Written by Amy Hall.
Creative Island facilitated the creation of the ‘Events Compass’ after attending Oerol, Europe’s largest site-specific arts festival, which takes place on the Island of Terschelling, in the ecologically-sensitive Wadden Sea region of the northern Netherlands. The importance of this area reflects the ecological importance of the Isle of Wight and it got the team thinking. When they returned home they spent time reflecting on events held on the Island. A place with 75% of land especially designated to nature, surrounding waters of equal importance, strong community and a deep-rooted heritage.
The Isle of Wight is a hub for culture and events, with the internationally recognised Sky Presents: The Isle of Wight Festival, or community-led events such as the 18 annual Island-wide carnivals. Across the Island and beyond, event organisers work tirelessly in an ever changing social climate and economy, in trying times; simply avoiding harm to people and places is the baseline for events however we want to push to leave places better than we found them.
Creative Island has worked with Ian Boyd (The Common Space and Artecology), Alison Ford (designer), Nick Green (Arts Council), Jo Ridley (Creative Island) and the Oerol festival team to create a framework that has been named the ‘Events Compass’. The aim of which is to deepen connection, support wellbeing, celebrate local identity and ultimately leave places better than we found them. An eight page document, with easy to follow checklists, encouraging better care of people and places throughout the whole event planning process. The idea is to take the pressure off the organisers, giving them the flexibility to take what they need and leave the rest but ultimately create a better event planning experience for all involved.
This is a completely free online resource that is easily accessible to everybody through the Creative Island website. It guides the organiser through the whole event planning process, from curating, to co-ordinating and post event evaluation, offering simple guidance on small improvements they can make to elevate the protection of the area their event is taking place in.
The Events Compass is inspired by the unique landscape of the Isle of Wight, an incredible place with interesting people, culture and ecosystems, earning it a Biosphere Status in 2019, one of only seven places in the UK to be recognised. The guidelines in the compass are based on the needs of the Isle of Wight however, have been carefully designed by experts to be applicable across the UK and beyond.
Gavin Stride, Director of Creative Island shared:
“Working on an Island, we are keenly aware that everything we create goes somewhere. You can’t throw stuff away. It’s not enough to just tidy up behind ourselves. We need to be doing more. Giving back. Making things better through the things we do.”
We’re confident that this Events Compass will lead change across the events industry, creating more carefully curated events. Leading to places, people and culture being left in a better state than before and giving event co-ordinators the confidence and knowledge to do so. A special thank you to Arts Council England, for funding the creation of this framework.
