8 Czech festivals that don't harm our planet

United Islands: The first breath of festival summer

This year’s first sustainable festival is United Islands of Prague, an international multi-genre festival that will be held in Prague on 3 and 4 May. Free admission. The organisers have planned United Islands of Prague as a sustainable festival designed with the main economic, social, environmental and cultural foundations of sustainability in mind. The festival will of course use green energy, offer organic quality vegetarian and vegan snacks, place emphasis on zero packaging, offsetting its carbon footprint and sustainable transport. The festival uses rainwater and compostable toilets. Sorting waste, returnable cups and partnerships with bikesharing companies will put this festival firmly on the map of sustainable cultural events in 2024!
United Islands of Prague ©Jiří Rygel

Zlín Film Festival: Festival for children and young people

At the beginning of June, Baťa’s Zlin in Moravia will be hosting the 64th annual film festival, one of the oldest and largest film shows of its kind in the world. It is attended by more than 120,000 visitors of all ages every year. The festival aims to educate children and broaden their awareness of the world. That’s why sustainability is a major priority for the festival. This year they’ll continue to plant trees and take a sustainable approach to our planet.

Rock for People: A planet-friendly fix of great music

This festival, held near the beautiful historical city of Hradec Kralove from 12 to 15 June, will be hosting some fantastic bands such as The Prodigy and The Offspring, but will also show great respect for the environment. This popular festival will stick with the trend it has followed in recent years, with sustainability more than just a green slogan. It will feature the Solar Stage, which is completely powered by solar panels and a photovoltaic power plant. Another stage is powered by an innovative hydrogen system. And there’s more! The festival has partnered with local farms and added an even wider range of vegetarian and vegan food options. And although Czech law does not yet require it, there is a deposit charged on all returnable PET bottles and aluminium cans.

Smetana’s Litomyšl: An environmentally-friendly festival experience

This year's Smetana's Litomyšl classical music festival will be the high point of the celebrations marking the bicentenary of the birth of the composer Bedřich Smetana. From 8 June to 7 July you can enjoy more than 50 performances and concerts, not to mention dozens of concurrent events. This year's event will be the longest and biggest since it was first held in 1946! The organisers have also prepared special bus services: running to Hradec Králové and Pardubice, as well as Brno. This means that after the concert, you can make your way home on environmentally-friendly public transport.

Colours of Ostrava: A barrier-free festival

Ostrava's popular multi-genre summer festival (17 – 20 July) naturally places great emphasis on recycling and keeping its carbon footprint as small as possible. It excels in another important area, too. It’s totally barrier-free! Since 2011, the show has enabled all disabled visitors to enjoy the festival to the full. Each year, the event is attended by around 1,000 people with visual, hearing and mobility impairments, including people with autism spectrum disorders. You can book yourself a parking space and a seat on a special stand, and the hearing impaired have everything translated into Czech sign language. Including selected concerts! In short, everyone is welcome there.

Let it Roll: Going green with electronic music

The popular drum & bass festival will attract fans of electronic beats from 1 to 3 August at the former military airfield in Milovice, just outside Prague. This year, the organisers of Let it Roll have again backed up the ecological and environmental initiative of the festival with the Rollin' Green project. In addition to paper and plastic, aluminium, bio-waste and food waste will also be sorted at the green points. Food will be served on biodegradable plates made from palm leaves and the cutlery will be made from renewable materials that can be composted after use.
Let It Roll ©Lenka Hradilová

Prague Pride: An emphasis on social and environmental sustainability

The summer wouldn’t be summer without the Prague Pride festival, which highlights LGBTQ+ themes and social equality, but is also open to the general public. This year's Pride will be held from 5 to 11 August in many places in the centre Prague. One again, the festival will place emphasis on using local ingredients and returnable or eco-friendly packaging.

Ji.hlava: A festival that sets an example

Another environmentally-friendly event is the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival. It is scheduled for the 28th time on 25 October – 3 November.  The festival's catering is vegetarian and the ingredients are sourced from local suppliers, mainly from Vysočina. The festival keeps printed materials to a minimum and uses public transport and bike sharing as much as possible. Basically, following a sustainable lifestyle and not living at the expense of our fellow Earthlings and future generations means taking collective responsibility. And that’s the motto of the Ji.hlava festival!