Volunteers needed!
Posted: 21st June 2023
Tents provide shelter in times of crisis or displacement, but they perform a very different role at music festivals where it is more common for cheap tents to be discarded than taken away by their temporary inhabitants. With the growing practice of charities collecting discarded tents for reuse, more tents are left behind as their users’ consciousness is eased by the idea they’ll go to ‘a good home’, without thinking about the social and environmental costs that produce them so cheaply.
For BTB23 artist Rebecca Chesney will create a field of windsocks from this discarded fabric which serve as an indicator of current conditions; a barometer of the climate crisis of our own making.
In collaboration with FWRD (Festival Waste Reclamation and Distribution) Together who work with festivals across the UK, we’ll be collecting tents as well as other discarded items after this year’s Beatherder Festival here in Lancashire and we’re looking for people to help!
We are looking for volunteers to come and help us collect both tents for Rebecca’s installation as well as usable kit which can then be redistributed to good causes such as local homeless support groups and refugee support groups including : tents, sleeping bags, roll mats, tarpaulins, blankets and other usable aid.
These items will be found amongst the carnage of abandoned stuff. Due to the unpredictable circumstances, we advise that gathering items is not for the faint of heart. We also don’t allow any under 18s or pets to join us, apologies if this is an inconvenience but it’s a matter of safety.
We’ll be collecting on 17th and 18th July at the site near Sawley, Lancashire, food and transport will be provided.
If you’d like to get involved or find out more please contact uzma@britishtextilebiennial.co.uk
Image by @festivalwrd
