Highlights from 2020’s Goodfest Digital

goodfest digital 2020

On Thursday 2nd July 2020, the second outing of Goodfest went digital.

Following 2019’s ‘Creatives on the beach’ festival that we co-organised here in Cornwall, we were looking forward to spending two days exploring how to inspire sustainable change through purposeful ideas and actions with an amazing group of speakers and attendees. Like so many physical events however, this year the only way that we could come together was online in a revised format. Below are some highlights from 2020’s panel conversation, to whet your appetite for an upcoming zine that will feature more from both this year’s online event and last year’s physical festival. The Goodfest zine will be available to download (with a limited edition print run also available) in early August.

Goodfest Digital was made possible by and delivered in partnership with Cultivator and supported by the European Regional Development Fund, HM Government, Arts Council England and Cornwall Council.

“Purpose and profit can go hand in hand, but I think that people still have this perception that they can’t and that they’re mutually exclusive. I wonder if this is an issue due to measurement, and how we’re all defining success?”
– Sara Collinge of Don’t Cry Wolf

“In Cornwall we’re a sector [creative industries] that is dominated by micro-businesses and freelancers. We need to make a big noise to stop the climate emergency dropping off the agenda and make sure that there is support available for different scales of business. We’re also a long way from the centre of power, which is another reason why we need to turn up the volume on our demands.
Now more than ever we’re rethinking, resetting, and building back better. The more that we can join together to create one impactful voice, the more likely we are to influence the policies being developed at a national and global level, and feel that our small actions as individuals and small businesses do make a difference.”

– Fiona Wotton of Cornwall365/CLASH

“Sustainability comes from ourselves first, and if we’re not being sustainable for ourselves then the businesses and those that we work with and interrelate with can’t be sustainable either. “
– Matt Hocking (Leap)

“You have to channel your creative practice into telling the stories that you care about. For some that might be about diversity and inclusion, or it might be about the environment. There is a need though for some proactivity in funding and supporting these messages and projects, though. Organisations like The Arts Council are, in my mind, the people who have the opportunity to bring some of these stories to greater prominence and a bigger audience.”
– Laura Giles (Cultivator Cornwall)

We tried to be as inclusive and accessible as possible for all attendees, however, we know there is always more work to be done here. Please let us know if we can do more in the future.