of her contribution to the festival industry. Fiona collected the award, previously won by Glastonbury Festival’s Emily Eavis, in front of an audience of 2000 festival and live event industry peers at the prestigious Indigo at The O2 in London.
Upon receiving the award Fiona thanked Access All Areas for the award and added: “Any success is due to the team you have around you, and I am so grateful for the support of the many gifted and passionate people who have worked with me over the years, especially my son Ben, Nush and Mike. Their hard work and talent has made so much possible.”
She continued: “I also want to thank the people of Cymru and the welcome you bring to visitors year on year – this award is for you.”
Green Man Festival welcomes 25,000 visitors a day annually to the Black Mountains, Bannau Brycheiniog, Cymru and is one of very few remaining large-scale independent festivals. The 2024 edition sold out in less than an hour with the lineup yet to be announced illustrating the immense influence of the brand. The festival has received many awards over the years including Best UK Festival on 5 separate occasions, also awards for accessibility, design, tourism, sustainability, food and ale demonstrating the expansive range of the brand.
Fiona has spearheaded some of the UK’s most innovative live event legislation and initiatives and has advised government for more than 30 years. Her expertise in crowd psychology played a key role in shaping the 2003 Event License legislation. Additionally, her work has informed the British Council and Foreign Office in evaluating safety standards for emerging touring destinations in China, Eastern Europe, Brazil, and India during the early 2000s and more recently developing economic and cultural engagement opportunities in Cuba and Kyrgyzstan.
In 2001, Stewart introduced the Festival Control Method, first implemented at The Big Chill, which has since become a standard across the festival industry. She has also held the position of chair of the Business Group advising the fulfilment of the UK and Welsh Government’s £120 million Mid Wales Growth Scheme. Prior to this Fiona was the first woman to be awarded the top festival accolade Outstanding Contribution to UK Festival’s in 2016, previously awarded to Michael Eavis and Peter Gabriel.
Access All Areas content director Christopher Barrett said: “Fiona Stewart is a festival industry pioneer, someone who has been hugely influential while steadfastly sticking to her principles and creative vision as an independent operator. Since taking on the management of the Big Chill in 2001 and launching the Control Method, Fiona not only paved the way for the rise of boutique festivals but safer events internationally.
“Fiona’s undiminished spirit of creativity and innovation has seen her build the Green Man into one of the world’s biggest and best-loved festivals. A strikingly unique event, Green Man is one of the very few major festivals to remain truly independent. When considering who should win the Editor’s Award, Fiona came instantly to mind – she is in a field of her own.”
—
About Green Man
Now in its third decade, Wales’ Green Man was the first UK festival to sell out which it did so in less than 60 minutes without any line-up announcement.
It has won major UK festival awards including BBC 6 Music Festival of the year 2024 nominated for best festival in the world by NME and garners 5 star reviews each year from national media, including The Guardian, The Independent, Rolling Stones and The Evening Standard.
Green Man has been owned and operated by an independent Powys business for 22 years. It is one of only 3 remaining large independent UK festivals and is the largest music, culture, science, Welsh beer and wellness festival in Wales attracting 25,000 daily visitors from across the world to the breathtaking Bannau Brycheiniog.
The Green Man experience spans music, comedy, literature, film, performing arts and installation art, wellness, science, as well as separately curated arenas for children and teens. Central to the festival is a Welsh Beer festival where independent Welsh brewers sell and promote their drinks, and a wellness area where alternative therapies and massages are offered.
Green Man piloted the first UK festival science engagement area and was the first festival to offer on-site training in skills and social engagement to former refugees, and asylum seekers. Green Man refuses sponsorship so that it can support independent Welsh food and beverage businesses and keep its curational freedom.
The festival is well known for nurturing and launching new talent; artists such as Fontaines DC, Michael Kiwanuka, Self Esteem, First Aid Kit, Mumford and Son and Kae Tempest and many others have all had their first seminal performances at Green Man.
Green Man generates £10 million into the Welsh economy and is the only large UK festival where a woman has controlling ownership. It was awarded a Gold Charter by Attitude is Everything, a charity that improves accessibility for people with disabilities across the events industry.
Over the last 15 years, the Powys company behind Green Man has diversified into food and beverage, clothing, online shopping, hospitality, training, design and concept development, science engagement, wellness, as well as all aspects of event management.
About Green Man Trust
Now in its 10th anniversary year, the Green Man Trust is the charitable arm of the Green Man Festival. The Green Man supports Welsh, national and international talent, champions new ideas and creates opportunities.
Fiona Stewart founded the Green Man Trust 10 years ago, as the philanthropic festival activity started in 2006 had developed to a point where it needed its own charitable organisation. The awareness of future challenges had also become clearer and support of future generations and addressing the climate crisis by offering creative, educational, social development opportunities within the arts, sciences and Welsh communities became the Green Man Trust’s prime objective.
Thousands of projects and people have been supported since the trust was founded in 2014:
● £1,800,000+ has been raised for projects and good causes,
● 12,000+ people have been supported by Green Man Trust,
● £13,000 donated to Welsh food banks in 2022 in response to cost of living crisis,
● £3,000 donated for Ukrainian war relief,
● £16,000 has been raised for Welsh vulnerable people affected by storm Dennis flood,
● £100,000 was spent to commission 223 artists during the pandemic
● 100 community projects have been supported.
Since 2023, the Trust has distributed over £68,000 of Community Grants to encourage inclusiveness and wellness in local communities in Powys and to combat the social and economic impact of the widening wealth and age gap on future generations.
