The full festival line-up for Big Green Week is now online! Go to www.biggreenweek.com to look at our fantastic range of 120 events over a grand total of 9 days. Last year’s Festival attracted more than 40,000 visitors who enjoyed two weekends of free family entertainment and nine days of inspiring talks, workshops, art, music, poetry, comedy and films.

Some big names are lined up for the event, including speakers such as George Clarke (Channel 4), Alice Roberts (BBC), comedian Tony Hawks and poet John Hegley, as well as Richard Branson who will be live via video link.

BIG Green Week offers something for everyone, with many different events taking place over the week. Some of these events are three lunchtime Festival of Ideas talks with  Tony Juniper, George Clarke and Alice Roberts, the Schumacher Society Lectures - including Satish Kumar the editor of Resurgence and Jaquline McGlade the retiring director of the European Environment Agency – workshops at the CREATE Centre, a Solar Pavilion on College Green, a range of professional conferences across the week, theatre with Walking Stories, Kilter Theatre, Natalie Fee and the SCHed Talks, and a big series of walks and tours.

There are also more than 25 community fringe festival events right across the city, and nearly half of all BIG Green Week events are free!

The Festival starts on the weekend of the 15^th & 16^th of June on Bristol’s Harbourside, kicking off with the tenth anniversary of the Festival of Nature (which is Europe’s largest free natural history event) and the 20^th year of Bristol’s Biggest Bike Ride (which takes place on the Sunday morning). The Festival of Nature will give wildlife enthusiasts of all ages the opportunity to explore and enjoy the natural world in the heart of the city, and Bristol’s Biggest Bike Ride will give people a chance to enjoy a choice of routes (ranging from 9 to 38 miles) sharing traffic-free routes in a non-competitive environment.

Meanwhile over at City Hall on the 15^th June, you can come to our glamorous ‘FareFashion’ festival launch evening and enjoy an eco-fashion show, eco-food, music, recycling and sustainability with a buffet dinner of 15 dishes cooked entirely with food that would have been wasted in landfill, plus the chance to browse the ‘Fashion’s Dirty Secrets’ photo exhibition from London.

Comedy takes over on the 16^th, with Tony Hawks talking about the film of his hit book ‘Playing the Moldovans at Tennis’ in a double bill with the Ugly Animal Preservation Society where six comedians fight to win the audience vote for a new more aesthetically challenged mascot to replace the panda.

The theme  of Innovation features on the 17^th and 18^th, with Monday celebrating Bristol’s influence as the UK’s Green Capital City with local organisations such as Wessex Water, New Earth Solutions and the National Trust talking about the eco-projects that are changing our World. Mayor George Ferguson will also give a talk on his eco vision for Bristol! For CGP Members, tickets to this exciting event are just £5! Go to  http://biggreenweek.com/session/bristol-green-capital-changing-the-world/ and use the promotional code GCPD01.

Tuesday features an exciting video link with Richard Branson answering audience questions about business innovation, before Charles Eisenstein talks about economic innovation.

At City Hall on Wednesday 19^th we have a free Question Time on the State of Nature organised by the RSPB amd South West Wildlife Trusts, which looks forward to being a lively evening of question and debate on what the future holds for nature chaired by TV producer and author Stephen Moss.

Thursday 20^th is the slot for the Festival favourite evening of TED-style talks, and this year the topic is about how we fix our broken food system. The eight speakers have ten minutes each, and include personalities such as TV chef Allegra McEvedy, Riverford Organic’s Guy Watson, Pam Warhurst CBE of Incredible Edible Todmorden and Mark Driscoll previously of WWF’s Director of Greenpeace.

The weekend of the 22 & 23^rd marks the climax of the Festival, as another weekend of free family fun takes over the central streets of Bristol. 

Bristol’s BIG Market will see the historic centre of the city transformed by over 200 stalls, selling food direct from producers, local artisan products, crafts, vintage and ethical with buskers and entertainment, turning it into a vibrant, bustling, open air event. Electric Sunday on the 23^rd marks the extravaganza finale as the Mayor launches his Make Sunday Special initiative with events on Park Street, College Green, Millennium Square, the Centre, Corn Street and Baldwin Street.

Over the whole week, the Festival has an arts trail around the Week with ten different exhibitions to explore, including the ‘Create a Beautiful World’ photographic exhibition in Colston Hall celebrating Pukka Herbs partnership with WWF to raise money for conservation projects all over the world. For the first time, there’s also a film festival, with 13 films being screened – including seven of the best new documentaries from around the world specially programmed for BIG Green Week. Also watch out for a secret venue pop-up film night with Bristol’s amazing pop-up Magic Lantern Film Club.

To make the most of all the activities on offer on BIG Green Week, why not buy the limited edition ‘Green Inspired Person’ Festival Discount Passes? These passes are the best value way to BIG Green Week, and people last year saved well over £80 due to 20% off a range of festival tickets, discounts at local cafes, bars and shops during the Week, and includes a free limited edition Festival ‘inspire’ wristband and fairtrade cotton goodie bag!

And if you can’t attend BIG Green Week, why not try some of the free pre-events on offer, such as free family activities by Bristol99 starting on the 3^rd of May, travelling around the city’s 99 Sites of Nature Conservation interest. Or why not go to a Festival of Ideas talk in May, with speakers such as George Monbiot, Rebecca Solnit and Michael Pollan. You could also pop along to Feed the 5000 on College Green on the 1^st of June, where 5000 pre-festival curries will be served up from food that otherwise would have gone to landfill. The Get Growing Trail also returns for the weekend of the 8^th and 9^th June with its unique ‘arts trail for vegetables’ around the city.

Whatever you do, make sure you get involved with the UK’s festival of eco ideas, art and entertainment!