2069? : The Youth Fest

26th February - 2nd March 2020 | Sardarshahar, Rajasthan

Given the interconnected crises, our world today is faced with and the responsibility that this young generation carries - several youth-led organisations came together to co-create 2069? The Youth Fest. A dream for the future and an experiment to live into that dream. We invite you to join us at the 2069? The Youth Fest in Sardarsheher, Rajasthan.

Why?

Each moment in history provides its own challenge. As the young generation of today we live in a rapidly changing and increasingly fragile world. Climate Crisis is threatening the natural systems that sustain us and all life. Globalisation has lifted many but has left many others behind. Political, religious and ideological polarisations are dividing us at the precise moment when we should be coming together.

Our current ways of thinking and creating change have stopped being effective anymore. It is time to connect and dream once again - and trust that there will be emergence from our collective wisdom, our collective creativity, and our collective action.

2069? The Youth Fest is an invitation to open our hearts to imagine, connect, heal and act together into the uncertain future. It invites you to whole-heartedly embrace the challenges of the world and the ways in which they show up in your personal lives; It also invites you to meet every year for the next 49 years and co-create the ways, models, narratives of the future.

It invites you to find those friendships that can accompany you for life, it invites you to test dogmas, norms that you inherited from society, it invites you to honour the wisdom of the elders even as you disrupt the old ways, it also invites you to find that space of home within you from which all emerges.

A gathering that brings together various ecosystems to create a shared understanding of our challenges and a vision for tomorrow. A space to celebrate the hundreds of constructive initiatives, to connect, to learn and to draw from the wisdom of earlier generations.

What?

6-Day Festival with about 200 young people, 20 elders at Gandhi Vidya Mandir, Sardarsheher, Rajasthan.
Dates: 26th Feb - 2nd March, 2020.
Space-holders and organisers shall gather from 24th Feb.

How?

2069? The Youth Fest is based on 5 Key Disruptions that seeks to shake the status and create possibilities for the future:

2069? from 2019

Last year, more than 15 youth organisations came together in March 2019 to co-create a youth-led gathering to deepen our bonds, celebrate our journeys and to dream together. With 150 young people, it was an exciting 6 days of experiments, learning with each other, soaking in elder’s wisdom and living through the edges of collective leadership.

The themes were for the day Me, We and Us around which workshops were hosted by different organisations and participants. Major experiment tracks were around Politics, Ecology and Economics. We had a full-fledged election between parties with ideologies based on constitution, gender-environment, youth-led and one that invited service self-organisation.

WHATS NEW THIS YEAR?:

One of the design principles of the festival is collaborative emergence - which means that we come together and jam to create and dance with emergence. The Design Circle proposes to keep an alive theme for most young people in their 20s - PRL: Parents, Relationships and Livelihoods. These may seem micro personal issues but these perhaps are the most pressing ways in which the larger system shows up in young people's lives. In another way, if one is able to solve for these in their 20s they are very well positioned to be in service of macro issues in their 30s and beyond.

Integrated Tech Experiment - How can technology be used to create a world which is more just, equitable and sustainable. This isn't a UNO pitch competition, rather an experiment to really live this question through the festival.
Join us,
Email - 2069theyouthfest@gmail.com
if you wish to contribute.

There's more brewing, tune in!

Organizing partners:

Shikshantar, Indian Multiversities Alliance, Vikalp Sangam, Ekta Parishad, Moved by Love, Commutiny: The Youth Collective, Blue Ribbon Movement, Samvaada, Synergy, Agrini, Anhad Pravah, People for Change, LSUC, Swaraj, Bhoomi Network, Youth Alliance.

Who do you recommend as participants?

We see this space as a gathering for those who have had some experience of engaging in social change. Here’s our recommendation for participants:

● Those who have minimum 2 years or more of on-ground experience of being involved in social change - typically the 20 somethings.

● Intend to deep dive in social space and strengthen their leadership journey

● Urban, semi-urban, rural, tribal. The organizations bringing in rural and tribal youth to take responsibility of guiding them in the process and making sure they feel comfortable.

● Comfortable communicating in Hindi/English as that would be the language used.

● Can participate for all 6 days

● They or their organization can take care of the cost of 6 days of the fest (INR 3000 - 6000/- per person) + travel

Participants can fill the registration form

Who will be the space holders?

As an inter-generational gathering, we invite space-holders, typically individuals who have experience of facilitating and working with youth for 5 years or more.

Space-holders will be facilitating and holding space in emergent process during the gathering. They will be required to be present for 27th-28th Feb designing and 6 days of the fest. Space-holders will also be requested to contribute to the cost of 6 days of the fest + their own travel

What does being a partner entail?

As a coming together of organizations and youth ecosystems, we invite you to partner and join us. The partnership would involve bringing in your leaders to space, offering sessions and joining us in co-creating space.

● Nominate up to 10 participants or so from your network, we trust the partners' selection and there won’t be any screening

● Get the participants to register and aggregate their financial contribution

● Nominate 2-3 space holders

● Offer workshops in the fest

Contributions

Suggested contribution per participant is Rs 3,000-6000 on a trust based sliding scale. The participants are to send the contributions to organisation partners who shall collectively send it to 2069? The Youth Fest.

Follow us on

Facebook Instagram

---

Humanity is facing issues at an unprecedented scale and complexity. Our current systems and structures are breaking down and we have very little idea of how to navigate ourselves in these difficult times. The list of problems facing India can already fill several diaries and seems to be spiraling out of control...

Our current ways of thinking and creating change have stopped being effective anymore. It is time to connect and dream once again - and trust that there will be emergence from our collective wisdom, our collective creativity, and our collective action.

Alongside these are questions that any young person engaging with social change faces - around career, finances, parents, relationships and so on. The youth are looking for spaces to ask these questions and have a heart to heart conversation too.

We propose to host a series of gatherings of youth leaders that names and celebrates this historic moment and looks at it as an opportunity to create newer structures and responses.

These gatherings will bring together various youth leadership ecosystems to create a shared understanding of our challenges and a vision for tomorrow. A space to celebrate the hundreds of constructive initiatives, to connect, to learn and to draw from the wisdom of earlier generations.

Presenting..... ‘2069?: The Youth Fest’!

What will 2069 be like? Will we survive? What’s our dream for then? Can we have a gathering that meets every year for the next 50, nurturing and enacting the vision? 2069 is a space to disrupt old ways, to connect and to reimagine the collective future 50 years from now.

This is an invitation is for you to come onboard! Let’s co-imagine and co-create a space to share, learn and support >

the emerging youth movement!

We have hosted a gathering of about 150 youth leaders from across the country from 1st to 6th March 2019 in Sardarshahr, Rajasthan. We intend to meet every year. The next gathering will be in March 2020.

We invite you in a deep spirit of care, empathy, creativity, collaboration, and emergence.

Your participation will bring in your unique flavor to the gathering, making it yummier! Alongside, we this as a space to build your next line of leadership, to meet the larger movement at one place and experience their work first hand. This will also be a space where we will connect to the emerging vision and possible advocacy asks from youth.

And since this is the first year, your energy shall be even more valuable in creating the founding spirit of the gathering!

Excited? For more ideas, questions, reflections etc reach out to Kejal or Harsh.

सब ठौर जमात हमर जमात
सब ठौर पर ह मेला
- Kabir

Organizing partners:

Shikshantar Andolan, Indian Multiversities Alliance, Vikalp Sangam, Ekta Parishad, Moved by Love, Commutiny: The Youth Collective, Blue Ribbon Movement, Samvaada, Synergy, Agrini, Anhad Pravah, People for Change, We Are Young, LSUC, Swaraj, Bhoomi Network, Youth Alliance, India Youth Jam.

Some FAQs:

What is the agenda?

While we don’t have a formal agenda, we foresee the space as being 30% structured and 70% open. A tentative flow of the days that we came up with is as follows:

Day 1 : Opening and introductions

Day 2 : The ME Space: Questions around our personal journeys

Day 3 : Discovering the WE: Looking at collective spaces and learning

Day 4 : The NOTHING Day

Day 5 : Celebrating the US: looking at the emerging crisis and alternatives

Day 6 : Closing day: plans ahead and way forward

Who do you recommend as participants?

We see this space as a gathering for those who have had some experience of engaging in social change. Here’s our recommendation for participants:

• Those who have minimum 2 years or more of on-ground experience of being involved in social change. Typically the 20 somethings.
• Intend to deep dive in social space and strengthen their leadership journey than freshers.
• Urban, semi-urban, rural, tribal. The organizations bringing in rural and tribal youth to take responsibility of guiding them in the process and making sure they feel comfortable.
• Comfortable communicating in Hindi/English as that would be the language used.
• Can participate for all 6 days
• They or their organization can take care of the cost of 6 days of the fest (INR 2500/- per person) + trave

Who will be the space holders?

As an inter-generational gathering, we invite spaceholders, typically individuals who have experience of facilitating and working with youth for 5 years or more. Spaceholders will be facilitating and holding space in emergent process during the gathering. Spaceholders will also be requested to contribute to the cost of 6 days of the fest (INR 2500/- per person) + their own travel

What does being a partner entail?

As a coming together of organizations and youth ecosystems, we invite you to partner and join us. The partnership would involve bringing in your leaders to space, offering sessions and joining us in co-creating space.

Role as partners:

• Nominate up to 10 participants or so from your network, we trust the partners' selection and there won’t be any screening
• Get the participants to register and aggregate their financial contribution
• Nominate 2-3 space holders
• Offer workshops in the fest

Which organizations are going to be invited:

Aurovile - (Youth link, Swadharma, Anvesha, Sadhana Forest), Pravah, STEP, Teach for India, Gandhi Fellowship*, Yuva*, Jagriti Yatra, Make a difference, Bhumi, Sevagram Collective, SAPA, RGNIYD*, NAPM, Ritambra, CYDA, National Youth Project, CCS*, ASHA Network. (feel free to add names!)

Broad Design structure:

- 30% structured 70% unstructured - 1:20/1:10 ratio of participants to space holders - 60% 20 somethings - 30% 30-40 somethings - 10% elders - Space for offering workshops/ holding conversations / activities/ experiments - Family: Participants would be divided in families of 8 - 10 with one space holder. This is to make sure each individual is cared and supported throughout. It’s natural to feel overwhelmed at times

Roughly a day would look like (This is for Day 2-3-5 )

06.00am - 08.30am : Shramdaan, yoga, birding prabhatferi, cleaning

08.30am - 10.00am : Breakfast and getting ready

10.00am - 11.30am : Opening Circle/ announcements/ keynote (Recommended not to miss) 11.30am - 01.00pm: Learning focused workshops on the days theme (approx 10 parallel if 200 people join)

01.00pm - 03.00pm : Lunch

03.00pm - 05.00pm : Participant initiated activities (Space for conversations, dialogue, art) 05.00pm - 07.00pm: Family Time

07.00pm - 08.00pm : Cultural performance

08.00pm - 09.30pm : Dinner

Themes:

Day 1 : Knowing each other. We start 3pm onwards. (Lead by design team that meets on 27-28th feb)

Day 2 : Me. Focusing on personal concerns, career, parents, relationships, etc

Day 3 : We. Collectively, community focus/p>

Day 4 : Nothingness. Unstructured.

Day 5 : Us. Universal conversations

Day 6 : Reflection and Closing till 1pm. (Lead by Design Team)

The Youth Fest will happen at three levels:

On a personal level, it will create a place for participants to reflect on individual life journeys and what makes us who we are today. It is an opportunity to deepen our purpose, ask meaningful questions, unlearn our fears and blocks, access our hearts, and open our minds to move more boldly in the world.

On the interpersonal level, we come together to share our work, our values, our cultures, our creativity, our collaborative spirits, our stories and our struggles so we can deepen in our understanding of, and connection to, each other.We will create spaces for collaboration, co-learning spaces, sharing spaces where we can understand each other and our journeys more deeply.

On the systemic level, we come together to celebrate the collective, the power of youth work, the creativity and energy. We also become clearer about the importance of our work in the world and its potential for even deeper, more meaningful impact.We use this space for sharing our challenges, articulating our collective vision for future and creating a path for our years ahead.

The fest is a space learning you are encouraged to not just offer/ co-create workshops/ circles but also push your creativity with doing hands on things like collective cooking, art installations, music, dance, puppets, currency and many more experiments you would like to attempt.

Please do bring in the material needed for these sessions/activities.

If you have any concerns, suggestions, feel free to write back or get in touch with Kejal or Harsh.