Monday 2^nd December at London’s Roundhouse, Fiona Stewart, owner and Director of Green Man Festival, will be presented with the Outstanding Contribution to Festivals award at the tenth annual UK Festival Awards. Fiona has spent a career in entertainment and events spanning over 25 years, as a pioneer of the ‘boutique festival’ she has shaped the industry we know and love today. For more information on the UK Festival Conference & Awards please visit www.festivalaward.com   

Fiona began her event career in the 1980’s in London clubs and venues, followed by an offer of a production role in the nascent Channel 4. After years as a freelance producer during which she cut her festival teeth at Glastonbury and other festivals she became the Festival Manager of the Big Chill where she oversaw the expansion from 3,500 to 35,000 people between 2000 and 2006, and introduced the festival services now identified as ‘boutique’. Fiona owns and directs the hugely successful and critically-acclaimed Green Man festival in Wales’ Black Mountains, which celebrated its eleventh anniversary this summer with performances from Patti Smith, Ben Howard, Edwyn Collins and many more.

Fiona’s career added an international role when she became a research consultant to the British Council, and commercial arm of the Foreign Office, through which she undertook official visits to China, Serbia, Brazil and India between 2004 and 2010. During these visits Fiona reported back on overseas arts and festival industries, giving an insight into the developing event operations in these countries.

In 2010 Fiona was recruited as a panel member of the Welsh Assembly Creative Industries Advisory Board. Fiona also produced Wales’ contemporary music program for the Cultural Olympiad London 2012 Festival.

UKFA Director, James Drury, says: “Fiona’s dedication to not only her own events, but the industry as a whole, is inspirational. She is generous with her expertise - and that spirit of willingness to share knowledge is something we can all learn from.

"I have always admired Fiona’s extremely high standards and determination when many lesser people would give up - it’s the attitude which has made the Green Man festival and all events she is involved with so successful.

“It is with great delight that the Festival Awards recognises Fiona’s extraordinary feats and generosity to the festival industry.”

Fiona Stewart comments: “I was surprised and thrilled to hear that I was going to be given the Outstanding Contribution to Festivals Award and I am very grateful to UKFA for this honour.”

“I became involved in festivals when they were counter cultural events sometimes even illegal. They are now a major driver of British culture and international image. I am very proud of the UK festival industry and my future hope is that this hard won heritage is protected and their future diversity is guaranteed from threats of homogenisation. “

“Creating festivals which celebrate difference, and stimulate the inquisitive in a welcoming and comfortable environment is what I strive to do. Any success I have had or contribution I have made to the festival industry have been with the support of the many friends and family who have worked with me over the years, and I would like to dedicate this award to them, and to Camden my lovely home town and to beautiful incredible Wales.”

The UK Festival Awards and conference takes place Monday 2^nd December at The Roundhouse in London. Tickets start at just £40 and are available through the UK Festival Conference & Awards' official ticketing partner Eventbrite, to order please click here.

Carwyn Jones AM, First Minister of Wales - “I am pleased to congratulate Fiona on this well-deserved honour. Despite her busy schedule Fiona has worked closely with the Welsh Government over the last three years as part of the Creative Industries sector panel, for which she has our thanks. She also found the time to produce a contemporary music event in Wales for the Cultural Olympiad in 2012.. While all of this was happening of course, Green Man has, with the support of the Welsh Government, gone from strength to strength. The beauty of Glanusk Park and the surrounding area in Powys make it a distinctive Welsh festival with a strong sustainability ethos. The festival attracts headline acts from around the world who bring tourists into Wales, and we know many of them will come back again; but it is much more than that. It provides a genuine platform for Welsh artists; it works hand in hand with Welsh companies; it provides work experience and training opportunities for Welsh people; it supports Welsh charities. Fiona is to be congratulated for the way she has led the development of Green  Man as a thought-provoking and original brand.”