GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL

The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, commonly abbreviated to Glastonbury or Glasto, is the largest greenfield music and performing arts festival in the world. The festival is best known for its contemporary music, but also features dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and many other arts. For 2005, the enclosed area of the festival was over 900 acres (3.6 km²), had over 385 live performances and was attended by around 150,000 people. In 2007, over 700 acts played on over 80 stages and the capacity expanded by 20,000 to 177,000.

The festival takes place in South West England at Worthy Farm between the small villages of Pilton and Pylle, six miles east of the town of Glastonbury, overlooked by the Glastonbury Tor in the mystical "Vale of Avalon". The area has a number of legends and spiritual traditions, and is a "New Age" site of interest: several ley lines are considered to converge on the Tor. The nearest town to the festival site is Shepton Mallet, three miles (5 km) north east, but there continues to be interaction between the people espousing alternative lifestyles living in Glastonbury and the festival itself. The farm is situated between the A361 and A37 roads and farmed by the William's family.

Since 1981, the festival has been organised by local farmer and site owner Michael Eavis (through his company Glastonbury Festivals Ltd). Eavis ran the festival with his wife Jean until her death in 1999, and is now assisted by his daughter Emily Eavis. Since 2002, Festival Republic (a company consisting of both Live Nation and MCD) has taken on the job of managing the logistics and security of the festival through a 40% stake in the festival management company. Each year a company, joint owned by Glastonbury Festivals Ltd and Festival Republic, is created to run the festival, with profits going to the parent companies. Glastonbury Festivals Ltd donates most of their profits to charities. The Festival Republic contract is a rolling one reviewed every five years.

Several stages and areas are managed independently, such as The Left Field which is managed by acooperative owned by Battersea and Wandsworth TUC, Worthy FM and a field run by Greenpeace.

With the exception of technical and security staff, the festival is mainly run by volunteers. Some 1400 stewards are organised by the aid charity Oxfam. In return for their work at the festival Oxfam receive a donation, which in 2005 was £200,000. The bars are organised by the Workers Beer Company, sponsored by Carlsberg (previously Budweiser), who recruit teams of volunteer staff from small charities and campaign groups. In return for their help, typically around 18 hours over the festival, volunteers are paid in free entry, transport and food, while their charities receive the wages the volunteers earn over the event.

Catering, and some retail services, are provided by various small companies, typically mobile catering vans. The camping retail chain Millets, and many independent shops, set up makeshift outlets at the festival. Additionally many charities and organisations run promotional or educational stalls, such as the Hare Krishna vegetarian food stand. Network Recycling manage refuse on the site, and in 2004 recycled 300 tonnes and composted 110 tonnes of waste from the site.