Music : All Music
This is a daytime event (e.g. starts late morning or early afternoon - see below for times).
Full details: secretgardenparty.com
21st - 24th July 2011
"Some men change their party for the sake of their principles; others their principles for the sake of their party."
Winston Churchill
The Secret Garden Party is a temporary community that is as free, irreverent, friendly and engaging as it is possible to be. It is conceived as a moment in the year where you can connect to your creative powers, explore your wildest fantasies and meet thousands of people who all want to meet you. It is a gathering that exists for only four days - away from cities and schedules, brands and boundaries – founded on participation and with the potential to change your life. It is a festival of the arts…where everyone is the artist.
What this website will do is paint a picture of the party: its headline acts, its workshops, its speakers and its theatres. It’s a snap shot only. To truly understand Secret Garden you must walk through the festival gates as if Monday was never destined to arrive and everyone you are about to meet will be the love of your life. Buy your ticket, pitch your tent, turn off your phone…then relax and float downstream. See you in July.
Some principles…
Participation
We provide the garden and plant the seeds, but you nurture its life and allow it to blossom. It is your party - your creative participation allows the festival to rejuvenate & regenerate. Our number one rule is that the festival must facilitate your participation. To ensure this principle is upheld we give half of all ‘programming’ money back to you in the form of grants.
Wild & Free
The Secret Garden Party brings people together by removing all barriers – you will do things you never thought you had the nerve or bombast to do. We set a few rules and ask you to respect them. Then we ask you to let go and do as you wish.
100% Independent
We are not partnered with any organization, not part-owned by a fiendish entertainment group and do not have ‘silent’ shareholders who require us to make huge profits. You, The Gardeners, are our partners. Your ticket money and your pounds spent at the bar allow SGP to take place. We reason that you want all your cash spent on the party you are paying for, and that you would like your party to be like no other in the UK. This is what we try to deliver.
Lack of banner sponsorship
There is something unnerving about relaxing in the countryside under a Pepsi logo…
Spectacles & Celebrations
The real power of these moments is not what you are watching or doing, but the fact that you are all watching & doing it together. The celebrations and spectacles bond Gardeners together, making you feel part of a tribe. Be it a headline act, a wrestle in the mud pit or the releasing of lanterns as the lake burns and fireworks explode – we all come together and never really fully depart.
Moments of Brilliance
Alongside the big events, these are the tiny happenings that only a few people experience. There are so many moments of random brilliance that each Gardener goes home with their own exclusive story. These personal experiences encourage you to get involved in the party - we therefore hold them in high regard.
Finding Virgin Gardeners
Outside the month of July we spend our time searching for people who will revel in the Secret Garden Party. We travel to Burning Man to spread the word, we stage extravagant parties that embody the principles of the summer festival. Our role is to ensure the new Gardeners that arrive each year are ready for the challenge.