Festival Q&A: Fiona Stewart, Green Man Festival

The line-up for Green Man this year has come in for a lot of praise: is it your best yet?
What a nice way to start an interview thank you. I love the festival and am always excited about it but the anticipation and buzz about this year is fantastic. It is great that so many wonderful gifted artists have agreed to play and I can't wait to see them.

A number of other festivals, primarily End of the Road, have been vocal in the influence Green Man has had in inspiring them to start their own festival. Is that a source of comfort to you or do you see it as rivalling your own festival in a tricky economic climate?
I am delighted that people are inspired by Green Man and I love festivals so the more the merrier. I don't really think about other festivals as rivals though I just think about my own festival and making sure it continues to evolve and remains fresh and interesting and offers a unique experience to the people who come. Thankfully I work with a team of very clever people who are committed to this as much as I am and are always thinking of new ideas. I am always interested in listening to anyone who feels they can add to the festival. That sort of collective input means that Green Man has taken on a life of its own. I really like that.

With the Green Man poll, does it come down to a contest of how many mates your band has, or do you think it's an integral part of a music democracy?
Green Poll was created to offer an honest opportunity for artists to gain visibility and opportunity. It's a straight-forward battle of the bands, and is won on talent alone. The site is not sponsored or advertised on. Votes are monitored, and on the odd occasion cheating occurs, the band in question is put on the bottom of the list. If we were not so vigilant about the competition it would have no credibility and it would give nothing to those taking part and even less to the band that wins.

It is gaining popularity and with 658 bands taking part this year and votes have come from as far as Canada, America, South America, Europe and India as well as the UK. It is fantastic that Sean Adams (Drowned in Sound), Simon Raymonde (Bella Union), Steven Bass (Moshi Moshi), Phil Alexander (Mojo), John Pearson (6Music) have agreed to be judges this year. It is wonderful that such respected, influential people who really care about music and encouraging new and emerging talent have agreed to be judges and it is means a great deal to the artists who take part.

How do you find great bands who might not have broken onto the popular scene?
Recommendations by friends and colleagues, through word of mouth, going to gigs, reading blogs and listening to as much music as possible.

You've got Joanna Newsom back for her third Green Man. Now that she's a massive draw, how easy was it to get her to a small medium sized festival? Was the fact she'd played earlier on in her career beneficial to convincing her to come back?
Joanna epitomises Green Man in many ways and has always had a special place at the festival and in its history. We are delighted that she's playing for all of us again and take it as a real compliment that she wants to grace the Green Man stage once more. We're in for a real treat!

Three amazing headliners, a fantastic bill below them, who are you most excited about seeing and why?
We have a great mix with our headliners this year and I'm really looking forward to seeing them all! It's really hard to pick out bands further down the bill as we pick the bands we love. At every festival I go to, I always wish I could be in multiple places at once! But if I had to choose a few I'd say, hmm this is a struggle! Laura Marling will be fantastic, she was a highlight at 2008's festival and I love her new album. Beirut will be a monumental treat, we've been trying and trying and trying to get them for years so it's going to be great seeing them on the main stage on the Friday night! First Aid Kit will certainly light up the Pub Stage Saturday night as will Silver Columns on the Sunday - the latter played our May bank holiday Boat Party and were brilliant fun. Summer Camp, Cass McCombs, Metronomy, Fuck Buttons, Matthew Herbert DJing, there are loads I'm looking forward to. Thinking about it now is getting me very excited!

Why did you start the festival?
I think that enjoying yourself in a field is is something everyone relates to, and has done for centuries. Green Man is such an ancient iconic festival image which links nature, frivolity and a sense of freedom. I think this is something many of us are revisiting and to have the "lord of misrule," as the festival host is rather marvellous.

Having a site in rural areas must cost a lot in getting infrastructure to the site, how do you limit the festival's environmental impact?
Vehicle deliveries cause the biggest impact on the environment so we have developed services on the site as much as possible so this has been greatly reduced. It is an expensive solution and was difficult but it's very effective. Another major impact is from vehicles of people coming to the festival and we offer a number of solutions to reduce this. We offer a free shuttle bus from the station which makes it a lot easier for people to come by train. Bus services are available from all major cities and there is free parking for anyone with more than two people arriving by car, to encourage car sharing. Connecting and taking responsibility for the natural environment is very much part of the festival and people support this easily and enthusiastically. It helps that the festival takes place in an incredibly beautiful place and the Green Man is very central to this.

What's your favourite memory from the festival?
I have too many to mention but is always lots of images of people having a stonking time, children splashing in the waterfall, so many artists' brilliant performances or just sitting in the middle of the festival site and feeling the energy of the festival around me. The moment I like best is just before it starts when everything is ready and people have just started to arrive. It's like the whole festival holds its breath and it seems you can actually touch the excitement in the air. I really can't wait.

Financially, running a festival is tough. How do you manage rising costs without making ticket prices too high? What do you see as the top price a festival ticket will reach?
Really, good relationships with the people you work with is key to this. You could have five festivals with exactly the same line-up and infrastructure and the cost of those events would be massively different. Luckily we have great relationships based on many years working together and unusually we do the majority of work in house and do not contract out. This really brings down costs. A lot of festivals have been hit by sponsorship being withdrawn but we have never had it so luckily we have not been affected. Commercial festival tickets have increased a lot in the last few years and I suppose they will continue. I can't really say what prices they will go to as they have different pressures and motivations to us.

Where do you see the festival being in the years to come? Will you grow? Will you move?
Great music, good living and having a magical uplifting time will always be what we aim to provide, my hope is that it retains those values. I have no plans at the moment to move it or make it larger. I hope that people feel that they would always be welcome and that anything could happen at Green Man.