The
Realisation
Festival
6 — 9th
May 2021
A gathering
with purpose
at St Giles
House, Dorset
In the spirit of both a retreat and an adventure, The Realisation Festival arises from a conviction that we live at a critical juncture; a time of reckoning that we need to experience more deeply and reflect on candidly, carefully and courageously. FIND OUT MORE
Speakers
MINNA SALAMI
Founder, MsAfropolitan
Minna Salami is a Nigerian, Finnish and Swedish writer and lecturer. She is the founder of the multiple award-winning blog, MsAfropolitan, which connects feminism with contemporary culture from an Africa-centred perspective. Her first book, Sensuous Knowledge, will be published in 2020 by Zed and Harper Collins. Translations of Sensuous Knowledge will be published by Schildts & Söderströms in Finland, Planeta de Libros in Spain and Verlag Matthes & Seitz Berlin in Germany. The book is also optioned by a Hollywood based production company.
Minna is listed alongside Angelina Jolie and Michelle Obama as one of 12 women changing the world by ELLE Magazine. She is a contributor to the Guardian, BBC, CNN, The Independent, Al Jazeera, the New Internationalist and many other publications. She is a columnist for the Guardian Nigeria and the host of a monthly philosophy book club at Waterstones.
ANTHEA LAWSON
Associate, Perspectiva
Anthea Lawson is an activist, writer and associate of Perspectiva. Troubled by the ways in which campaigning can replicate the problems it tries to change, she is enquiring into the inner life of activism and what it means for our efforts to change the outer world in which we live.
She was a reporter at The Times, before working for campaigning organisations including Global Witness and Amnesty International, publishing investigations into the arms trade and corruption in oil, logging and offshore finance.
Her book The Entangled Activist will be published by Perspectiva Press in 2020.
MICHIEL TOLMAN
Founder, Bildung Acadamie
Parallel to the 2015 student protest in Amsterdam, a number of teachers and students together with Michiel created the Bildung Academie: a bottom-up, mission-driven movement creating and running own educational programmes and consulting universities, schools and business in order to realize personal and societal transformation.
PIPPA EVANS
Improviser
Pippa Evans is an award winning improviser, comedian and musical performer. In 2013 she and Sanderson Jones started Sunday Assembly, the church for people who don’t believe in God which became a global phenomenon. Though no longer involved in the Sunday Assembly project, Pippa finds herself drawn to the Venn Diagram of secular spirituality, improvisation and inner work. How can we be fully ourselves in relation to others? Can we do serious work without taking ourselves too seriously?
Pippa has been working with Perspectiva since 2018 as their Captain of Serious Play – finding ways for people to explore Souls, Systems and Society experientially, rather than through text and speech. She lives in London with her husband Calum and her vast collection of mugs. www.pippaevans.com
Festival feast
Nicole Pisani
Since we are what we eat, food at the festival will play a central role. Made from seasonal ingredients sourced as locally as possible, much of the food will be cooked over a specially constructed fire pit. This will be lit in a ceremony on Thursday evening to kick off the weekend’s proceedings and remain lit throughout, providing a gathering point for guests at all times. Meals will be served informally on sharing platters and take place at long feasting tables, outside when possible, and will be plant-led with locally sourced meat and fish options. The kitchen team will be led by Nicole Pisani, former Head Chef of Nopi Restaurant, and Executive Chef and co-founder of charity Chefs in Schools.
We are inviting a small group to be part of the first festival to help shape and evolve it, with a view to growing in subsequent years and developing a programme of festival-related activities throughout the year. We are asking participants to contribute towards accommodation, food, drink, speakers and events in the first year, with some bursaries available. Would you like to be part of it? BUY A TICKET