We won! Thursday 16th March at MACBA, Barcelona saw the 2nd Edition of the Iberian Festival Awards organised by TalkFest. The Riba Rocks team went along to the Gala Ceremony having been Shortlisted for the ‘Contribution to Sustainability’ Award. Out of some 23 nominated festivals in this category, the Riba Rocks festival won the Iberian award for it’s focus on environmental, cultural, social and economic sustainability.

What a night!

These are just some of the things that we do here at Riba Rocks to avoid a negative impact on the Valley and to promote local culture:

• All our toilets are waterless compost toilets
• Our campsite is run via solar power
• We have a solar phone charging station
• Our showers are heated by the sun
• All water in the campsite comes from rain catching
• All waste is separated, reused or recycled
• Our bars all use re-usable cups
• Our food stalls use compostable folks, knives, plates and cups (made from vegetable starch)
• Presentations on culture and ecology (including a talk on the history of the juniper oven)
• Rent-a-tent to avoid discarded tents
• Paperless ticket option encouraged
• Subsidised 500 tickets to local people from village
• Low ticket prices (maximum price 35 euros, early bird tickets 20 euros) to make it affordable for local community to see international acts that would normally only play in cities like Barcelona, this is to encourage a larger music culture in a small rural village
• Promoting the village as a place to visit and live, helping to grow the local economy
• Riba Rocks is a not-for-profit festival with none of the organising team taking a wage

To ensure that we continue to assess our impact and to safeguard the future of the festival, 2017 will see the valley take a break, breathe and regrow. Without the support of the Ajuntament of Riba-roja d’Ebre, the festival would not be possible, so we want to take this opportunity to thank them for all their support, as well as our amazing sponsors and collaborators and the awesome volunteers and festival goers who attend to the event each year.

We’ll see you soon!