Festival Director 2024
I have returned for my second year on the Urban Tree Festival and I’ve been taking the lead role this year, supported by the knowledgeable Paul Wood (@thestreettree) and a fantastic team of six interns from Goldsmiths University, and of course not forgetting all our fantastic event organisers who make the festival what it is!
Joining forces with our partners CPRELondon I worked on a funding push in the lead up to the festival, and we are pleased to have received sponsorship from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and The Woodland Trust this year.
Our focus has been expanding the diverse reach of the festival, increasing the amount of accessible events, alongside delving into the heritage of trees and their value alongside continuing our work promoting and supporting urban trees.
Delivering the festival, which is upwards of 70 events this year, involves gathering and processing a tonne of data, last year I implimented a submissions form, and we encouraged everyone to use it this year getting up to around 95% of the content submitted through it.
Festival branding and marketing is also a huge task, and I have in place a regulated system to ensure all events receive coverage across social media platforms during the festival.
Having a larger support team this year has meant I have been able to work with providers more, building realtionships and planning ahead for next years festival, for which we have a potential new funding partner in our sights and an exciting theme planned!
Sara Hayes MA
@thepublicartco
