12th International GO Group Green Operations Europe Workshop at Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw on April 13 and 14, 2026 with city skyline background.

12th international GO Group workshop

It’s time for the 12th international GO Group workshop, this time in Warsaw, Poland.

Once more we will be talking about green issues, sustainability and climate action for festivals and other live events. We kindly invite everyone interested in greener events to this two-day seminar on April 13 and 14, 2026, at another special place in the European festival landscape: Warsaw, home of Alter Art. The famous Polish promoter, responsible for festivals like Open’er and Orange Warsaw, kindly has been helping us set up the workshop.

The 12th international GO Group workshop will take place in Warsaw’s Museum of Modern Art and deal with what is needed to help festivals in all of Europe become sustainable and circular.

“The Green Changeover” 

That’s our motto for 2026. Join us for the green transition from different perspectives – outside-in, inside-out, and forward! In two full days we will bring in perspectives from outside the festival organization, while also creating space for participants to nerd out. CO₂ accounting, certification schemes, production workflows, data collection, and the practical realities of implementation are some areas that we will dive into.

We also want to look forward. The green festival world is constantly in transition, and we will explore what comes next through a couple of workshops designed to spark ideas, motivation, and a shared vision of a greener future. 

This is for everyone who cares about greener festivals – whether you organize them, work with them, supply them, or simply want to help move the sector forward.


Date & venue

Date: April 13 and 14, 2026

Venue: Museum of Modern Art (MSN), Marszałkowska 103, 00-110 Warsaw, Poland. The museum presents the achievements and transformations of Polish art of the 20th and 21st centuries in an international context. Besides building its art collection, it presents significant recent phenomena in the field of visual arts, film, theater and music, and conducts educational and research activities. The iconic building, whose construction was only finished in 2024, was designed by Thomas Phifer and Partners based in New York.


Ticket prices & discounts

As always, the workshop is open to non-members, too, and there is a discount for YOUROPE members.

Please note that due to technical reasons, prices will be charged in PLN. 

REGISTER HERE


Hotel recommendation

We recommend staying at the Novotel Warsaw Center. It is only a 10-minute walk or 7-minute tram ride away from the Museum of Modern Art. Our team and speakers will be staying there, too.


Speakers

Confirmed speakers so far (sorted alphabetically) – more to come:

  • Ákos Dominus | Sziget Festival (HU)
  • Andreas Magnusson | LiveGreen Festivals & Academy (SE)
  • Claire O’Neill | A Greener Future (UK)
  • Daniel Barrera Madsen | Vegetarisk (DK)
  • Daniele Murgia | Future of Festivals (DE)
  • Dóra Diószeghy | Sziget Festival (HU)
  • Hendryk Martin | Bonoer & The Wow (DE)
  • Holger Jan Schmidt | YOUROPE & GO Group (DE)
  • Insa Trede | Wacken Open Air (DE)
  • Jan Halfar | Štěrkovna Open Music (CZ)
  • Katharina Weber | YOUROPE & GO Group (DE)
  • Linnea Vågen Svensson | GO Group & YOUROPE (NO)
  • Marie Rosted Furseth | Øyafestivalen (NO)
  • Martin Gustafsson | LiveGreen Festivals & Academy (SE)
  • Matěj Ostárek | Štěrkovna Open Music (CZ)
  • Mikołaj Ziółkowski | Alter Art & YOUROPE Board (PL)
  • Ondrej Poláček | Pohoda Festival (SK)
  • Rob van Wegen | ESNS (NL)
  • Saku Juvonen | Blockfest (FI)
  • Vlad Yaremchuk | Ukrainian Association of Music Events & Music Saves Ukraine (UA)
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Schedule

Day 1 – Monday, April 13, 2026

09:00 Doors open

Arrival, registration, and informal networking before the program begins.

09:30 Opening

To Kick off the 12th international workshop in the 15th year of GO Group, we will find out who’s in the room and enjoy some words of welcome from our hosts Holger Jan Schmidt (General Secretary of YOUROPE & Co-Founder of GO Group) and Mikołaj Ziółkowski (Founder & CEO of Alter Art and board member of YOUROPE).

10:15 The Green Changeover

The challenges of sustainability in festival production today. Not (only) from the perspective of green festival representatives, but also with an overall perspective looking into general festival production.

Speakers: Rob van Wegen (ESNS; moderator), Insa Trede (Wacken Open Air), Ondrej Poláček (Pohoda Festival), Saku Juvonen (Blockfest)

11:15 Breather

Short break, refill and informal conversations.

11:30 Mhhh, Delicious! Rethinking the Festival Menu

How can plant-based food strategies help you reduce your festival’s CO2 footprint while enriching the food experience for the audience with some mouth-watering meat-free options?

Speaker: Daniel Barrera Madsen (Food & Behavior Consultant, Vegetarisk)

12:30 Lunch Break

…and networking opportunity.

13:45 Can Sponsors Help Green Your Event?

We will hear about two cases when working with outside sponsors has opened new doors, delivered more opportunities, delivered important knowledge, and led to revenue for projects. Lessons and best practice on how to successfully unite sponsoring and sustainability.

Speakers: Holger Jan Schmidt (moderator), Henryk Martin (Founder of Bonoer), Rob van Wegen (Sustainability expert, Construction Site of the Future)

14:30 The European Green Festival Roadmap 2030

Once more we will highlight YOUROPE’s much acclaimed European Green Festival Roadmap 2030 and show you how to handle it. We will guide you through the structure and measures of this guide, which is based on the aims of the European Green Deal and linked to the UN Sustainable development Goals (SDG). We present it in a perspective-driven session exploring challenges and opportunities in the field.

An added value for our Polish participants: a Polish translation of the roadmap has just been published with the kind support of Narodowym Centrum Kultury (National Center for Culture in Poland).

Moderator: Linnéa Vågen Svensson (Greener Events)

15:30 Breather

Let’s have a breath of air before the afternoon program continues.

15:45 The Green Group Workout

Are you feeling hopeful today? Even as climate change slips off political agendas and the race for fossil fuels dominates the headlines? In times when political movements seem intent on turning back the clock, how do we sustain momentum for the green transformation? What becomes of the incredible progress we’ve made and the future we once envisioned so clearly?
Are we alone in this? Let’s explore this together. In this interactive group workshop, we will reflect on our shared motivation and sources of inspiration. Together, we’ll uncover what keeps the green movement alive – and why there is no turning back.

We’ll begin with an intro presentation on the remarkable “The Show Must Go On” report, examining the current state of the UK industry – presented by Claire O’Neill (AGF) on behalf of the project team – before we move into our Green Group Workout for the exchange of experiences and a collaborative co-creation of ideas to strengthen our future-fitness.

Speakers: Claire O’Neill (CEO, A Greener Future; introduction); Linnéa Vågen Svensson and Holger Jan Schmidt will facilitate the workshop

17:45 Festivals for Ukraine

Music Saves Ukraine has developed a microgrants donation scheme to support Ukrainian music schools in Ukraine that have been affected by the war. Learn how it works and how you can support it.

Speaker: Vlad Yaremchuk (Ukrainian Association of Music Events & Music Saves Ukraine)

18:00 Evening Break

Time to reset for everyone on their own before the evening program.

19:30 Dinner at Manna 2.0

The (not so) secret star of every GO Group workshop: the Monday night GO Group dinner. Always at a special place recommended by our hosts we invite our participants to follow up the day’s hot topics, get to know each other more, start a friendship… everything can happen here! This time, we will eat at Manna 2, a vegan restaurant serving unique plant-based cuisine, an interesting selection of organic and vegan wines, craft beers as well as special teas.


Day 2, Tuesday, April 14

09:00 Opening of Day 2

Welcome and more about the day ahead.

09:30 GO Award Winner 2025: Štěrkovna Open Music

The winner of the Green Operations Award at the European Festival Awards 2025, Štěrkovna Open Music, will grant us a look into their sustainability operation with a focus on implementation and key learnings.

Speakers: Matěj Ostárek (Director, Štěrkovna Open Music) & Jan Halfar (Sustainability coordinator, Štěrkovna Open Music & Technical University of Ostrava)

10:15 What You Should Know about Sustainable Merchandise

What are the challenges of textile production when you want your merchandise to be sustainable, social and fair? An overview of the domain’s challenges. Plus: experiences from Sziget Festival of working with sustainable merch.

Speakers: Ákos Dominus (Sustainability manager, Sziget Festival) & Dóra Diószeghy (Sustainability coordinator, Sziget Festival)

10:45 Breather

Yes, it is time to take a breath.

11:00 Opportunities with Sustainability Certifications

What’s new about the sustainable festivals certification of A Greener Future (AGF)? What are the main challenges and opportunities when implementing sustainability management systems? 

Speakers: Linnéa Vågen Svensson (moderator), Marie Rosted Furseth (Head of sustainability, Øyafestivalen), Claire O’Neill (Founder & CEO, A Greener Future) + t.b.a.

11:30 Getting Nerdy: Diving into CO2-Calculations

Why do we measure CO2 emissions at all? What is the latest from harmonizing the work on CO2-calculations, and how can the sector move towards better collaboration? What are the findings from the Green Deal Circular Festivals project? How can you calculate your audience travel? Questions to which our wonderful panelists will offer their solutions as answers.

Speakers: Linnéa Vågen Svensson (moderator), Rob van Wegen (Green Deal Circular Festivals), Marie Rosted Furseth (Head of sustainability, Øyafestivalen), Claire O’Neill (Founder & CEO, A Greener Future)

12:30 Lunch

13:30 The Audience as Activists

LiveGreen Festivals & Academy is one of Sweden’s leading pioneers within festival-driven transformation, artistic and fan activism. In Warsaw, LiveGreen will follow up on a conversation started at the GO Group workshop in Roskilde last year – how to engage fans and festival goers in sustainability. In addition we’ll learn more about LiveGreen’s newest project – the app known as “Project EGG” – where event organisers of all kinds get a personal sustainability assistant through this EU wide project.

Speakers: Martin Gustafsson and Andreas Magnusson (both LiveGreen Festivals & Academy, Sweden)

14:15 Breather 

One more break for you!

14:30 The First GO Group Workshop Pub Quiz

Did you read the news? Do you know what’s going on in other festival’s sustainability departments? And do you know your sustainability basics? Let’s find out who knows the most (or has the cleverest guesses) and will take home the title of GO Group’s pub quiz champion!

Moderator: Katharina Weber (YOUROPE project manager)

15:30 Closing and Next Steps

What are your key takeaways from this GO Group workshop? And what are the next steps you want to take at your festival/organization?

16:00 Official Program End

16:15 Come to the Top of Warsaw (optional)

If you have a bit more time before you have to leave Warsaw, come join us for a visit to the Palace of Culture viewing platform (just next door). From there, you have a wonderful view over the city. Free for our workshop participants!

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