This year’s physical Earth Garden festival may have been postponed, but music lovers across Malta and beyond can still feast on a section on the website which will feature sets from some of Malta’s top names in music. 

The Earth Garden festival usually involves four days of the best musicians, bands, DJs and performers that Malta has to offer, international acts, a camping experience like no other, a food court, holistic workshops, an artisan market, six music stages, a green weekend and more.

It, together with all other public events, was cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic restrictions. But thanks to a collaboration with the European Commission, there’s a silver lining to the COVID-19 postponement. 

The new Video Garden section will be launched on the official Earth Garden website, bringing sets from some of Malta’s top names in music, with a promise to keep growing this initiative even further.

"Having to postpone the physical festival hit us hard," said one of the festival's organisers, Reuben Spiteri.

"But we are not ones to dwell on the bad stuff, and before long we were already brainstorming to see how we can make this up to our audiences in some way or another". 

Climate change and environmental degradation are an existential threat to the world and humanity as a whole. To overcome these challenges, Europe needs a new growth strategy that transforms the Union into a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy – the Green Strategy being proposed by the European Commission will be the driver for Europe out of the economic crisis caused by COVID-19.

"We identified Earth Garden as a festival with a wide reach amongst like-minded people who believe in social responsibility and doing their utmost to reverse the harm which man has caused to nature. There was therefore no question that we wanted to be part of this movement since we feel that the Commission’s message would resonate with Earth Garden’s ever-growing fan base, and we want to use this opportunity to show what the Commission is doing with its European Green Deal," said Elena Grech, the Head of the European Commission Representation in Malta.

The Video Garden section is something that had been planned for a long time, but physical events always took up most of the organisers’ time. 

“Now that we’ve postponed to 2021, we have had some time to focus on this project and we’re extremely excited to announce the launch of a series of music videos that will range from exclusive sets created for us to footage from past editions of the festival. The idea is to keep growing this project long-term,” Spiteri said.

Website visitors will be able to enjoy access to these videos for free, as a small thank you from Earth Garden following the heart-warming show of support that following the announcement that the festival would be postponed.

The show of support towards the festival has continued to grow, with many of those who had already bought tickets opting to not ask for a refund but to keep their tickets for the 2021 edition.

“This helps us a lot of course, especially from the cashflow aspect, and we are very grateful to all our followers,” he said, pointing out that while other industries could continue where they left once restrictions are lifted, the festival will not. 

“We have an entire team working on Earth Garden, and we’ve been focused on sorting out all the logistics in these past weeks. I have to say, I am really looking forward to the 2021 edition. We will certainly celebrate in style,” he concluded.

The first videos will be launched on the official website on June 5, taking the trademark Earth Garden happy vibes right to people’s living rooms.