This year’s York Environment Festival (YEFest) has opened its call for events. Following our biggest programme yet in 2024 the annual city-wide festival is back, running from Saturday 27th September – Sunday 2nd November. We’re inviting proposals for a wide range of events celebrating and standing up for the environment.
YEFest is a chance to showcase the brilliant work being done by local environmental groups, campaigners, businesses, universities, schools, arts organisations – and more! All events in the festival will be open and free to attend, offering York residents a chance to get involved and find out more about how they can champion their local environment.
YEFest (formerly York Environment Week) was started in 2020 by York Environment Forum as an annual opportunity to raise awareness of how people in York are working hard to tackle climate change, increase biodiversity and make the city more sustainable. Since then it has grown year on year, expanding to become a multi-week festival of events. Last year’s programme ran from 14th September – 12th October, featuring over 100 events, 62 event organisers and more than 3000 participants.
Our theme for this year’s festival is ‘hope through action’. In the words of writer and activist Rebecca Solnit, “hope calls for action; action is impossible without hope”. At a time of global turbulence, we ask: what does it mean to cultivate hope? We are looking for events that offer people ways of taking hopeful environmental action, be that through education, activism, connection, creativity, or hands-on practical activities.
Past events have included everything from nature walks to film screenings to arts workshops. Event organisers in previous years have commented that being part of the programme offers greater visibility for events, enables them to reach new audiences, and gives them the sense of being part of something bigger. Why not join them? We welcome any event that engages in some way with the local environment and/or the climate and biodiversity crisis.
This year we’re particularly keen to see more events that are aimed at young people and that actively reach out to marginalised communities in the city. The climate and ecological crisis affects us all and we want YEFest to offer something for everyone in York.
Any groups who are interested in hosting an event in YEFest 25 can find out more and submit an application through our website or get in touch with the festival’s team of volunteers: info@yorkenvironmentfestival.org.uk. The deadline for event proposals is 31st July. We can’t wait to read about all your wonderful events!
Another great way to get involved is to print the call for events poster and share it with your family, friends, colleagues, and neighbours – the more the merrier!