Celebrated and revered as a vital date in the summer festival diary and a beloved home for fans young and old to dive head-first into unfiltered fun, Truck Festival once again delivered big in 2023 - with that core ethos of community sitting at the heart of everything they do. Marking it all, Truck Festival today has announced details of its comprehensive In The Community programme and the impact its 2023 initiatives had on causes and organisations across Oxfordshire and beyond.
Leading the way to ensure that the festival’s impact is both positive and extends further than just the festival weekend, 2023’s Truck In The Community programme ensured over £161,000 was raised for causes, campaigns and organisations across a wide array of different charity sectors. Through a combination of partnerships, opportunities and wider grant funding through Truck In The Community and the Truck Trust - Truck Festival once again stepped up as a festival who do more than simply box-tick, embracing their role as a meaningful event to drive positive change.
Spanning out across several arms, the event’s work involves donating proceeds raised during the festival as well as partnering with key initiatives, such as UN Women’s Safer Spaces Now campaign, that helps to ensure a safer and more inclusive festival experience can be had by those who attend Truck Festival. Also this year the Truck Trust continued to grow the festival’s annual fundraising and charitable donations even further, whilst allowing opportunities for more charities and organisations to apply for funding. 2023/24 grants included:
- Yellow Submarine Holidays
- Gobo Theatre Foundation
- Play2Give
- Clear Sky Children's Charity
- Style Acre
- Little Pippins Pre-school
- All Yours Period Box CIC
- Blewbury Amazons Girls FC
- Little Giants Nursery
- An Angel Of Gracie Charity
- Harwell & Hendred Youth Football Club
- Oxfordshire Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre
- Oxfordshire Foster Care Association
- Arts at the Old Fire Station
- Down's Syndrome Oxford
- Abingdon Carousel Family Centre
- Roots Radical Learning CIO
- AT The Bus
- Cholsey Volunteers
- Abingdon Town Amateur Boxing Club
- American Dance School
- Hagbourne Primary
- Oxfordshire Wildlife Rescue
- Parkinsons.Me
- In-Spire Sounds
- Be Free Young Carers
- Southmoor Pre-School
- Steventon Friendly Association
- BYHP
- One Planet Abingdon
- Sweatbox Youth Centre
- The Parasol Project
- FloFest (The Florence Park Festival)
- St Michael's CE Primary School
- Abingdon Breastfeeding Café (ABC)
- Banbury Community Action Group
- Young Women's Music Project
On-site at Truck Festival in 2023 collaborations, initiatives and partnerships with a range of organisations ensured that Community Impact ran through every second of the festival weekend. Once again, the renowned Feel Good Food Hall served as a hub within the festival offering sustainable food options whilst raising funds directly for 16 local charity groups that will go on to provide meaningful support across a variety of different avenues. Direct placement opportunities were provided for BIMM students to support their studies as well as champion more accessible routes into the music and events industries while Be Free Young Carers participated once again to give young carers an opportunity to enjoy experiences to mark their incredible hard-work year round. Collaborating with the Young Women’s Music Project on unique charity merchandise with all proceeds going towards the project, it ensured that across the festival-site Truck once again supported those offering meaningful support to those who need it the most in our communities.
Following the Truck Festival weekend that sense of collaboration continued by finding progressive solutions to issues usually seen in a negative fashion across the industry. Surplus food left from the festival weekend was directed to Oxford Food Hub, an organisation which distributes food to charities and community organisations in order to reach people who urgently need it the most. This was also echoed with unwanted tents and sleeping bags which were donated to Care4Calais, an organisation who deliver essential aid and support to refugees living in the worst conditions across Northern France and Belgium. Making sure every aspect possible at Truck can be utilised for good, these initiatives will continue into the 2024 festival and beyond.
With year-round initiatives in place with Steventon Junior Cricket Club (which the festival sponsor in order for the club to invest in new equipment, kits and launch brand new teams at different age levels) as well as St Michael’s CE Primary School, Truck sits squarely as an example of how a festival can directly serve entire communities not just for a weekend but 365 days of the year. These results come shortly after the news that Truck Festival has been granted the Gold Award by the leading industry body for accessibility Attitude Is Everything and their Live Access Charter. Providing a clear framework for events to make their shows accessible and welcoming for all abilities, their Gold Award specifically recognises shows, events and venues which do fantastic work to champion inclusive practice to ensure that deaf, disabled and neurodivergent fans, artists and workers are able to fully enjoy that specific event. It sees Truck join a select few festivals to be awarded the accolade.
Not only investing in organisations that span across a variety of different causes and campaigns, Truck Festival’s revered support for new music shines bright not only in its staggering lineup which celebrates the best in the indie and alternative world but also in their commitment to grassroots emerging artists. In 2024, The Band App returns bigger than ever - unearthing and supporting emerging artists with incredible prizes and support which doesn’t just offer up the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of indie royalty by playing the festival, but also a range of support to introduce an artist to the wider music world.
Applications to the Band App are open now via truckfestival.com/explore/band-app/
Truck Festival 2023 took place this year between 21st-23rd July, welcoming over 25,000 music fans to one of the UK’s defining festival weekends - cementing itself as a true rite of passage for young music fans. Combining stunning headline sets, the best in indie/alternative music, laugh out loud fun and that unmistakable character + atmosphere that’s become synonymous with Truck - once again it was clear to see why it’s Your Favourite Artists’ Favourite Festival.
Truck Festival returns in 2024 across the weekend of 26th-28th July 2024. For further information, head to truckfestival.com
Image credit: Caitlin Mogridge
