We’re calling all potential Group Organisers – we want you!

On Beltane eve, we celebrate and acknowledge the transition of Winter into Summer. Our festival is, among other things, a modern imagining of an ancient Celtic festival for good luck in the coming year, a sacred drama of the divine causing Spring and Summer to happen and a celebration of fertility, healing and joy. The story is portrayed a little differently each year, and is built around ideas that come from our community, so there is always a need for your interpretation, creativity and fire!

Want to run a group for this year’s Beltane Festival? Then this is your opportunity to do so! 

To apply, you’ll need to read the application guidance and email a completed copy of the GO Application Form to goapplications@beltane.org by midnight on Saturday 27th January 2024.

If you wish to run a project you can apply by reading and completing the Project Guidance and Proposal Form and sending it to goapplications@beltane.org by midnight on Saturday 27th January 2024.

Production Groups
We’re especially looking for applications for production groups, which are crucial for the festival to take place safely. 

Stewards will have professional assistance from our Front of House Coordinator and Tech will have professional assistance from our Production and Site Coordinator. There isn’t an upper limit on GO’s for Stewards or Tech – the bigger the team, the easier it is to run these groups. However, if you are struggling to find co-GO’s or would like to discuss how the Board can support you GOing these groups please email board@beltane.org as soon as possible. 

Performance Groups
If there’s a group idea you’ve always wanted to do, now is the time, go ahead and apply. We need you to have co-organisers, a plan, and a story that fits with the festival, but honestly, the worst you can hear is ‘no’. Our festivals benefit most from new people and new ideas.

We have a saying in the society that if you have done something twice, it’s traditional, and if you’ve done it three times, we’ve always done it. Beltane typically has processional groups attending the May Queen; a Fire Arch, a gateway to the underworld, which has a themed group attending and running it; classical elemental points; and groups that roam the hill ‘freely’ like the Reds.

It’s important to note that this is a recipe, not a formula! Each festival differs and we wouldn’t have it any other way. What groups there are, what we call them, and what they look like is up to you, the membership. As a GO, you have control over your own story and how it plays into the rest of the festival; you make the festival what it is, and contribute to shaping its story and its execution.

You’ll shape that with the Festival Coordinator, Blues, and other GOs. GOs also have responsibility over the safety of their volunteers in rehearsals, away weekends, and the like. (Your rehearsals are covered by our insurance provided your volunteers have given details like emergency contacts, mind, but don’t hurt your performers.)

The above will hopefully lay out to you what’s necessary from an organiser, and some of how we make our decisions. 

If you’d like more information and to meet other potential GOs, come to our Pre-GO Meeting! This year, the Pre-GO meeting will be from 14:00 at The Kilderkin, 67 Canongate, on Sunday 14th January 2024.

You can also email any questions you have about GOing and the application process to the addresses given on the application form.

We look forward to seeing your applications and co-creating Beltane together!

Beltane Fire Festival will take place in Edinburgh on April 30th. Tickets for the festival are not yet on sale, but keep an eye on our website and social media pages for updates.

Photo (c) Ross Cameron for the Beltane Fire Society