The grassroots music festival doing things differently in Hulme

At its core, the Green Island Festival is a platform dedicated to nurturing emerging talent and creating a sense of belonging and hometown pride within the local Hulme community.

Through a carefully curated lineup of workshops, development programs, and performances, the festival provides a meaningful space for artists to showcase their craft and for attendees to immerse themselves in a weave of sound and culture.

One of the festival’s distinguishing features is its commitment to supporting local businesses from the M15 and M16 postcodes, infusing the event with a genuine sense of place and belonging.

Green Island bonds a community for the love of music, art and culture, and offers a peaceful sanctuary from a hectic urban lifestyle.

Co-founders George McGirr and Stephan Agbogbe, driven by a shared vision of fostering local talent and cultural diversity, took a leap of faith, transforming the then-neglected grounds of Hulme Garden Centre into a bustling hub of artistic expression.

You can find out more about Hulme Garden Centre by clicking here

They talked us through how the festival is going from strength to strength since they set it up four years ago.

The Green Island Festival

George said “It all began with very humble origins, born as an idea during lockdown.

“We were all confined indoors, and I started noticing loads of event lineups being released, mostly for indoor venues like nightclubs.

“I thought to myself, after spending so much time indoors, it would be refreshing to organise something outdoors.

“At that time, I lived at the end of Hulme High Street. Around February or March, while strolling through the garden centre, inspiration struck.

“The space seemed perfect for something extraordinary. So, I contacted Stefan, whom I hadn’t met previously. He responded and showed me around the garden centre.

“Upon sharing my idea with him, he was enthusiastic and agreed to collaborate with what has become Green Island Festival.

“We took a leap of faith, financing all the expenses on our credit cards. It was a risky move, but we were experienced promoters  – however, organising a festival posed different challenges.

“Despite the uncertainty, the first year was a success, with around a hundred, maybe even 150 attendees.

“I could just tell the buzz of it was different because everybody we asked to do stuff was just like, ‘F**k yeah, let’s do it,’ so I just, yeah, automatically could tell that we were onto something that people wanted.

“And then, yeah, slowly, as the years went on, me and Stefan have learned different things and it’s just gradually got better and better, slicker, teams got bigger and the lineups have got better as well.”

Championing Northern artists

The festival has gone from strength to strength over the last four years, with about 1000 people expected to attend this summer’s event, which will be held across three dates: 15th June, 27th July and 7 September.

Stephan said: “Our aim is really to push artists from up North and most of our headliners are either international artists or are big artists in Manchester.

“And the idea is really to get away from that, that London-centric idea that everyone, everything is going into London.

“All the money is going into London. All the big shows are getting funded down there.

“Up north, it’s not as nice a picture – with festivals closing or shutting down because there’s not enough money in them.

“The Government does not want to invest or support initiatives up here.

“It’s also one of the main things for us at our festivals. It’s not only to push the artists from up north and from the surrounding areas but also to change the lineups that you see on regulation festivals and bills.

“Most of the lineups, a lot of lineups, even still now, are predominantly white, male, white middle-class male artists, and we have made a conscious decision to make a difference within that, especially having non-white males and diversifying it as much as we can.

“There’s definitely  a bigger problem within that because there are just a lot more white male artists out there, so it’s trying to figure out that curve to balance that out and make a difference and, shape it from the get-go and that’s what we’ve been doing from the start.”

A focus on sustainability

One of the main takeaways the founders want people to focus on is sustainability.

George elaborates: “Raising awareness for sustainability is one of the main aims that we’ve been trying to target from the get-go.

“We are putting in all the information about our CO2 emissions. We want to get to a point where everything is mega-transparent.

“We want people to travel down by bike, and walk so we’re trying to facilitate that this year.

“We’re close to town. We’re close to the city centre. So anyone can just walk to the garden centre. So that’s pretty handy. And also cuts out a lot of CO2 emissions in that way.

“We’re in a really good place with about 1000 people, but we’re hoping it can grow to four or five times that size. But we want to keep it sustainable.

“So hopefully if everything goes to plan. For next year, we’re just going to aim high and just push for it and keep our ethos in place.”

The Hulme Garden Centre

The venue, Hulme Garden Centre is not perhaps your first thought as a great venue for a music festival.

But take a look at the pictures, and you’d be hard-pushed not to be impressed.

It’s been developed by the festival team into a valuable community space, which was previously run down and neglected.

Arts Council England gave them a grant on the proviso that the venue be turned into a community asset, so it’s undergone a huge restoration.

George and Stephan reckon they have brought about a third of the site back into use – and even erected a bandstand which is used for the festival.

Stephan said: “We put a lot of time into it with friends who all volunteered, working like six hours a day to clean up the area and make it nice.

“We were shovelling earth from one side to the other – it was really enjoyable, all the hard work was worthwhile.

The Niamos Centre, which will host the main stage,  has been hosting some fabulous events recently, from Operas to a Palestine support march.

The legendary Nina Simone even played there back in the day.

You can find out more about what they’ve got on by clicking here

Warwick Street, which connects the venue and the garden centre, will be transformed into the festival’s food and drinks hub filled with local favourites.

The original festival location, the ever-luscious Hulme Garden Centre will house four stages – Marquee Stage, Forest Stage, The Bandstand and a brand-new Audiophile-inspired Selector Stage.

A passion for Hulme

The pair seem genuinely passionate about Hulme, calling it one of the last standing bastions of traditional Manchester in the ever-changing cityscape.

George said: “The city is changing rapidly. Over the last ten years, it’s been exponential.

“Hulme is one of the last strongholds between the ever-expanding centre of Manchester and the skyscrapers.  It’s got a lot of history to it, so you have a lot of people that live there that represent what Manchester used to be.

“At the moment, basically, and it’s yeah, the island is the last stronghold against the big skyscraper apartments.”

The team want to keep the festival super accessible, with tickets from just £20.

Stephan says the artists are buying into it too, playing even though they have been at huge festivals like Glastonbury because of what a great experience it is.

“Some of the artists we’ve had have been huge, but we’ve managed to get them for an absolute steal – I think that shows really what we’re doing resonated with people. Some of the artists have got back in touch to say that’s one of their favourite gigs of the year, the energy was unmatched.

“It’s so nice to hear these things, it makes it all worthwhile.”

The team are now looking to continue to build on the momentum they’ve gained so far, and are looking to end up with a festival as big as Cross the Tracks, a popular London Jazz and Blues festival.

Stephan said: “A good sized festival, easily accessible with great value ticket prices. That’s what we want.

“We want to help break the next generation of incredible local talent in Manchester.

“We’re just getting started.”

Green Island festival tickets

You can get tickets to The Green Island Festival by clicking here

This year sees the grassroots festival double in size taking over Hulme Community Garden Centre, NIAMOS and Warwick Street for three chapters across June, July & September: 15 June | 27 July | 7 September

Green Island Festival lineup so far

Unveiling wave one of the line-up – June will see Afriquoi, the 5-piece band celebrated for their unique blend of African sounds and live electronics headline.

The July chapter will see Def MaMa Def headline, two powerful women and rising stars of Senegal’s music scene, fusing contagious rhythms of amapiano, hip-hop and afrobeat, and singer and multi-instrumentalist David Walters who combines influences from his Caribbean heritage with electronic beats and acoustic folk will
take centre stage in September.

Across the dates, the Main Stage will also host contemporary jazz artist corto.alto, soul and R&B collective Lovescene, and Ku’umba a radical arts collective, binding sounds of funk, blues, afrobeat and hip-hop. In addition, Plant Food with their hard- hitting grooves and energy and the smooth as silk, R&B soul singer Victoria Jane.

The Bandstand, a stage built and developed by the Green Island team, now a permanent feature of Hulme Garden Centre, will present a range of takeovers.

The June chapter will be curated by DIY masters and music experimentalists FAT OUT, the line-up so far includes Fat Clams DJ, Lavender Rodriguez, Queer Icons Karaoke, Meme Gold, Arch Femesis and R.aggs.

Manchester legend Chunky will take the reins in July, while Ruf Dug returns with Ruffy’s Lab in September with the likes of Tia Cousins.

The Marquee Stage will exclusively host the best up-and-coming bands, including Benita & The Groove, NinaRosa, Mangorata, Ask My Bull, Jocelyn Knight, Hannah Rodriguez, Dia Frank, Rushbonds, Third Kulture, Calypso George, Boo Kickz, Life Aquatic Band, Mikoudi. From 12pm – 2:30pm, the stage will host family-friendly
activities on each date.

Down the garden path, the hidden gem that is the Forest Stage will present some of the best selectors in the scene, from Una Lee, Nossa, Supernature Disco, Urbi, Levi Love, Murder He Wrote, Shimrise and Contours.

A new addition this year, the Selector Stage will be tucked away in a hidden corner of the festival to be discovered. Strictly vinyl only, and an elite audiophile sound system for a proper selector experience.

Different audiophile crews will take over each date; lined up so far, loft party and record label Apricot Ballrooms will bring their audiophile klipschorn-based sound system from Sheffield.

Afterparties for each date will be hosted at YES, a two-floor takeover of the Pink Room and basement from 11pm till late.

Rinse FM resident Arthi will be setting the pace in June, delivering a blistering mix of dancehall, baile, funky, dembow and everything in between.

The line-up will be revealed in full in March.

For early access, you can sign up to the Green Island Festival by clicking here