Protestival offers an alternative way to be an activist. It was born out of feeling disempowered by activism that gave power to others, and that didn’t feel inspiring. It was also a response to activism that was polarizing and ‘other’-ing, that poses activists and ‘others’ on opposing sides.

 

Through Protestival, we create a community of people who had a vision for the future, and who wanted to work together to find ways to reach it. We provide space for people to explore different kinds of activism, and find what works for them. We do this through events of three types: day festivals, evening sessions, and workshops.

 

Through building and strengthening this network of engaged people, we build confidence, community, and our ability to communicate effectively. Protestival has some emergent properties: often what comes out of these events is bigger than the sum of its parts. We connect people, and what they do together is beyond the boundaries of Protestival. We have no agenda, no particular issue that we campaign around, which gives us the ability to support and share a wide variety of other projects.