CANNES, France (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — The 42nd installment of MIDEM is nigh upon us and this year, they will be holding their first Green World Awards to recognize live event productions and organizations that are striving to create a framework of sustainability.
Kevin Wall, the Founder & CEO of Live Earth (USA), Henrik Rasmussen, General Manager of Roskilde Festival (Denmark) and Daniel Rossellat, President of Paléo Festival Nyon (Switzerland), will receive the honour at a special awards ceremony during MIDEM"s "Green & Live" conference held on 29 January. This will be followed by the panel discussion, "A Greener Live, Raising the Bar," which will feature other prominent figures from the live industry.
"The inaugural MIDEM Green World Award is part of Reed MIDEM"s commitment to raise awareness about environmental issues. Last year we began to integrate several "Going Green" initiatives into our trade shows, and we appreciate both the impact and challenges of organizing environmentally-responsible events," says Paul Zilk, Chief Executive Officer of Reed MIDEM. "Live Earth, Roskilde and Paléo have been exemplary in their commitment to raising environmental concerns and they have redefined industry benchmarks for future event production."
In collaboration with other environmental groups, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore and his organization, The Alliance for Climate Protection, Live Earth set out strict "Green Guidelines" aimed at creating a "low-impact" event. Carbon emissions were substantially reduced and 81% of the 97 metric tons of waste collected was diverted from landfill sites via recycling and composting efforts.
The Roskilde Festival Society is the largest Northern European music festival, exceeding the population of the fifth largest Danish city and producing the equivalent in waste. Some of their environmental policies date back to 1994, making the group one of the pioneers of the greener festival. All beverages are served in plastic mugs with 97% of the mugs being returned to recycling deposit points. The waste is sorted into 13 different categories and all organic materials are composted and used to refertilise the site. All profits from the festival are then donated directly to humanitarian causes.
The Paléo Festival Nyon is powered by a single green energy source, "vivonatur", which is generated using 100% sustainable wind and water energy from the Swiss Alps. Powering one of the largest open-air festivals in Europe with green energy – over 225,000 festival-goers over a six day period – is a monumental achievement in itself. Paléo Festival Nyon has already won numerous accolades including the Nice Future 2006 prize and in 2007 the "Green "n" Clean" title awarded by the organization of European festivals, Yourope. Under its slogan, "Respect the Environment", Paléo also encourages people to sort their rubbish and take advantage of public transport.
