9th GO Group workshop in Roskilde – Full Program


A legend turns 50 and it is the perfect timing for GO Group to finally go to Denmark. Roskilde Festival’s anniversary is a tribute to the youth activism and civic commitment that will pave the way for a better future. We are proud to be part of this celebration and happy to once again present our interactive, dedicated, open and communicative format known as the „GO Group workshop“ with international guests from all over Europe.

It’s time for the 9th international GO Group workshop in Roskilde. Register here

We kindly invite you to this 2-day seminar on October 5 and 6 2020 (the event was postponed, former dates were: March 30 and 31) to one of the most important places of European festival history, hosted by Roskilde Festival. The 9th international GO Group workshop will ask the question „How can festivals make a difference?“ and focus on chances and challenges, achievements and potentials of festivals, initiatives and activists to play an positive role in shaping society.  

GO Group in Prague

We completed an exciting program featuring an extraordinary mix of inspiring keynotes, presentations and case studies combined with creative workshops, discussions, talks and networking events on three days. We are looking forward to speakers from major events as well as scientists, experts, activists and of course the young voices which are the audience, artists and festival organizers of tomorrow.

And since this year marks GO Group’s 10th anniversary as well, we cannot imagine a better occasion and place to celebrate this with you. In other words: this will be amazing!

The GO GROUP workshop is an event by GO GROUP. With the support of Green Music Initiative, Yourope – The European Festival Association. and Take A Stand.

GO Group Program for Roskilde:

Confirmed GO Group speakers (in alphabelical order):

Sun 4 October 2020

14.00h Afternoon Activity @ Ragnarock, Rabalderstræde 16, Musicon, 4000 Roskilde  

Join us for a tour through Denmarks museum for Pop, Rock and Youth culture. Ragnarock is a roller coaster ride through the colorful history of music as well as a journey to youth generations that through different times create their own culture, communicate globally through music and have a huge impact on society. GO Group Workshop participants receive a 50% discount. How cool is that?

19.00h GO Group get-together @ Café Korn, Skomagergade 42-44, 4000 Roskilde

As always we meet for a casual get-together on the pre-workshop evening at a nice location. This family run restaurant offers a menu containing of local and organic produce. This one is on everyone’s own expenses

Mon 5 October 2020 
„How can festivals make a difference?“ DAY 1

As organizers of festivals and cultural events we have a possibility to use these as platforms to create a better future. By engaging anaudience and testing new sustainable innovations for the next generations, we experiment with changes that can have an impact in the world. We want to investigate and share innovative ideas, new methods and key insights in making festivals a driver of a sustainable future. This is why Roskilde Festival is co-hosting this year’s GO Group Workshop, which contains these sessions:

GO Group opening: 10 years oif Harder, Faster, Greener (please!)
Opening the 9th international GO group workshop and reflecting on both 50 years of Roskilde Festival and 10 years of Green Operations Europe. We want to set the tone for two inspirational days by pointing the spotlight on achievements, projects for change in progress and future goals. Be excited!

  • Linnéa Svensson | GO Group & GreenerEvents (NO)
  • Holger Jan Schmidt | GO Group & Take A Stand (GER)

Keynote: How can we use our festivals to make a difference?
With over 15 years of experience in the culture, music and festival industry on CEO and board level, Signe Lopdrup is one of the industry’s most experienced figures. Her knowledge about and passion for music, culture and festivals brings high ambitions as well as a strong believe that attraction is best secured through curiosity, changeability and challenges – from both within and outside a cultural organization. Signe’s efforts have resulted in strong attitudes towards Roskilde Festivals non-profit profile and have given strength to a community that exist all year round and culminates at the festival once a year.

  • Signe Lopdrup | CEO, Roskilde Festival (DK)

Young voices: Jumpstart of the most civic engaged generation ever seen!
How can festivals give young people a voice in the world? How can festivals encourage and inspire to engagement and change? How do we create more engagement, WOW and diversity? Which elements can we implement to create a platform for civic engagement? Let us make the world a better place! At Ungdommens Folkemøde (Youth Democracy Festival), we give young people a democratic jumpstart. We provide them with the sense of having an important and useful democratic voice –and the confidence in believing that it matters. Through this, we contribute to the most civic engaged generation ever seen. Our core values for doing so are: Engagement, WOW and Diversity. We give tools and ideas of how to create more activities that generate these values! We will generate concrete ideas and aspire to inspire. Working with how you can engage more young people at your festivals and encourage by giving them a voice in society, politics and in general. The workshop incorporates conversation menu’s, locates the reasons for why young people do or doesn’t engage, creates concrete ideas in groups and presents your findings –We will dream big, and try to implement it! 

  • Emilie Torp | Ungdomsbureauet (Youth Office) (DK)
  • Katrine Solvig | Ungdomsbureauet (Youth Office) (DK)

Creating experiences for the audience of the future
With our festivals we intentionally and unintentionally curate experiences and interactions. These include music, friendship, lifestyle activities, brands and different causes that tap into the emotions like belonging, happiness, love, inspiration and creativity, but also frustration, sadness and anxiety. Are we as organisers aware of this power? And does the audience think we understand them and their needs and expectations? Do the younger generations have different needs than the ones we already know as our audience? Do we understand the younger motivation or is there a need for changes?
We know from recent research that millennials and gen z’ers increasingly expect from brands that they act responsibly and that they show a willingness to act and make social and political changes in society. But what does this exactly mean, when we ask members of these “generations”? And do the increased brand expectations also come with a higher motivation for getting themselves involved as “youth activists”? We need to ask these questions with an open mind. And with the answers in mind, ask, how we as festivals can make the biggest difference? In this session we will dive into this topic and include both young festival audience as well as input from organisers and a start up developing solutions for the audience.

  • Linnéa Svensson | GO Group & GreenerEvents (NO)
  • Anne Jensen | Consultant, former Northside & Tinderbox Festival, FKP Scorpio (DK/GER)
  • Fruzsina Szép | Lollapaooza Berlin & Superbloom Munich (HUN/GER)
  • A group of young festival goers

How can festivals be a platform for testing and developing innovative sustainable solutions?
How can festivals work together with students to develop and test new sustainable solutions? What are the social and environmental benefits in these collaborations for students and festivals? What are the challenges and difficulties?How can innovative projects make changes in the world when the festival is over? How can student projects live on? For over 10 years Roskilde Festival has turned into a laboratory where students can test new technologies to make the festival more exciting and sustainable. Festivals can be a platform to investigate the future. Because of its temporality, the festival is a perfect setting to test new innovations that can live on in everyday life. The commitment to make social andenvironmental changes is the driver for cooperating with students’ projects which results in mutual learning and new solutions. At this workshop, we will introduce methods for cooperating with universities and schools and discuss the benefits and difficulties that these projects entail, with the following program:

Presentation of DTU Collaboration
How does a festival collaborate with a university? Through this presentation you will get a look into how Roskilde Festival and DTU are working together with students to develop new innovations and scientific knowledge.

  • Birgitte Rasmussen | Technical University of Denmark (DTU) & Roskilde Festival (DK)

Panel conversation
What are the benefits from working with universities and schools from the perspective of the schools, the festivals and the students? How do we make sure that new student innovations can live and create a better future after the festival? What are the difficulties, motives and best practices? Dig into these questions and ask for yourself when Henrik Bondo Nielsen, Sanne Stephansen and Lasse Skovgaard Jensen takes part in a conversation moderated by Christina Bilde.

  • Lasse Skovgaard Jensen | Technical University of Denmark (DTU) (DK)
  • Sanne Stephansen | Head of Sustainability, Roskilde Festival (DK)
  • Henrik Bondo Nielsen | Head of Safety and Service, Roskilde Festival (DK)
  • Christina Bilde | Head of Corporate Communication, Roskilde Festival (DK, host)

Showcases – An innovative experience:
Get a closer look into the different student projects. Students who have been working with Roskilde Festival will join the session and show us their own innovations.

Showcases facilitated by student groups
Have a look at various DTU projects that was carried out at Roskilde Festival 2019. Three of the student groups will present their project detail and give insights to how a student project can be carried out and contribute to a better festival.

Best practise: VOLT #powertogo
It all started back in 2012 when three students from DTU had an innovative solution to lift the festival experience. Volt has since then been using Roskilde Festival as a playground for innovations and is a good example of a study project that leads to social change. By now Volt has been helping on more than 300 festivals around Europe and are taking great responsibility in lifting social events, caring for the community and enabling guests to let go of their worries. Frederik Jensen will take us through Volt’s journey of how an idea in a camping area at Roskilde Festival can become a successful business.

  • Frederik Jensen | CEO, VOLT (DK)

Workshop with DTU students
Let’s get it on – how to start up a collaboration with universities and how might universities contribute to a festival? Participants create ideas and plans themselves.

Mon 30 March 2020, 20h
The GO Group Dinner @ INSP!, Køgevej 6, 4000 Roskilde
The official workshop networking dinner is the secret star of the event. We will meet at a unique place with a special philosophy. This time it is INSP! Which is an institution, where a visionary idea of ​​how a community can work in the 21st century comes to life. An inspiring place to follow up the day’s hot topics, get to know eachother even better, start a friendship… everything can happen here!
The dinner is kindly hosted by Yourope (the European Festival Association)

Tue 4 October 2020 
„How can festivals make a difference?“ DAY 2

Festivals are spaces where young people disengage from everyday life to enter a unique world. We have the opportunity to engage festival participants in asking questions about our societies and come up with ideas for making a difference. At the same time, festivals have a responsibility in being large events and we can make a difference through the way we do festivals.

Keynote: Escaping or transforming everyday life? The changing functions of festivals in society
Festivals have long been associated with freedom and visions for a better future because they exist outside the daily routines of work and bureaucracy. But is this still true in today’s booming international festival landscape? If so, what kind of freedom and potentials for change do festivals afford? Which functions do festivals have in cultural and economic life? Have these functions fundamentally changed in recent decades? Fabian Holt is a professor at Roskilde University and has made years of research about festivals as a platform for making changes in broader terms in society.

  • Prof. Fabian Holt | Roskilde University (DK)

Is this the real life? – The learning dimension of the festival world
Our events are adventure parks of personal experience and broadening consciousness.  Sure, people visit our events for fun and to escape from reality, but they take home so much more. Let’s take the time and a close look at the human being behind the customer and consumer. Let‘s find out about the learning dimenson of our events. We gathered three experts from different fields who approach the topic from various angles: one of the leading experts on Youth Work, learning mobility and non-formal education. An award winning artist and storyteller, who creates electrifying experiences and Europe’s leading festival networker on social responsibility. In this very interactive session we will talk about the role we play in the personal development of our visitors. Let‘s not forget: our festivals and philosophies are an important part of their youth and lifestyles. If they‘re building parts of their identity on the experience we offer them it incorporates a lot of responsibility for us.

  • Prof. Özgehan Senyuva | Middle East Technical University (TUR)
  • Holger Jan Schmidt | GO Group & Take A Stand (GER)
  • Sebastian Fleiter | Atelier Fleiter & The Electric Hotel (GER)

Trust the audience – possibilities and effects of being a good host
How can culture be a part of the essential setup at an event? How can we work with our role as ahost in a positive way to engage and develop a culture that supports what we want? Looking from different perspectives – such as safety and service – we will explore relevant projects and leanings from major events tosee how audience behaviour impacts the event and how a basic trust in the audience can lead to positive changes. We will investigate what a strong culture can do for an event. What does it mean when you lead the wayand show the audience that they are a part of something much more than a music event?

  • Sofie Dahl | RF Experience (DK)

GO GROUP‘s creative group workshop:
MAKE THE DIFFERENCE!
This is one of the dearest traditions that we established at GO Group events in the past decade: taking our time and getting creative. And sure you can bet we do it at this special occasion as well!
We will again present a playful group workshop that requires head, heart & hands. We are curating an interactive and fun experience to round it all up. The aim is to work as a team, tackle the issues that we dealt with during the past two days and share your knowledge in a productive and creative way.
This workshop focuses on actionable ideas on how to bring about change. Let’s create those forward-thinking ideas, projects and initiativs that help festival organisers make the difference, we’re talking about.
The group workshop experience and the following last round-up of the 9th international GO Group workshop hosted by Roskilde Festival will be facilitated and moderated by:

  • Linnéa Svensson | GO Group & Greener Events Foundation (NO)
  • Holger Jan Schmidt | GO Group & Take A Stand (GER)

Registration Fee:

239€ regular price incl. all fees and lunch on both days.
189€ special rate for YOUROPE & FESTAS members only incl. all fees, and lunch on both days for
REGISTER here

Hotel recommendations:

ZBC -Student Hotel | Maglegårdsvej | 4000 Roskilde | (600m to venue)

This is a basic but nice near by student hotel and our first option. If you want to find out whether there are still rooms available please contact us directly

Other options:

Scandic Roskilde Park | Ved Ringen 2 | 4000 Roskilde | (500m to venue)     
Danhostel | Vindeboder 7 | 4000 Roskilde | (3 km to venue)       
B&B Hotel Roskilde | Langagervej 19 A | 4000 Roskilde | (4 km to venue)

See you all in Roskilde for a workshop we will never forget!




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