Organisation - October 20, 2010

Call for Nature festival

The future may bring a new Wageningen festival in honour of nature and landscape. Tia Hermans, team leader in the domain of Nature, Landscape and the Rural Environment at Wageningen UR, is going to do her best to make it happen.

During the Food4You festival last week, Hermans campaigned for more attention to the 'nature branch' of Wageningen UR. She thinks the executive board is not putting this side of the institution in the limelight enough. Meanwhile, board chair Aalt Dijkhuizen has put the ball back in her court. 'He is challenging me and the Environmental Sciences group to come up with ideas for a festival of our own.' Hermans' proposal to link up with the Food4You festival has been rejected. 'Apparently that is not feasible. Food4You has its own brand identity, and you mustn't mess about with that.'
But there is no shortage of ideas, says Hermans. 'I have had about twenty responses by email. There were some good suggestions among them. There seem to be enough people who take green issues to heart.' Hermans is going to start by talking to ESG director Kees Slingerland about which options could be viable. One option would be to link up with existing national initiatives. 'There are already several festivals, such as the Week of the Landscape. We need to look at what sorts of combination might be possible. What I want is an event in which the link between nature research and society is central.'