[Go Green] BallArte Festival

The Ballarte Festival takes place in the summer, over a period of about 11 days, in the Benasque Valley (Aragonese Pyrenees, Spain). Various aspects of the Festival are strongly focused on humanity's relationship with Nature: a whole branch of our activities is called eco-social, precisely because it focuses on (re)discovering the territory that hosts us, but also the traditions and stories that its inhabitants can pass on to us. We could also talk about some of the logistical aspects: the effort to organise the artists' travels in the least CO2-impacting way possible, the attempt to keep our waste to a minimum, the minimal production of merchandise (only ethically produced tote bags), and the extreme attention to recycling in general. Two of our programmes this year were explicitly inspired by Africa's Forest and Green Barrier, and there was a workshop dedicated to building instruments with recycled material. But perhaps most subtly revolutionary this year was the adoption of exclusively vegetarian cuisine. I will provide some context. For the duration of the Festival, while concerts by invited groups and various daytime activities take place from day to day, about forty people, including artists and volunteers, live together in an old farmhouse, constituting the actual core of the Festival who meanwhile prepare the last two shows of our production. Meals are therefore provided by the organisation. For the first time this year we have eliminated meat (and in fact almost all animal products) from our menu. It may not sound like much, but in Spain, famous for its meats, this is not trivial. It has been exciting to see how even the most hardened carnivores, after initial reluctance, have compromised with the cause and become interested in exploring issues such as the food industry's impact on the environment. Small steps for some, huge for others!

More info: BallArte Festival

(General Editor: Simon Mundy)