Join us as we explore the themes, ideas and methods our researchers used to produce FestForward magazine – a fictional, speculative cultural magazine, set in 2030, exploring digital and data-driven futures for Edinburgh and South East Scotland’s festivals.

FestForward, written in 2022 and produced in collaboration with Glasgow-based design researchers Andthen, was developed through interviews, conversations and workshops with individuals and organisations working in the region’s cultural sector. The magazine tells stories about possible futures – the good, the bad and the ugly – to stimulate conversations about how we work together in the present to discover and develop equitable and sustainable approaches to the application of digital and data-driven technologies.

The programme will include:

A speculative futures workshop, using provocations and ideas from FestForward, where you’ll have the chance to write your own festival futures.

Panel discussions imagining equitable and sustainable festivals in 2030, and exploring futures for creative technologies, online and hybrid performance and concepts of ‘liveness’

Live performance! More details announced soon…

Refreshments provided and the Biscuit Factory bar will be open