Advertisement
Music

Big Issue vendors take over Glastonbury 2017

Four Big Issue vendors lapped up the sunshine of Glastonbury to sell the magazine at the world’s biggest music festival

Some of The Big Issue’s most adventurous vendors swapped the high street for the green fields of Somerset to work selling the magazine at Glastonbury.

Four vendors – William from London (below, who has hop-footed it from Westminster after attending the Queen’s Speech on Wednesday), Stuart from Cardiff, Garry from Bristol and Constantine from Carmarthen – enjoyed the fun in the sun while working hard to boost their sales among music revellers at the world’s biggest music festival.

The Big Issue team were based at the Shangri-La field, where they worked alongside a fantastic new installation created by renowned artist Jim Woodall: a portrait of Birmingham Big Issue vendor Dave, made up entirely of The Big Issue’s magazine covers (below).

“His face was so striking it jumped out at me when I was looking through images,” Woodall explains. “You’re competing with a lot of bold, bombastic things at Glastonbury, so I wanted to create something human and accessible, and thankfully lots of people have stopped to ask more about the vendor and about The Big Issue.

Advertisement
Advertisement

“It seemed a great way of bringing The Big Issue into this year’s theme of recycling, by reusing old magazines.”

I wanted to create something human and accessible

The Big Issue’s partner Shangri-La created the only area at Glastonbury 2017 built from recycled and repurposed materials. Aiming to set a new standard of sustainability at UK festivals, organisers hosted a series of art events, talks and documentaries showing based around the theme of “recycle, reuse and resist.”

Advertisement

Become a Big Issue member

3.8 million people in the UK live in extreme poverty. Turn your anger into action - become a Big Issue member and give us the power to take poverty to zero.

Recommended for you

Read All
This jazz festival born in the wake of the pandemic captures the heart of the Big Easy
The Rumble at NOLAxNOLA
Music

This jazz festival born in the wake of the pandemic captures the heart of the Big Easy

The Lightning Seeds' Ian Broudie: 'I'd rather not be remembered for Three Lions'
Letter To My Younger Self

The Lightning Seeds' Ian Broudie: 'I'd rather not be remembered for Three Lions'

I composed a piece of music made from the dying beats of my father's heart
Music

I composed a piece of music made from the dying beats of my father's heart

Inside the Leeds International Piano Competition: Where uprights are turned into half-pipes
Music

Inside the Leeds International Piano Competition: Where uprights are turned into half-pipes

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue
4.

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue