ValeFest, previously known as The Vale Festival, is a charitable summer music and arts festival that takes place on the Vale, a park and student accommodation site at the University of Birmingham, in Birmingham, England now going into its 19th year.
It is planned, organised and largely staffed by volunteer students - it is believed to be the largest solely student-organised event in the UK and is the largest student-run charity festival in Europe. Every year it is held on the Saturday after summer examinations finish and all proceeds go towards charities selected earlier in the academic year. So far it has raised over £200,000. The capacity of the 2019 event was 5,000.
The committee is a student group associated with University of Birmingham Guild of Students, the university's students' union.
The beginning of each year sees the nomination and selection of charities that each year would raise money for, from social justice matters and adolescent mental health, to general poverty causes. There are several stages at the festival on the day, as well as comedy and performance tents, society events and workshops, and an after-party.
History
2000s
With the aims of both raising money and awareness for AIDS-related causes and addressing the lack of live music on campus, the Birmingham University Stop AIDS society attempted to arrange a large festival at the Guild Building in 2005. The Guild of Students pulled out, deeming the event unfeasible. Simultaneously a much larger event was being planned on University (rather than guild) property: The Vale Festival. The Vale Festival team, an independent group of students and the Student Stop Aids committee joined forces. Local bands, student societies and the large team of volunteer organisers worked to make the event, held in the Vale student village, a substantial success in June 2005. The chosen focus was the crisis in Sudan. £12,000 was raised, and the event was widely viewed as a major success.
The Vale Festival 2006 took place on 6 June. Attended by over 3,900 students, and raising approximately £25,000 for two charities - UNICEF and SPW, for their HIV/AIDS projects in Kenya and Zimbabwe respectively - the event was hailed as probably the biggest and best event ever to be staged at The University of Birmingham. Highlights of the day included performances from numerous bands, singers and DJs - Old School Tie, The Anomalies, First Rate, Vijay Kashore and the 360 headlined again, pulling in a crowd of over 200 students which created an amazing end to a great line up of live bands. DJ, drumming and singing workshops also went on throughout the day, as did drama performances, healing spaces and many stalls run by student societies. The day culminated in an outdoor cinema screening of The Constant Gardener, and three different rooms for the club night inside Shackleton Hall.
The 2007 festival was held on 12 June, with just over 5,000 students on the day. The event aimed to raise awareness of the humanitarian effects of climate change on people in poorer nations. Vale Festival '07 supported two charities, Kids for Kids and Action Aid, and raised over £30,000.
The line-up was as follows:
Main Stage: The Anomalies, The Tommys, Laid Blak, Floors and Walls, Hobbit, Lazy J, Old School Tie, Friendly Fire, Stanley's Choice, University Gospel Choir Kids for Kids Chillout Tent: Transient Dreams, Two Spot Gobi, Yamit Mamo, Swing Manouche, Tanante, The Old Dance School, KTB, Kid-iD, Hannah Rhodes ActionAid Dance Arena: Deepgroove, Will Bailey, Aries, Far Too Loud, Joebot, Mikee Lazy, Hobbit & Bass6, Fat Gold Chain, DJ Shei.
Vale Festival 2008 took place on 10 June and had near the full capacity of 5500. The theme for the year was 'Water for Life', with the festival focussed on the issue of sustainable access to clean water in the developing world and raised £30,000 for WaterAid, Play Pumps and Pump Aid. The main stage, dance tent and Hilltop Tent were headlined by Misty's Big Adventure, Andy Morris and Watch this Fire Spread respectively. There was a generous mix of entertainment throughout the festival, including African drumming, wood carving and capoeira. The open air cinema screening was of Shooting Dogs and the after-party took place on The Vale within the University.
Vale Festival 2009 took place on 9 June, with the charitable causes being chosen as Self Help Africa and FareShare. The ethic proposed was to 'Unite Against Hunger'.