Co-Creating Change Festival,
Battersea Arts Centre

The Co-Creating Change Festival in the Main Hall at BAC was a 5 day event in November 2021, that invited anyone involved in the arts to come together, share expertise and explore vital questions: about how we might challenge and change the broken systems in which we find ourselves.

The festival was a mix of workshops, case studies, seminars and live performance, with both in-person, livestreamed and online only events. The week of programming brought together examples from around the world of new ways to collaborate, commission and create – ways that work towards more just and equitable futures. The festival included a key note speech by the Rt Hon Marsha De Cordova MP, talks and workshops from over 50 speakers including The Agency, Create Syria, Manchester International Festival and InHouse Records plus a brilliant co-created show Rent Party by Jumped Up Theatre.

A middle-aged white man stands holding a microphone in one hand and with his other hand raised. Behind him there are two fellow panelists sat listening, and a presentation screen that reads "Co-Creating Change Festival 2021"
In the foreground, a young black man holds a microphone, mid-speech. He has shoulder-length dreadlocks and wears a blue baseball cap. In the background, out-of-focus, is another young black man, wearing a plaid shirt and holding a mic.
A large crowd smiles up to camera from Battersea Arts Centre's Grand Hall.

The hybrid festival came at the end of a year long role at BAC as their Co-Creating Change Network Project Manager. Most of the job was done during lockdowns, and so I hosted the event in the Main Hall on only my second visit! I learned loads about live streaming, online hybrid event conferencing platforms and the amount of resource needed to properly build in access in blended online and in-person events. It was a brilliant, inspiring and exhausting week!