With the aims of both raising money and awareness for AIDS-related causes and addressing the lack of live music on campus, the Birmingham University Stop AIDS society attempted to arrange a large festival at the Guild Building in 2005.

Attended by over 3,900 students, and raising approximately £25,000 for two charities - UNICEF and SPW, for their HIV/AIDS projects in Kenya and Zimbabwe respectively - the event was hailed[by whom?]

[tone] DJ, drumming and singing workshops also went on throughout the day, as did drama performances, healing spaces and many stalls run by student societies.

The day culminated in an outdoor cinema screening of The Constant Gardener, and three different rooms for the club night inside Shackleton Hall.

The event aimed to raise awareness of the humanitarian effects of climate change on people in poorer nations.

The line-up was as follows: Main Stage: The Anomalies, The Tommys, Laid Blak, Floors and Walls, Hobbit, Lazy J, Old School Tie, Friendly Fire, Stanley's Choice, University Gospel Choir Kids for Kids Chillout Tent: Transient Dreams, Two Spot Gobi, Yamit Mamo, Swing Manouche, Tanante, The Old Dance School, KTB, Kid-iD, Hannah Rhodes ActionAid Dance Arena: Deepgroove, Will Bailey, Aries, Far Too Loud, Joebot, Mikee Lazy, Hobbit & Bass6, Fat Gold Chain, DJ Shei.

Vale Festival 2010 took place on 8 June, with the charitable causes being chosen as Oxfam, Procedo Foundation and the Malaria Consortium.

The Main Stage, Hill Top Tent, Forest Edge and Jungle Jam were headlined by Scarlet Harlots, Lucy Ward, Bigger Than Barry and Uprizing respectively.

The money raised by ValeFest was donated directly to training for health workers, education and the treatment and diagnosis for the prevention of malaria.

Vale Festival 2011 took place on 15 June, with the Helen Bamber Foundation and the Calla Trust being chosen as the causes.

The money raised by Valefest for The Calla Trust and Helen Bamber Foundation would aim to provide training and counselling directly to those involved, as well as working toward durable solutions.

Electric Swing Circus, whose guitarist Tom Hyland was part of the original Vale Festival organisers, headlined the Main Stage.

Magnus Puto headlined the Main Stage, and the focus of this year was 'Music for the Mind', specifically student depression and adolescent mental health.

Taking place on 4 June, the charities chosen for ValeFest 2016 were Action Against Malaria Foundation and Birmingham Children's Hospital.

[7] 2018 saw the festival grow bigger than ever before, with headline acts Fickle Friends and Little Comets causing tickets to sell out in record time.

Acts at the 2019 festival included The Hunna headlining with Saint Raymond, Ivory Wave and Chopstick Dubplate also performing.

[8] More tickets were sold than ever before to raise money for the chosen charities, St Basil's, Sense and Kids Adventure.

A core committee maintains the four sub-committees, which take responsibility for different aspects of the festival; these are the Entertainment, Site, Marketing and Relations.