Jazz festival for music and sustainability
When Bård Vegard Solhjell opened this year's festival, there was a volunteer group in the jazz festival that he mentioned in particular, the "environmental group". Now it hardly comes as a bomb considering that Solhjell is general secretary of the foundation WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature). However, a separate environmental group marks a possible even clearer environmental change for the festival.
Kongsberg Jazzfestival was early on with environmental certification as a festival, but what has happened afterwards? Solhjell challenges the festival to remember what it can create and that it leaves its mark. The responsibility of developing such a large and serious player as the Kongsberg Jazz Festival also requires a heavy responsibility for the tracks the festival sets. Everyone has to stretch further and the festival may have a little way to go before they are in port (eg use of plastic).
Kenneth Moen leads the brand new environmental group for the Kongsberg Jazz Festival. - This is a very exciting job. Everyone screams environment! says Kenneth. The group will initially take care of the part of waste management that falls under the jazz festival's responsibility. In the past, the festival has hired help to handle all the rubbish. From 2019, much of this will be served by our own.
Kenneth says that he has been preparing the environmental group's work for a long time. The rest of the 16 volunteers in the group arrived on Monday - and now they are at work. This is very likely a group that will expand in the future, with the increasing environmental focus and improvement potential that festivals face. This will probably also require changes in the attitude of the festival audience, and Kenneth is looking forward to developing new ideas and testing different systems for upcoming festivals. - Festivals are difficult, precisely because people have incorporated some slightly special habits when they are at a concert - so this group has potential in the years to come, Kenneth concludes our short chat, before he runs off to hand out gloves, vests and sticks for litter picking to next shift. We cheer for Kenneth's gang - welcome them when you see them in the cityscape. Finally, a call: Think about where you throw your waste, also at festivals!
Photo: Birgit Fostervold, Video: Gard N. Svalestuen, Text: Anna Moxnes
