How do we engage citizens in developing local resilience and
adapting to climate change?
How can we best engage communities to play a part in the transition to a just and low carbon society?
What is the role of artists and culture creatives in times of transition?
How do we make our communities and cities more sustainable?
From the 15th to the 28th of October 2016 the 21st Convergence Festival will be bringing people and ideas together across the island of Ireland. This year the focus of Convergence will be on social innovation and how we accelerate a citizen-engaged and community-led transformation to an equitable, resilient and low-carbon society.
Some examples of this form of innovation include community-owned energy, community-led housing, community supported agriculture, citizen observatories, and creative platforms to enable peer-to-peer sharing and exchange, including Galway’s Third Space and their Collaborative Ways Forward initiative with Transition Galway.
This years Convergence events are the kick-off conversations which, over the year, will lead up to the first European Day of Sustainable Communities, which will take place on the 23 September 2017 organised by a new network of networks for community led transitions, ECOLISE. This will be an exciting opportunity to showcase the many groundbreaking initiatives from across Europe that are leading the way towards a low-carbon, ecological future.
Convergence is Ireland’s longest running sustainable living festival, featuring some of the most inspiring thinkers and doers both from Ireland and abroad over the last 16 years. Over the years it has illuminated and inspired many sustainable economic, social and environmental initiatives and actions. The curators of the festival are the Sustainable Ireland Co-operative, who operate as Cultivate Living and Learning and their cohosts in various locations around the country
Citizen and community-led initiatives are at the forefront of developing and testing new and innovative approaches to sustainable living. Now is the time to kick-start a citizen-engaged, community-led transition. Join the conversation at convergence@cultivate.ie
Davie Philip
Convergence Co-Curator
CULTIVATE LIVING AND LEARNING
E-mail: davie@cultivate.ie
Office: 0505 56061
Mobile: +353 (0) 87 6340697