Fiona Stewart (event director)
Fiona Stewart is a music festival director and events industry consultant with over 20 years experience in producing live events including working at both Big Chill and Glastonbury Festival. Since 2006 she has been the Managing Director and owner of Green Man Festival, the leading contemporary music and arts festival in Wales. She is a board member of both the CPA Concert Promoters Association and the Welsh Government Creative Industry Advisory Panel. She received the Outstanding Achievement Award at the UK Festival Awards 2013.[1]
Stewart has been involved in the entertainment, leisure and events industries for thirty years, firstly in touring and then film management and production. She spent many years working in events management and conferencing for such Government bodies as The Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Home Office, as well as several ‘blue-chip’ commercial clients. In recent years she has concentrated on the management and development of cutting edge, commercial indoor and outdoor events (clubs, festivals. concerts and holidays), with various PR companies, promoters and government groups. Stewart has acted as a Consultant to the British Council and commercial arm of the Foreign Office in the management of international events, and the development of British events industry interests abroad.
Green Man
Stewart became Managing Director of Green Man Festival in 2005. Since then the festival has evolved into a 20,000 capacity 7 day event, showcasing a broad range of live music literature, film, comedy, theatre and poetry. The festival is organised by Stewart and her family and has become renown for its non-corporate, ethical approach.
The festival has attracted a range of well-known performers including Robert Plant, Van Morrison, Feist, Beirut, Patti Smith, Mogwai, Fleet Foxes, Flaming Lips, Mumford & Sons and Bon Iver.
Under Stewart’s direction, the festival has carved out a niche as a unique event showcasing not just live music but poetry readings, talks, performance and installation art also.
It has won several awards including Welsh Events Prize 2006, ‘Best Medium Sized Festival 2010'[1] and ‘Grass Roots Festival 2012’[2]. As Managing Director, Stewart received the Outstanding Achievement Award at the UK Festival Awards and Green Man was named as one of the ‘coolest British brands’ 2013/14 by CoolBrands. It is the biggest music festival in Wales and has been given signature status by the Welsh Government.
Based on her work at Green Man, Stewart has been credited with the success of so-called ‘boutique festivals’ and is considered a pioneer of the genre in terms of production of development.
2012 Cultural Olympiad and ‘Busk On the Usk’
Busk On The Usk was a free one-day festival held in Newport, South Wales at various locations along the banks of the River Usk. The event was The Welsh Contemporary Music’s contribution to the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad and was co-produced by Fiona Stewart. The event featured a program of live music, discussions and lectures, art installations and local food stalls. The event was organised by Green Man with help from the people of Newport along with contributions from a number of Wales’ most important cultural organisations including Sŵn Festival, the Do Lectures, the Laugharne Weekend, the Bevan Foundation, the Centre for Regeneration Excellence Wales, Riverfront Theatre, University of Wales Newport and Arts Council Wales. An estimated 6,000 people attended the event.
Big Chill
Stewart became Festival Manager of Big Chill in 2000, overseeing its growth from a 3,500 to a 35,000 capacity festival. She had responsibility of all aspects of the festival production apart from music programming. It was here that she introduced additional features to the line up that would pave the way for what is now known as ‘boutique festivals’. Big Chill was the first contemporary music festival on an English Heritage site. Two private estates, at Lulworth, Dorset and Eastnor Castle in Hertfordshire were developed into festival sites.
British Council, China, India, Serbia, Brazil and beyond
In 2004, Stewart was appointed Consultant for the British Council in China to research the Chinese events industry, develop links and business and to analyse and report back on venues. She developed the Chinese Music Industry Think Tank, supported by the Arts and British Council, the Commercial Department of the British Embassy in Beijing. The report was well received and circulated to the British Council, Arts Council and UK Trade and Investment. Whilst in Shanghai, she helped stage an Elton John concert.
Stewart undertook a similar analysis of the events industry in Serbia in 2005, Brazil in 2006 and India in 2011. In 2010 she was sent to Mombai to attend the first music conference in India, SoundBound and to carry out a formal evaluation of the emerging Indian festival industry.
Between 2000 and 2002, Stewart produced Naxos Festival, an annual 7-day festival in Greece.
She organised the tour of Morcheeba in China in 2004 and Ladytron in 2005.
See also
References
- ↑ "Outstanding Contribution to Festivals Award goes to Green Man owner". Festivalawards.com. 2013-12-01. Retrieved 2014-07-16.