Wild Goose Festival is a U.S. festival "rooted in the Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 tradition" and focused on "justice

Social justice

Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...

, spirituality

Spirituality

Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...

, music

Music

Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

 and the arts

The arts

The arts are a vast subdivision of culture, composed of many creative endeavors and disciplines. It is a broader term than "art", which as a description of a field usually means only the visual arts. The arts encompass visual arts, literary arts and the performing arts – music, theatre, dance and...

." The name Wild Goose comes from a Celtic

Celtic Christianity

Celtic Christianity or Insular Christianity refers broadly to certain features of Christianity that were common, or held to be common, across the Celtic-speaking world during the Early Middle Ages...

 metaphor for the Holy Spirit

Holy Spirit

Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of the Hebrew Bible, but understood differently in the main Abrahamic religions.While the general concept of a "Spirit" that permeates the cosmos has been used in various religions Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of...

.

Wild Goose Festival is inspired by and modeled after the Greenbelt festival

Greenbelt festival

Greenbelt Festival is a festival of arts, faith and justice held annually in England since 1974. Greenbelt has grown from a Christian music festival with an audience of 1,500 young Christians to its current more secular festival attended by around 20,000 - Christians and non-Christians.The festival...

 in the UK. It is the only Christian music festival

Christian music festival

A Christian music festival is a music festival held by the Christian community, in support of performers of Christian music...

 in the U.S. that caters to "theological liberals."

History

The board of directors for Wild Goose Festival was formed in 2009, and festival director Gareth Higgins

Gareth Higgins

Gareth Higgins is a writer from Belfast, Northern Ireland now living in Durham, North Carolina. He is the executive director of the Wild Goose Festival....

 was hired in March 2010. Wild Goose Festival is chartered in Kansas City.

The first festival was held June 23–26, 2011, at Shakori Hills farm (home of the Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival

Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival

The Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival is a music and dance festival that takes place each spring and fall in Silk Hope, North Carolina, near Chapel Hill. The festival takes place on a farmstead which is managed by Shakori Hills, Inc. a non-profit organization. The festival has been held twice...

) in Silk Hope, North Carolina

Silk Hope, North Carolina

Silk Hope, in Chatham County, North Carolina, USA, is a farm community centered on a community school, a volunteer fire department, several country churches, and many historical farmsteads. It is evolving into the country home of many who work in Cary, Chapel Hill, and Research Triangle Park...

. It was attended by an estimated 1,500 people. Music at the 2011 festival included Michelle Shocked

Michelle Shocked

Michelle Shocked is the stage name of Michelle Karen Johnston, an American singer-songwriter.-History:Shocked received her first international exposure in Europe, particularly Britain, with her debut album The Texas Campfire Tapes .Her first U.S...

, David Wilcox

David Wilcox (American musician)

David Patrick Wilcox is an American folk musician and singer-songwriter guitarist. He has been active in the music business since the late 1980s.-Career:...

, Over The Rhine, Jennifer Knapp

Jennifer Knapp

Jennifer Lynn Knapp is an American-Australian folk rock, and formerly contemporary Christian musician. She is best known for her first single "Undo Me" from her debut album Kansas , and the song "A Little More" from her Grammy Award-nominated album Lay It Down . The Way I Am , was also nominated...

, Derek Webb

Derek Webb

Derek Walsh Webb is an American singer-songwriter who first entered the music industry as a member of the band Caedmon's Call, and later embarked on a successful solo career....

, David Bazan

David Bazan

David Bazan is an indie rock singer-songwriter from Seattle, Washington. Bazan was the lead singer and creative force behind the now-defunct band Pedro the Lion and was the lead singer of Headphones, a band he formed out of his interest in synthesizers...

, David Lamotte

David LaMotte

David LaMotte, born on April 25, 1968 in Norfolk, Virginia, is a singer-songwriter based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. His work includes original folk music, children's music, lectures and peacemaking...

, Tom Prasada-Rao, Ashley Cleveland

Ashley Cleveland

Ashley Cleveland is an American singer/songwriter perhaps best known as a background vocalist and Grammy-winning gospel singer. Ashley Cleveland was born in Knoxville, Tennessee...

, Agents of Future, Sarah Masen

Sarah Masen

Sarah Masen is a singer/songwriter originally from the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, but has for several years lived in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband, author David Dark, and their three children. Initially signed to Charlie Peacock's re:think label, and subsequently to Word, she is now...

, Psalters, Denison Witmer

Denison Witmer

Denison Witmer is an indie singer-songwriter from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. His first release, in 1995, was a cassette titled My Luck, My Love. He has since released six studio LPs; two live albums, a cover album ; three EPs; and an LP with The River Bends—a side project consisting of members of the...

, and The Redding Brothers

The Redding Brothers

The Redding Brothers are an indie rock trio from Nashville, Tennessee composed of brothers Micah , Josiah , and Gabriel The Redding Brothers are an indie rock trio from Nashville, Tennessee composed of brothers Micah (b. November 1, 1981 in Charleston, West Virginia), Josiah (b. August 19, 1983 in...

, among others.

Speakers at the 2011 festival included Jim Wallis

Jim Wallis

Jim Wallis is an American evangelical Christian writer and political activist. He is best known as the founder and editor of Sojourners magazine, and of the Washington, D.C.-based Christian community of the same name....

, Brian McLaren

Brian McLaren

Brian D. McLaren is a prominent, controversial evangelical pastor. He was recognized as one of Time magazine's "25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America" in 2005, and is the founding pastor of Cedar Ridge Community Church in Spencerville, Maryland.-Biography:Born in 1956, Brian McLaren...

, T-Bone Burnett

T-Bone Burnett

Joseph Henry Burnett , widely known as T-Bone Burnett, is an American musician, songwriter, and soundtrack and record producer.He was a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band on the Rolling Thunder Revue...

, Father Richard Rohr

Richard Rohr

Richard Rohr, O.F.M. is a Franciscan friar ordained to the priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church in 1970. He is an internationally known inspirational speaker and has published numerous recorded talks and books....

, Phyllis Tickle, Vincent Harding

Vincent Harding

Vincent Gordon Harding is an African American historian and a scholar of religion and society. An activist as well, he is best known for his work with and writings about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.-Education:...

, John Dear

John Dear

John Dear is an American Catholic priest, Christian pacifist, author and lecturer. He has been arrested over 75 times in acts of nonviolent civil disobedience against war, injustice and nuclear weapons.-Studies:...

, Shane Claiborne

Shane Claiborne

Shane Claiborne is one of the founding members of The Simple Way in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This community was featured on the cover of Christianity Today as a pioneer in the New Monasticism movement. Claiborne is also a prominent activist for nonviolence and service to the...

, Lynne Hybels, Tony Campolo

Tony Campolo

Dr. Anthony "Tony" Campolo is an American pastor, author, sociologist, and public speaker known for challenging evangelical Christians by illustrating how their faith can offer solutions in a world of complexity. With his liberal political and social attitudes, he has been a major proponent for...

, Diana Butler Bass

Diana Butler Bass

Diana Butler Bass, an independent commentator on American religion, is a leader in Mainline and Progressive Christianity. She is the author of six books on American religion, three of which have won research or writing awards. She earned a Ph.D...

, Paul Knitter, Soong-Chan Rah, Frank Schaeffer

Frank Schaeffer

Frank Schaeffer is an American author, film director, screenwriter and public speaker. He is the son of the late theologian and author Francis Schaeffer...

, Jay Bakker

Jay Bakker

Jamie Charles Bakker is an American Christian pastor and the son of Jim Bakker and the late Tammy Faye Bakker Messner. He ministers to Revolution Church, a church he founded in 1994 in Phoenix, Arizona with Kelli Miller and Mike Wall...

, Peter Rollins

Peter Rollins

Peter Rollins is an Irish writer, lecturer, theologian, and philosopher who is associated with the emerging church movement and postmodern Christianity. He is also the founder of the experimental collective Ikon...

, Doug Pagitt

Doug Pagitt

Doug Pagitt is an author in the Emerging Church movement and head pastor of Solomon's Porch in South Minneapolis.Pagitt is also a Senior Fellow with Emergent Village: a generative friendship of missional church leaders around the world and a leading architect of the emergent church discussion.In...

, Richard Twiss

Richard Twiss

Richard Twiss is a Native American educator and author. He is a member of the Sicangu Lakota Oyate from the Rosebud Lakota Sioux Reservation in South Dakota...

, Carl McColman, Tony Jones, Margot Starbuck, Ian Cron, David Dark

David Dark

David Dark is an American writer, the author of The Sacredness of Questioning Everything, Everyday Apocalypse: The Sacred Revealed in Radiohead, The Simpsons, and Other Pop Culture Icons and The Gospel According To America: A Meditation on a God-blessed, Christ-haunted Idea, which was included in...

, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, Nadia Bolz-Weber, Mark Scandrette, Ed Dobson

Ed Dobson

Edward G. Dobson is a Northern Irish-American who was an executive of the Moral Majority and the pastor of a megachurch in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is an evangelical author and Vice President for Spiritual Formation at Cornerstone University.In 1964, Dobson moved to the United States from...

, Paul Fromberg, Melvin Bray, Cynthia La Grou, Eliacin Rosario-Cruz, Anthony Smith, Samir Selmanovic

Samir Selmanovic

Samir Selmanovic is a Christian minister who is known particularly for his work in interfaith dialogue. He is the founder of "Faith House Manhattan", an interfaith community of Christians, Muslims, Jews and humanists/atheists...

, Chad Holtz, Becky Knight, Kester Brewin, Pamela Wilhelms, and others.