International Democracy Festivals Association
Our Mission
The Association aims to strengthen the existing democracy festivals, help other countries and organisers build democracy festivals, and unite muscles to use democracy festivals as vehicles for democratic change.
“Our vision is to revitalise democracy by strengthening the link between a political system and citizens as well as creating spaces for dialogue and participation,” Chair of the Democracy Festivals Association, Tone Skindlo Taraldsen.
The mission of the Democracy Festivals Association is to:
Nurture links between the existing organisers of democracy festivals.
Support the continuous exchange of knowledge and development of the festivals.
Help new countries organise their own democracy festivals.
Act as the festivals’ international network and advocate.
Inspire a larger audience to be interested in the development of participatory democracy.
What is a Democracy Festival?
Democracy is more than democratic institutions and written rules. It is a culture that has to be nourished by creating spaces and platforms where people can physically get together, talk to each other, get inspired, exchange opinions and debate their ideas. Democracy festivals foster active civic engagement, a culture of discussion and critical thinking in response to the alarming rise of authoritarianism and nationalism in our geographic neighbourhood.
Where Are The Democracy Festivals?
Democracy Festivals Association unites democracy festivals from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, the United Kingdom, and Turkey.
Who takes part in the Democracy Festivals?
Everyone!
One by one, all the nations in the Nordic-Baltic Region have set up their festivals, where people of different trades and backgrounds come together each summer to discuss how to improve their countries. Civil society activists, entrepreneurs, government officials, ministers and ordinary people sit together and casually talk about how to make their country a better place for everybody. These platforms for constructive political dialogue across opinions, age, gender and hierarchy are democracy festivals.
Democracy Festivals’ Methods
“The democracy festivals need room to share knowledge, solutions and ideas, as well as to build joint initiatives across the festivals,” Mia Stuhre, vice-chair of the association. In 2017, we conducted collaborative research to gather knowledge and experience on democracy festivals in the Nordic-Baltic Region.
We hope that sharing this knowledge about the differences, similarities, challenges and opportunities of the these festivals will serve as a point of departure for new countries to organise their festivals or cross-festivals initiatives.