Teaching at Glastonbury: What It’s Actually Like to Run a Festival Workshop

Festival workshops are something else.

At a regular workshop, you know who’s coming. You’ve got your 16 or so people booked in, you’ve got your plan, and you can build from there. But at a festival? Anything can happen. You have no idea how many people will show up, when they’ll arrive, what mood they’ll be in... And that’s kind of the fun of it.

The last two years we’ve been running play workshops in the Healing Fields at Glastonbury. A dream. The Healing Fields, which are basically a magical space at the festival; a peaceful field, full of people doing yoga, sound baths and trying something new. The perfect space to invite people into something playful.

This year it was hot. Really hot. So we leaned into slower, less energetic games. You can plan as much as you like but the truth is, you have to adapt. You build up a mental library of games you like to play, you learn which ones work for different numbers and types of people and you go from there. Something someone says might remind you of a different game. The group might respond really well to one activity so you follow that thread. You read the energy. You shift things. Especially on a Sunday afternoon when everyone's brain is not quite as sharp as it was on Wednesday! 

We always start with a big welcoming game. Something loud, simple and easy to join -  because people arrive in drifts and clumps and nobody wants to feel like they’ve missed the start. We’ve used Start Stop (where I say “start” and you stop walking and vice versa), or a big round of beach ball counting. Something that looks fun from the outside and feels fun once you’re in it. Something that says: it’s okay, you don’t need to know what’s going on, just join in.

One game that always works well at a festival is Protest Signs. Everyone builds a three-word protest sign by going around the circle one word at a time. Then we all chant it like we deeply believe in it. Some of the Glastonbury favourites this year: – No More Longdrops – Goose Flamingo Parsnip – Always Love Yourself

You also never know who will come. This year we had a big group of giggly girls who ended up crying with laughter. We had one kid who came to all the workshops and said “I love this one” about every single game. And, unsurprisingly we had the person who’s had a few too many lemonades and thinks they’re the funniest person alive. (They’re not. But they mean well. You treat them like a heckler. You don’t let them take over but you don’t shut them down completely. A slightly confusing word game often helps.)

Festival people are different from regular workshop crowds. In evening hobbyist classes, people are there to learn something new, to escape from their day. When we teach a corporate group, people know each other. There’s that layer of professionalism or trying to look good. At a festival, people are just floating about looking for something fun or magical or surprising. It’s all much looser. More curious.

So how do you teach a workshop at a festival? You prepare what you can, then you let it go. You trust your instincts. You stay playful. You go with what the group needs. You create a space that feels welcoming and open - whether people join for five minutes or stay the whole time.

And you celebrate the moments of magic that happen when someone unexpectedly falls into joy. That’s the bit you can’t plan for. Embrace the unknown and play!