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For many young people growing up in Britain, their first music festival is a rite of passage; watching live music in a field with thousands of others, sleeping under the stars, and spending time with friends old and new.

Green Man festival in Wales has been extending that formative experience to refugees and asylum seekers – who are offered training placements that help them develop valuable skills as they work to build new lives in Britain.

Now in its 10th year, the refugee training programme, part of the Green Man Trust, the festival’s charitable arm, has worked with 191 refugees and asylum seekers. Most are between 18 and 28 years old, but the oldest have been in their late 50s.

“It’s a proper training scheme, so the idea is that they learn about communication, integration, they learn front of house work, so dealing with the public, they’re giving directions, they’re asking questions,” said Fiona Stewart, who owns and runs the festival.

“Some of them were working for a while running their own food stall as well, so they had to learn about health and safety and food management, money management, it’s been a kind of a crossover of a lot of skills.”

Mina, who was a cyclist in Afghanistan, fled the Taliban in 2022. She said working at Green Man had helped her “feel more connected to life in the UK”. She took part in the programme because she “wanted to learn more about British culture and also I wanted to connect with people”.

After studying politics at university, she will graduate this summer. A few weeks later, she will return to Green Man – which is this year headlined by Wolf Alice, Mogwai, Wilco and Four Tet.

“I really enjoyed being in the festival,” Mina said. “It was my very first experience of being in a festival, and my very first experience of camping.

“I got to know basically a few other refugees, similar backgrounds, but from different countries who were displaced, asylum seekers and refugees,” she added. “And I could build connections with them, get to know them, and now we are still friends.”

Javid, also from Afghanistan, said the festival in the idyllic Bannau Brycheiniog national park had been his first ever experience of a music concert. Under the Taliban, he said, “there is no music and it’s banned to listen to any music. So if someone is spotted with a musical instrument, the person would be prosecuted just because of having a musical instrument.”

“Visiting Wales was really exciting,” he said. “Camping, festivals, those things are new for me. All those are first-time experiences for me, and yes, they all got me excited.

“I enjoyed the music. I enjoyed the camping – before that I had some anxiety on how to camp, but the whole experience was really good.”

He had also learned about Welsh culture, as well as some Welsh language, he said – and the communication skills he learned have helped him with his current work as an interpreter.

“The psychological benefit of participating in Green Man was that usually for people in my situation, sometimes there is bad news, and it’s like a big chunk of negative energy would affect other parts of my life,” he said.

Before participating in the programme, Javid had had some bad news, which had stopped him doing things he enjoyed, such as running. “And then participating in Green Man, it was again a big chunk of positive energy,” he said, “and it did help me to start running again.”

Refugees and asylum seekers from 52 different countries have trained at Green Man. Last year the festival had participants from Afghanistan, Libya, Sudan, Pakistan, Syria, Nepal, Yemen and Ukraine. They are provided with everything they need for the festival, such as camping equipment and warm clothing.

“Overall, it’s really like something to give you a fresh start and I’m pretty sure when we return back home it will be very positive vibes. And you can spread this back,” Olga, from Ukraine, said. “The crew entertainment was such good stuff and you felt like, you know, part of the crew. I think this group is very special – and it actually feels that way.”

“It’s very rewarding to get such a good opportunity,” Sophia, another Ukrainian participant said. “So it’s quite a good idea, so you can contribute back. We are really happy not to get this for free but to contribute.”

While not every festival would provide a safe enough environment, Stewart said, Green Man did just that.

“I’ve worked at other festivals where this just wouldn’t be possible because of the noise level, or behaviour issues, or whatever,” she said, “but I think it does work at Green Man, so we’ve had the best opportunity to enable that to happen.”

Stewart said the programme felt particularly important at a time when communities are so divided, and refugees and asylum seekers have faced hostility.

“I know from feedback that some of them have felt quite intimidated by what they see, what’s going on,” she said. “I think it’s horrible hearing some of the media coverage of these things.

“When you meet people like this, they’re trying to make the best of their lives. No one is going to be going through what they went through if what they’re leaving is amazing. They just want to be accepted, and they can offer a lot as well, they can bring so much to our culture as well.”

M, from Egypt, said: “When I first came here, my English wasn’t great and I wasn’t comfortable to speak with strangers, random people.” Participating in the project had helped him to “get out of my comfort zone to speak with people”, he said, and he now has a job in a cafe.

“I’d never been to a music festival before in my life,” he said, but he now sings in a choir and is “really interested in the arts”. He is returning this summer for the fourth time, and said: “One day maybe I will perform at Green Man.”

“For us, it’s a wonderful thing to do, but it’s also incredibly inspiring to see,” Stewart said. “Just from the point of view of seeing them out integrating with the rest of the team is a lovely thing, but also for the team as well.”

“I mean, no one necessarily knows when they’re part of the wider team that they’re refugees or former asylum seekers unless they want to bring it up,” she added. “I think it’s that feeling that they’re just a kid in a field with everyone else.”