Green Man director, Fiona Stewart, has spoken about the Welsh Government's move of buying Gilestone Farm in Powys, as the music festival approaches its 20th year. In May this year, it was revealed that the Government had purchased the land for £4.25m and its intended use was to further "the wider business and development of the wider Green Man business", including sustainable development work, farming activities and a "range of other things that would allow them to keep the operation in Wales."
Fiona Stewart, who has run the festival since 2005, told WalesOnline that Gilestone Farm wasn't being 'given to' the Green Man Festival and that it would rent the property from the Welsh Government. She said: "We've been talking to them for a very long time because they want to build on the success of Green Man. There's an issue with a lack of jobs for young people in Wales, especially in the rural communities and we're good at that - ethically we've been involved in this area for a very long time in terms of social support and we want to push that.
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"The idea with Gilestone is develop the things we already do in, Green Man isn't just about a festival - anyone who's been here knows we do loads of different things. It would carry on being a farm, as Glanusk still is. The idea is to develop the brand and diversify the brand and develop the ambitions of the Green Man Trust. At the moment we generate £15million into Wales every year and we have around 145/150 full-time jobs and the idea is to build on that in the future. It's a positive thing, we're seeing it [Green Man] as something that's successful and we want to build on that success and do more with it."
The Green Man Festival is one of the UK's biggest independent festivals and, other than Covid pandemic assistance, does not receive financial input from the Welsh Government. Fiona added: "The actual festival itself is completely self-reliant, which is very unusual. We do get funding and donations from my company into the Green Man Trust, but we receive no funding from the Welsh Government. From the point of view of wider initiatives to do with the promotion of Wales internationally, we worked on the Olympics with the Welsh Government years ago. If you're a large event in Wales you meet people in government. Welsh Government wants to find things which are good for Wales and make more of them. That's their job. So they find a success in any situation, in either the creative industries or other sectors, they're going to try and make the most of it. And that's what they do."
Last week a Welsh Government report by its director of propriety and ethics David Richards, found a social meeting between the ministers, Stewart and lobbyist Cathy Owens of Deryn Consulting in May was a purely social occasion and did not include a discussion about the purchase of Gilestone Farm. Read more on that here.
The Welsh Government says it is undertaking "full due diligence and assessment" on the Green Man business plan, submitted by Fiona Stewart on June 29, 2022. If the plan is rejected, the Welsh Government aims to sell or rent Gilestone Farm.
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