Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts

Global Understanding in a public cultural setting

The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts is an annual five-day festival held near Pilton in Somerset, England. With an attendance of about 200,000 spectators, it is regularly considered one of the best and biggest annual music events in Europe. The Green Fields are home to political Glastonbury events.

In 2026, Green Fields partnered with the IYGU. Participants included Ed Miliband (Leader of the Labour Party), John McDonnell (Deputy Leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition), Baroness Jenny Jones (Green Party), and other prominent green politicians, performance poets, campaigners, scientists, and so on. They attracted impressive participation. On Thursday, which was EU election night, the BBC broadcast a live show featuring snippets from Glastonbury Speakers‘ Forum to a global audience.