Christopher BarrettFreddie Fellowes’ Secret Garden Party (SGP) festival is to adopt a social enterprise model and commit 65% of profits to being a “force for good”.
Organisers of the festival issued a statement outlining SGP’s “mission” to help in the rehabilitation of at risk and disenfranchised individuals, via the arts. It said that, in accordance with the rules of being a social enterprise, at least 65% of festival profit will go to organisations in those sectors. The charities will be selected by the artists playing at SGP and the 30,000-capacity event’s attendees. Funds will also be channeled to in-house partnerships and apprenticeship schemes, such as Bridges For Music.
SGP was reprised in 2022, ending a five-year hiatus. It was launched it at Abbots Ripton by Fellowes in 2004, and was steadily expanded from a small-scale show entertaining hundreds to a multi-stage event. It will next be staged in Huntingdon on 20-23 July, with a lineup including Underworld, Róisín Murphy and The Libertines.
Commenting on the move to a social enterprise model Fellowes (pictured) said, “It is exciting to continue to show that there is another way to run live events and we know that why things are done is as important to our audience as the how’ So, making this pledge to play it forward is something I see as vital right now. We came back because Covid, and lockdown, opened our eyes to what a privilege it was to hold a gathering such as SGP. Now as we stare down the barrel of a cost of living crisis, that privilege is something to be leveraged further. By establishing ourselves as a social enterprise I can ensure that SGP is, and will always be, a force for good.”