Ben Street (Wild Paths Festival)

Ben spent a large portion of his formative years touring the world with Warner-signed, alt-indie band Coasts. Having played prestigious events such as Coachella, Glastonbury and Reading and with a top 20 album and a live-lounge performance under their belts the band split in October 2018 and Ben moved into the world of event management, promotions and festivals. He began managing live bookings at a new venue in his hometown of Norwich and soon found there was a wealth of musical talent and a hunger for more platforms to present it.

In 2019 Ben organised and directed the first Wild Paths Festival. A 23-venue, musical event spread across the city of Norwich, featuring over 230 live acts, a host of conference speakers, visual artists, DJs, food pop-ups and much more. Unfortunately (due to the pandemic) 2020’s edition of the new city festival had to be postponed. However Ben, his team and their partners (Summertime Social) managed to organise and deliver a pioneering ‘socially-distanced’ version of the festival; Wild Fields. An outdoor event featuring ‘festivals pods’, 3 stages, food pop-ups and 30 live acts & DJs. The event was planned, curated and executed in just over 6 weeks and took place over the weekend of the 12th & 13th of September 2020.

In 2021 Ben and his team delivered another edition of Wild Paths Festival, featuring over 20 venues and spaces around the city (including reinvigorating an old shoe factory, a church and a number of other DIY spaces). The festival included two days of conferences featuring Gilles Peterson and a host of other established figures from across the industry.

Wild Paths returned to Norwich in 2022 and Ben and the team now have a number of new projects in the pipeline – including a new 3 day camping festival