The
Vale Festival, commonly abbreviated to
Valefest, is a music
festival that takes place on the campus of
University of Birmingham, in
Birmingham,
England. Uniquely, it is planned, organised and largely staffed by volunteer students - it is believed to be the largest solely student-organised event in the
UK. All proceeds go to charitable causes.
The 2008 event took place on 10 June. Organisers expected a sell-out event, with capacity crowds of up to 5,500 students. The theme for this year's festival is 'Water for Life' - more specifically, sustainable access to clean water and sanitation in the developing world. All proceeds from ticket sales, which was over £30,000 in 2007, will be donated to three charities:
Play Pumps,
WaterAid and PumpAid. The festival will boast five stages, over forty bands, performances, society events, an
outdoor cinema, workshops, an official after-party and a wide variety of other features. The main-stage headliner will be
Misty's Big Adventure.
2005
With the aim of both raising money and awareness for
AIDS-related causes and addressing a death in live music on campus, the Birmingham University
Stop AIDS Society tried to arrange a large festival at
Guild building. The Guild of Students pulled out, deeming the event unfeasible. Simultaneously a much larger event was being planned on University, rather than student union, property - The Vale Festival. The Vale Festival team, an independent group of students and the Student Stop Aids...
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