Host with the Most - Beyond The Valley
20th Jan 2023
Humanitix has a deep love for hosts that do good, but too often event creators and makers go unthanked. We want to turn the spotlight on them and shine a light on hosts that go above and beyond for their community.
Beyond The Valley is not just a premier NYE festival - it’s an outstanding example of how events should be run. As a major Australian music festival, they take their position and influence seriously to educate and empower their community and implement sustainable practices.
The Director of Untitled Group, Christian Serrao, is one of the dreamers behind the boutique festival. He originally wanted to study architecture but decided to forge down the music festival path after he organised an after-party for his high-school formal and was wildly successful.
It’s safe to say BTV has grown to be wilder than anyone imagined. The festival location is now bigger than Coachella’s, located at Barunah Plains, a lush oasis located on the lands of the Wadawurrung Peoples of the Kulin Nation and the Eastern Maar Peoples of Southwest Victoria. The festival provided world-class production, carefully curated stage designs, mesmerising visual spectacles, state-of-the-art sound design & bespoke custom experiences.
Recently, Christian spoke to Broadsheet.com, where he described what running an impactful event is like:
“Chaotic is probably the main word for the last couple of years… We've grown up and so has the festival with us. It’s a new chapter as we return as a traditional camping festival while embracing a very new site at Barunah Plains. It means a lot to us as a team to host the best festival experience possible."
We love BTV’s sustainability practices:
- Banning single-use plastic bottles across the entire site.
- A portion of each vehicle and coach pass goes towards the purchase of carbon credits to offset environmental impact via Treecreds.
- Employment of ‘trash experts’ that rove throughout the event, encouraging community participation through dancefloor cleanups and interactive activities. The cleanest campsites are rewarded with free tickets to BTV23.
- In 2022, the festival introduced Good Intentions, the one-stop-shop for sustainable camping and tent repairs, and renting out all kinds of gear to attendees to minimise landfill.
- Food vendors are required to have compostable service ware including plates, bowls and utensils.
- All staging materials are reused and recycled, even being repurposed as furniture!
- A strict Leave ‘No Trace Policy’, so irresponsible attendees found in breach of this policy risk being banned from Beyond The Valley in future years.
We have also loved being a part of Beyond The Valley’s inclusivity programs that are normalising accessibility across the live music industry:
- Main Stage features an accessible viewing platform and AUSLAN interpreters positioned day and night on stage.
- Accessible Campgrounds located in an area on flat land with access to power, accessible toilets and showers.
We loved ringing in the New Year with you, Beyond The Valley. Can't wait to do it again NYE 2023!
Humanitix
Humanitix is the world’s first humane ticketing platform that donates 100% of profits from booking fees to children’s charities. Backed by Google.org and the Atlassian Foundation, Humanitix is converting the USD $3.7bn in annual global booking fees into social impact projects that give disadvantaged kids greater access to education, healthcare and a fair go in life.
