Virtual Festivals is a very special creative endeavour to connect up the festival scene, and everyone who is a part of it, in a big collective embrace of positive energy, passion and collaboration.

Our mission with VF has always been to promote open information across the festival landscape and empower fans to influence the shape of the festival future.

I first started the site in 1999, as a 23 year old festival fanatic, and ran it from my bedroom. Since then, as the festival marketplace has exploded beyond all recognition, VF has grown organically to become its premiere online information and lifestyle portal. I have a few more lines and a couple of grey hairs now, but it's been worth every one to see VF make a real difference to the fans and event organisers who make the festival world go round.

Right now, 2 million people in the UK rely on VF to plan, document and share their passion for festivals. Several hundred independent festival organisers depend on the site to connect directly to the audience at large.

Today, I'm very privileged to have a special team of full and part-time people at VF HQ to share the crusade with. Plus,more than 200 or so gifted writers and photographers invest their passion and energy in VF to cover festivals in the UK and beyond each year for our readers.

Our running costs are funded by a combination of advertising, commission on tickets and merchandise sold as well as the subsidised promotional services we offer for festivals. All profits generated are ploughed straight back into VF's continued development.

We also produce a number of exciting spin-offs such as the annual UK Festival Awards - the Oscars of the festival world - which allows you, as a fan, to set the standard of the scene by voting online to decide the best events and artists each year - and the UK Festival Conference, the only event that attracts the whole of the British festival industry under one roof. Both events take place at the O2 in London.

In August 2008 we launched Virtual Festivals Europe, a sister-project to connect up the festival scene on a pan-European basis.

In 2009 we launched The European Festival Awards, applying the successful format of the UK awards to continental Europe, home of more than 3000 amazing music festivals. These awards are presented at Eurosonic in The Netherlands.

Virtual Festivals is fuelled by the passion of all those who connect to it, and through it. Every user is contributing to make the festival world a little bit more special. And that's what gets us out of bed in the morning. Enjoy!