Events – Fire Starter Festival

Fire Starter Festival Programme

Welcome to our festival schedule full of events aimed to spark creativity and innovation for people, communities and public services! Explore each day individually to learn more about all the activities available during the Fire Starter Festival 2021.

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Key

Launch and Finale

Community Connections

Events

Monday - 1 Feb

08:00 - 08:30

The Sanctuary

08:00 - 21:00

Block Walk: Conversation, Community, Connection

08:30 - 09:30

Curiosity Café

10:00 - 12:00

Fire Starter Festival Launch

12:00 - 13:00

Can’t meet? Animate!

12:00 - 13:00

Scotland’s populations, now and in the future

13:00 - 14:00

Beehive Cafe

13:30 - 14:30

Sourced Design and the Education Design Lab at Springhouse

14:00 - 15:00

Story Sparks

15:30 - 16:30

Paths & Destinations - How to get from where I am to where I want to be

15:30 - 17:00

How do we learn not to bully?

16:00 - 17:00

Power and the New Professionalism

18:00 - 19:00

Hopes Of A Nation

18:00 - null

“Let’s Talk about ACES?”

20:00 - 21:00

The Candlelight Club

Tuesday - 2 Feb

08:00 - 08:30

The Sanctuary

08:00 - 21:00

Block Walk: Conversation, Community, Connection

08:30 - 09:30

Curiosity Café

09:00 - 10:00

Coffee and Catalytic Questions

09:30 - 10:30

ACOSVO Leadership Exchange Programme - Information Session

10:00 - 13:00

Co-creating Conversations: Self-Centering

11:00 - 12:30

Defining courageous leadership through creativity

13:00 - 14:00

Beehive Cafe

14:00 - 15:00

Children: real-world place makers

14:00 - 15:00

Menopause At Work

15:30 - 17:00

How do we learn not to bully?

16:00 - 17:00

Privilege: the elephant in the D&I room?

17:00 - 18:00

Cultivating Compassionate Edinburgh

20:00 - 21:00

The Candlelight Club

Wednesday - 3 Feb

08:00 - 08:30

The Sanctuary

08:00 - 21:00

Block Walk: Conversation, Community, Connection

08:30 - 09:30

Curiosity Café

09:30 - 11:00

Inner Work for Creative Bravery

10:00 - 11:30

Facilitation for Impact

12:00 - 13:00

Girls on Film

13:00 - 14:00

Beehive Cafe

15:00 - 16:00

Nothing But The Poem: Joy Harjo

15:00 - 16:00

Learning from building a Hut part 2

15:30 - 17:00

How do we learn not to bully?

16:00 - 17:00

What is community?

19:00 - 20:00

Time - Weaving across the matrix

19:00 - 20:30

Keeping it Real. Honesty & Integrity in Public Sector Services; why we need more and why it matters.

20:00 - 21:00

The Candlelight Club

Thursday - 4 Feb

08:00 - 08:30

The Sanctuary

08:00 - 21:00

Block Walk: Conversation, Community, Connection

08:30 - 09:30

Curiosity Café

10:00 - 11:00

Van of Dreams

10:00 - 12:00

Creative and Experimental Workshop

11:00 - 12:00

Wellbeing and Nature

12:00 - 13:00

Undoubtedly the best session at the Festival

13:00 - 14:00

Beehive Cafe

14:00 - 16:00

Powerful Fictions: a Beginners Writing Workshop

15:00 - 16:30

Care Full Fire Starting

15:30 - 17:00

How do we learn not to bully?

16:00 - 17:00

Building micro-local community: Village In The City

17:00 - 18:00

A Brave New Field

20:00 - 21:00

The Candlelight Club

Friday - 5 Feb

08:00 - 08:30

The Sanctuary

08:00 - 21:00

Block Walk: Conversation, Community, Connection

08:30 - 09:30

Curiosity Café

10:00 - 11:30

The Art of Making a True Move

10:00 - 12:00

Surviving the zombie apocalypse: ourselves in the new normal

12:00 - 13:00

Give me the video camera

12:00 - 13:00

What matters?

13:00 - 14:00

Beehive Cafe

14:00 - 15:30

Walking Our Landscapes

15:30 - 17:00

How do we learn not to bully?

16:00 - 17:00

Fire Starter Festival Finale

Monday - 1 Feb

Tuesday - 2 Feb

Wednesday - 3 Feb

Thursday - 4 Feb

Friday - 5 Feb

08:00 - 08:30 | Monday - 1 Feb

The Sanctuary

This a place for quiet, contemplative reflection and mindful practice. A chance to connect to our inner flame. Each day we will offer a different practice, including journaling, mindfulness and working with images, to restore a sense of balance and prepare you for the day ahead. We invite you to join the sessions in the way that suits you. Please choose whether to keep you camera on or off and you will always have the option to join in with any open discussions reflections or not.

08:00 - 21:00 | Monday - 1 Feb

Block Walk: Conversation, Community, Connection

Self-organised walks in your local area. An opportunity to get to know your neighbours and re-imagine your community.

08:30 - 09:30 | Monday - 1 Feb

Curiosity Café

Pop in to the Curiosity Café in the morning to hear about what’s happening that day at the festival, any reflections from previous events and hear from various guests, including poets and other artists. It’s also a great opportunity to give a shout out for an event you are running.

10:00 - 12:00 | Monday - 1 Feb

Fire Starter Festival Launch

We open this year’s festival in theatrical style exploring the Hard Edges with Active Inquiry Theatre Comapny? Join us to experience how this piece of Legislative Theatre enables us as citizens to become actors, activists and policy makers. Can you shape a different outcome for our protagonist?

12:00 - 13:00 | Monday - 1 Feb

Can’t meet? Animate!

You’ve got things to say, but the pandemic means you can’t meet the people you want to talk to. Animation is a powerful way to get your message across. Join this session to watch some animations with social purpose, and discover what happened behind the scenes. Treat yourself to an early lunch and an easy-going, entertaining session. Short and sweet, only 40 to 45 mins. Take part in the discussion, ask anything you want; or just enjoy the show and learn about unexpected things in bite-sized cartoons.

12:00 - 13:00 | Monday - 1 Feb

Scotland’s populations, now and in the future

How much can we ever really foretell what is likely to happen to the population of Scotland in the future, and to the numbers of deaths and births, and people moving in and out of the country? And, in particular, how, if at all, are Covid-19 and Brexit likely to change our views? Following the success of our last Firestarter event, The David Hume Institute is once again working in partnership with National Records of Scotland to bring you Professor Michael Anderson and Dr Esther Roughsedge in conversation.

13:00 - 14:00 | Monday - 1 Feb

Beehive Cafe

Take a pause at the Beehive lunch-time café. This is fantastic opportunity to stop for a while, have you lunch and chat about what you have experienced so far. Bring your learning, questions and ideas for cross-pollination – what could we produce together? Feel free to pop in at any time and leave when you need to.

13:30 - 14:30 | Monday - 1 Feb

Sourced Design and the Education Design Lab at Springhouse

The way we educate young people is based on a design that is too small for what they, and their communities, are capable of. In this session, Springhouse co-founder (www.springhouse.org) and Springhouse teen learners will talk about the Sourced Design (www.sourceddesign.org) principles and the Education Design Lab. The Education Design Lab at Springhouse addresses the very root of the problems that education faces by putting vitality at the center of the design. The Lab gives those who have the courage and capacity to reimagine education from the ground up, the guidance and support they need in this rigorous creative process using the five principles of Sourced Design. These principles foster vitality in the individual, collective, and place–they take care of the source of life. The vitality-centered principles of this design include: Take care of vulnerability. Cultivate personhood. Build beloved community. Respect how the Earth works. Love and serve others. In this session, those who are engaged in the messy, creative, and rigorous work of redesigning education in ways that honor the vitality, the life source, the ineffable in all of us, will share their experience through stories and examples of those five principles in action.

14:00 - 15:00 | Monday - 1 Feb

Story Sparks

What happens if we test the conventions of the square zoom box? Can we experience the space around us and stories in a way that connects? This session will invite participants to play with the threshold between embodied awareness, sharing stories and space to process both. The intent is to learn together how to overcome digital divides we've been living with these past few months. The session grows out of work with the Scottish Graduate School of Social Sciences to provide recuperative social space to re-vision how learning research and living can thrive within the constraints of Covid. An undistrubed place with space to move is important to have for this workshop. This winter with increased lockdown measures our works can begin to feel like a marathon. The natural breaks we could often take that re-energised the focussed work we do occur less frequently in our current circumstances and this can take a toll. These sessions are designed to help get you through the homestretch. They are an opportunity for some creative playful time off task that can bring us back better in mind and body and even inspired. The sessions are designed to encourage the conditions that may lead to “eureka” moments by giving you an opportunity to talk about your work in a non-judgemental space, explore ways to take different perspectives on what may seem over-familiar, and take stock of your work in your wider life interests and aspirations.

15:30 - 16:30 | Monday - 1 Feb

Paths & Destinations - How to get from where I am to where I want to be

Not all decisions are as straight forward as plotting a course from A to B, and then taking the quickest or shortest path to get there. Using the paths and destinations poem shown we'll be exploring the variety of relationships we have with paths and destinations in our lives, and specifically in respect to a situation we'd like more clarity about. Ahead of the session you're asked to consider which element(s) of the poem speaks to you most, and observe your reaction to other elements. That is, how comfortable do feel about each element, does resistance arise around any elements, and so on? During the session we'll then take a walk, even if metaphorically and virtually, along some of the paths available to us to help provide insight on our current situation. The session will take place on Zoom and involve a mix of group discussion and smaller breakouts. Anyone attending the FSF Walking Our Landscapes session later in the week may wish to use the insight obtained during this session to deepen their enquiry on the 5th. Alison Smith is a speaker, trainer, and author and has used nature's landscapes as metaphors for our lives for over 20 years using a process she named Landscaping Your Life. This will be her second Fire Starter Festival event. Her first session in 2019 focused on her then recently published book Can't see the wood for the trees - landscaping your life to get back on track with attendees opting to let go of their pattern of 'going round in circles' one of the idioms used in her book.

15:30 - 17:00 | Monday - 1 Feb

How do we learn not to bully?

If you can accept feeling a bit uncomfortable and step into a challenging space, where we focus on difficult work, you should come and join us. There will be daily sessions from 3.30pm to 5pm and it would be great to come to every session, but if you can only make one that’s great too. It will be a mix of discussions, activities and interviews sharing lived experiences. The week will look like this. On Monday, we will map out the problem. On Tuesday, we will sketch a wide range of possible solutions. On Wednesday, we will decide which of our ideas to turn into a testable lesson plan. On Thursday, we will create a working lesson plan. And on Friday, we will test it with real live humans. You don’t need to know anything to participate. We want you for you. Your experience, thoughts and ideas are the only thing you need to bring.

16:00 - 17:00 | Monday - 1 Feb

Power and the New Professionalism

How has Covid changed power relations in the workplace and the evolution of a new professionalism? Join Diana Reynolds and others to discover, one year on, how Covid is changing the ways in which we appreciate and include each other in the workplace and beyond. What are we noticing and learning, as we begin to embed small changes, yet continue to grapple with the bigger challenges…? Diana is the Sustainable Development Change Manager for the Welsh Government, leading their long term internal behaviour change programme. She also works with Audit Wales to create peer-to-peer networks and complex communities of practice that enable Wales to share lessons from behavioural science and innovation during Covid.

18:00 - 19:00 | Monday - 1 Feb

Hopes Of A Nation

People inspire people, that has been true throughout human history, but for some reason in Scotland we have developed a culture of self doubt leaving ideas hopes and ambitions unspoken and unwritten. My name is Callum Smith, I love my country and I want to make it better. My event is about inspiring people to reach their full potential by sharing the knowledge of some of Scotland’s most successful people and maybe collecting some of your wrinkle knowledge too.

18:00 - null | Monday - 1 Feb

“Let’s Talk about ACES?”

Continuing the Conversation is essential, because everyone should know and truly understand the impact of ACES- Adverse Childhood Experiences. This Conversation will help you better understand the impact of childhood distress, how others are using scientific knowledge to foster greater kindness, compassion and hope within different Organisations, and how positive relationships are at the heart of this. The concept of Adverse Childhood Experiences was first introduced to the scientific research literature in 1998. It has taken 20 years for it to reach public consciousness. This Conversation requires bravery, however, illustrates the Hope that ACE-Awareness offers us. We will discuss how specific Individuals/Organisations have paused to consider and truly understand adversity and how it affects learners, workplaces, and communities. We will discuss how taking the time to understand and adjust our approach to one of trauma informed and responsive, can have significant impact. How can we all contribute to the healing? What should be done differently? How has the knowledge of ACES changed your practice? Let us learn from each other!

20:00 - 21:00 | Monday - 1 Feb

The Candlelight Club

After a long and expiring day at the festival we welcome you to come sit by the fire and connect over candlelight Our club will be open from 8 pm each night and is a tavern for new connections and old friends. Each evenings conversation menu will be created when you arrive; just bring your stories and we'll blend them together to make a feast for your soul. Our candles will offer the light and you will guide the way.

08:00 - 08:30 | Tuesday - 2 Feb

The Sanctuary

08:00 - 21:00 | Tuesday - 2 Feb

Block Walk: Conversation, Community, Connection

Self-organised walks in your local area. An opportunity to get to know your neighbours and re-imagine your community.

08:30 - 09:30 | Tuesday - 2 Feb

Curiosity Café

09:00 - 10:00 | Tuesday - 2 Feb

Coffee and Catalytic Questions

A quick-fire session on asking great questions to catalyze great discussions in online and real world environments. As social media has quietly eroded our ability to listen to our peers, to develop our ideas and imaginations in response to nuance and argument, and to collaborate and create through discussion, it is more important than ever that we are able to ask great questions, reassure each other that we are listening, and support creative sollution-finding by practicing construction and asking great, concise* and considered questions. In this one hour work shop we will do exactly that - take time to bring up issues in our working or personal lives, and take turns to practice questioning and listening to uncover solutions through dialogue. Welcome - Establish what it is that participants want to learn about questioning Break out room 1 - Pairs. 1 Person is the detective, the other person is the treasure map. 5 Minutes The treasure map raises their quest - the detective asks the questions that might lead them to the treasure. Return to the room - what did we learn about questions, answers, suggestions? Break out room 2 - Same pairs, swap roles Brief interjection and suggestions of style. How do we turn questions into "catalysts" Where in our lives could these techniques be useful? Break out room 3 - New groups of 3. Working together, choosing one area of work or life that we all agree we need to progress through discussion, we are all the detectives, exploring and co-creating our maps to a solution. Return to the main room Guided Review - 5 thinking hats. We consider from five points of view what we have learned as a group about the skills of questioning, listening, and eliciting solutions. "Facilitators arrive with nothing and leave with nothing. Participants arrive with something and leave with so much more!" - My friend Oli - who's really good at this stuff.

09:30 - 10:30 | Tuesday - 2 Feb

ACOSVO Leadership Exchange Programme - Information Session

Join us to learn about the programme and how it can develop leadership capacity. Leadership Exchange is a cross sector Scotland-wide programme that pairs leaders from middle, senior and executive levels to improve leadership capacity between peers. Since 2012 we have matched over 600 participants. The session is led by Phili Wetton, ACOSVO, and a previous participant will join us to share their own exchange reflections and answer any questions you may have. The flexible framework gives you the chance to: 1) discuss how you and your organisation have coped with, and adapted to, the pandemic 2) share learning & experiences 3) develop leadership skills & reflect on your own role 4) access peer to peer support 5) identify collaborative opportunities 6) #buildbackbetter with other leaders All sectors are eligible (third, public & private). Application deadline for our next cohort is 12th March 2021, so don’t miss this fantastic opportunity to find out more at this session! The link to join this Zoom event will be sent to you prior to the call.

10:00 - 13:00 | Tuesday - 2 Feb

Co-creating Conversations: Self-Centering

During the last 12 months we have collectively had to adapt to the global Covid-19 pandemic. Not only have we had to find new ways of being and doing at work, but with family and friends. This conversation opens a space to explore the importance of attending to ourselves by resourcing ourselves to meet the complexities and challenges facing us both in and out of work. We will be creating a shared space to reflect on questions such: What does it mean to center in on self? How is it different to self-centeredness or selfishness? What happens for us which makes it possible to co-create regenerative relationships with others? What happens when we don’t do this?

11:00 - 12:30 | Tuesday - 2 Feb

Defining courageous leadership through creativity

The pandemic has highlighted the need to do things differently and has led to conversations about how we can instigate real and meaningful change. Health and social care has been an area of close attention and we now have an opportunity for real and transformational change. The Health and Social Care Academy has identified courageous leadership as a key driver for realising transformational change in health and social care. We need leaders who are willing to take brave decisions rooted in their values and the values of wider society. But how do we define courageous leadership? This creative poster making session is an opportunity for us to explore what a courageous leader looks like and highlight how we want leaders to act in the face of challenge. We will consider this in the context of health and social care. This session will be run with Mind and Draw, a community arts project run by visual artist Garry Steven, and will be an opportunity to explore these themes in a safe, creative and accessible way. You will need paper (A4), coloured pens, pencils or crayons. About the Health and Social Care Academy The Health and Social Care Academy is an ALLIANCE programme that helps drive positive, radical change in Scotland’s health and social care, through the voice of people that live with long term conditions, disabled people and unpaid carers. The Academy’s ‘Five Provocations for the Future of Health and Social was created based on the vision of a Think Tank of Scottish senior leaders from across the public sector, third and independent sector leaders, and people who use health and social care services. About Mind and Draw Mind and draw is a community project that offers workshops and sessions with the aim of helping people express themselves through the art of being creative. Each workshop provides anyone the chance to draw how they feel and express themselves in any way. Mind and Draw isn't a place for teaching how to draw I believe anyone can draw and this project is an open workshop and community where people can come in and just draw or paint and chat to others in the group without any pressure.

13:00 - 14:00 | Tuesday - 2 Feb

Beehive Cafe

14:00 - 15:00 | Tuesday - 2 Feb

Children: real-world place makers

Join Alison Watson, CEO of award-winning social enterprise ‘Class Of Your Own’ and discover how children and young people tackle community and sustainability issues through the medium of the Design Engineer Construct! Learning Programme. Hear about some of the incredible projects that have challenged the norm of everyday practice, both in education and in industry, when children are empowered to take ownership of real-world projects. Today’s employers who say young people are not ready for the real world of work when they leave school clearly haven’t met DEC students!

14:00 - 15:00 | Tuesday - 2 Feb

Menopause At Work

The menopause: something we all need to understand regardless of our age or gender. Best practice employers are engaging with menopause awareness and training because they care about employee wellbeing; in return this helps employees give their best at work so increasing morale as well as maintaining productivity, loyalty and the retention of talent. Regardless of gender, the menopause affects all of us both personally and professionally. Find out more so that you can help colleagues, relatives and friends.

15:30 - 17:00 | Tuesday - 2 Feb

How do we learn not to bully?

16:00 - 17:00 | Tuesday - 2 Feb

Privilege: the elephant in the D&I room?

Privilege - a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group; "education is a right, not a privilege". (Oxford Languages) Have you ever been excluded? How did this make you feel? What about the times when your voice wasn’t heard even when you spoke? Or those other times when you simply felt invisible, despite being completely present? Or that time you were invited to the meeting yet did not feel able to speak? Or when you got up, showed up, spoke up…and were still ignored? Ever wondered why this all still happens on an everyday basis…despite the increased emphasis on ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ initiatives and policies in your organisation, workplace or community? Join me on a brief foray into the world of ‘unconscious oblivion’ as we explore what it really means to have privilege and how the reality of ‘hidden privilege’ continually impacts on how we experience our world. For those then interested in looking at the ‘yang to this yin’…you might like to have a look at the ‘What is Community’ event happening later in the Fire Starter Festival week.

17:00 - 18:00 | Tuesday - 2 Feb

Cultivating Compassionate Edinburgh

Our world is calling for compassion, and many in Edinburgh are answering that call in their families, neighbourhoods, workplaces, and communities. If you want to explore what compassion means, how you envision it operating in practice, what you've witnessed as concrete examples of compassion-in-action in Edinburgh, and how compassion can be cultivated to bring it more fully into reality in Edinburgh, join us in this experiential Fire Starter Festival workshop. Come together to learn and share ideas and dreams. Cultivating the fire of compassion is a community call for attention, intention, and commitment that can be powerful both personally and collectively! Workshop facilitator will be MaryCatherine Burgess, an Honorary Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, who signed the Charter for Compassion in 2008; since then, has worked with various compassion initiatives at the University, in the UK and in the USA; facilitates Compassionate Integrity Training and Boundless Compassion programmes; serves as a UK Charter for Compassion Task Force member; and in November 2020, helped organise a Compassionate Edinburgh global webinar hosted by the Charter for Compassion and featuring a number of Edinburgh community leaders involved in compassionate community projects.

20:00 - 21:00 | Tuesday - 2 Feb

The Candlelight Club

08:00 - 08:30 | Wednesday - 3 Feb

The Sanctuary

08:00 - 21:00 | Wednesday - 3 Feb

Block Walk: Conversation, Community, Connection

Self-organised walks in your local area. An opportunity to get to know your neighbours and re-imagine your community.

08:30 - 09:30 | Wednesday - 3 Feb

Curiosity Café

09:30 - 11:00 | Wednesday - 3 Feb

Inner Work for Creative Bravery

How do we draw from our inner wisdom to become our most creative self, to manage the anxieties of not knowing whilst taking the opportunities to be creatively brave? Drawing from our own experiences and the inspiration of people like Brené Brown, Elizabeth Gilbert, Krishnamurti and Rumi, as well as a range of other poets, philosophers and artists, we are offering a session on what inner work we need to do to be creative. We invite you to reflect on the inner barriers that stop you being creative - in all or any domain of your life, from how we lead and work to how we live and relate, to ourselves and each other. We'll explore with others how we can work with and/or work through these barriers. This is an experiential sessions – you will need paper, pens, an open mind and a willingness to share your own creative bravery.

10:00 - 11:30 | Wednesday - 3 Feb

Facilitation for Impact

Guiding teams through a process of change requires skillful facilitation that enables people to move forward with clarity and confidence. An added complexity for those managing teams in todays’ crisis is that this process must take place digitally. This presents challenges for the facilitator, but it also creates an opportunity for your team to communicate and collaborate differently. At The Lens, we understand the difference it makes having an engaged and receptive team so we have created a place where you can practice these skills to deliver real results. Our session has been designed to be highly practical giving you the skills and confidence to facilitate online. This 90 minute workshop will enable you to: • Practice new digital facilitation techniques that will help your delivery have more impact • Reflect on your own delivery style and how to harness both verbal and non-verbal communication for maximum impact • Access free downloadable resources you can use with your team and organisation

12:00 - 13:00 | Wednesday - 3 Feb

Girls on Film

Fight the patriarchy by watching videos! Gender politics affects us all. Scotland’s feminist movement is bursting with ideas and ideals. How to get them across to the wider public? One of the answers is film. Join us to find out more. Treat yourself to an early lunch and an easy-going, entertaining session. Short and sweet, only 40 to 45 mins. Take part in the discussion, ask anything you want; or just enjoy the show - a mix of videos and cartoons.

13:00 - 14:00 | Wednesday - 3 Feb

Beehive Cafe

15:00 - 16:00 | Wednesday - 3 Feb

Nothing But The Poem: Joy Harjo

This one-off Nothing But The Poem reading group will focus on the work of current US Poet Laureate, Joy Harjo. Harjo is the US’s first Native American Poet Laureate and is a multi-award winning poet, musician, novelist and activist. Nothing But the Poem – facilitated by the Scottish Poetry Library’s Events and Volunteers Manager, Beth Cochrane – takes a close look at a small selection of Joy Harjo’s astonishing poetry. No experience in reading poetry is necessary: everyone is welcome and poems are provided at this hour long, informal reading group.

15:00 - 16:00 | Wednesday - 3 Feb

Learning from building a Hut part 2

Part 2 of a granny and granddaughter's adventure into buying a wood, building a Hut, taking life changing decisions, fungi and other stuff.

15:30 - 17:00 | Wednesday - 3 Feb

How do we learn not to bully?

16:00 - 17:00 | Wednesday - 3 Feb

What is community?

Community - a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common; the condition of sharing or having certain attitudes and interests in common. (Oxford Languages) In contrast to the ‘hidden privilege’ event earlier in the Fires Starter Festival week, this session will contemplate inclusion and what it really means to be part of, or belong to, a community. Beginning with questions such as: When have you felt like you really belonged somewhere? What, in particular, about your experience made you feel so connected? What needs to be in place for a community to grow and exist? Have our experiences during Covid caused us to shift what we believe about community? Why do communities matter to you? Through conversation and sharing experiences, we will take the space offered by this session to reflect on our understanding of community and consider how our experiences of belonging could help us create more inclusive environments across our wider personal and professional lives. Join me? I would love to share this hour with you and hear your stories.

19:00 - 20:00 | Wednesday - 3 Feb

Time - Weaving across the matrix

“Time travel is just what we do every day...” - Carlo Rovelli - The Guardian 31 March 2019 Time - so precious to us all, yet so often taken for granted. Little wonder then that our perceptions of time can vary not only with each other’s, but sometimes with our own! We never seem to have enough of it; sometimes it crawls; other times it flies. Summer holidays may have felt like they would never end, and then when they were over we would wonder where the time had flown! Across these lattices through which we try and make sense of our lives and world, we seek to weave connections with each other and our own hearts. In this session, you will hear three different perspectives on human connections across time. You will enter a space in which to reflect upon your own thoughts about these questions. You will be invited to share these thoughts as well as questions of your own, so that we can all walk away at the end with a slightly better sense of the temporal mystery of which we are all a part.

19:00 - 20:30 | Wednesday - 3 Feb

Keeping it Real. Honesty & Integrity in Public Sector Services; why we need more and why it matters.

A former NHS manager, a whistleblower, and author of Lions, Liars, Donkeys and Penguins - The Killing of Alison, this will be an informed discussion about the increasing inability of our public sector services to display honesty and integrity. To be open to learning, transparent to view, compassionate and humane in its dealing with those it is funded to serve including societies most vulnerable. The event will touch on willful blindness, ethical fading, personal agency, systems thinking and the arbitrary performance targets the public sector is often beholden to.

20:00 - 21:00 | Wednesday - 3 Feb

The Candlelight Club

08:00 - 08:30 | Thursday - 4 Feb

The Sanctuary

08:00 - 21:00 | Thursday - 4 Feb

Block Walk: Conversation, Community, Connection

Self-organised walks in your local area. An opportunity to get to know your neighbours and re-imagine your community.

08:30 - 09:30 | Thursday - 4 Feb

Curiosity Café

10:00 - 11:00 | Thursday - 4 Feb

Van of Dreams

We wondered what would happen if pupils from schools, colleges and universities worked on the same project? Can we share our resources and insights as colleagues and give pupils an opportunity to contextualise their learning. Introducing – The Van of Dreams The brief ; A community has been gifted a camper van. Who is that community? How can it be re-interpreted to benefit that community? Come meet the campers! Staff and pupils from the Schools, Colleges and Universities working on this project will share their inspiring story with you and discuss how this brief is being developed as part of a new qualification for schools in Creative Thinking. This is project was supported by Daydream Believers. https://daydreambelievers.co.uk/

10:00 - 12:00 | Thursday - 4 Feb

Creative and Experimental Workshop

This event is an opportunity to come together with other participants to experiment with new and creative practices that can help us in our This event will be a practical opportunity to try out different ways of knowing and a chance to reflect with other participants on how these practices are important and can help us navigate our work and lives.

11:00 - 12:00 | Thursday - 4 Feb

Wellbeing and Nature

Take a journey into nature with mindfulness, music and photographs. Consider how the beauty in our surroundings supports our wellbeing. This event showcases wellness resources that will be freely available to individuals, groups and organisations. It's a 45 min session from 11:00 to 11:45am The resources have been developed by Justine Murray who will also facilitate the session. Justine enjoys a range of creative pursuits including photography which she combines with mindfulness practice when walking outdoors. After qualifying as a coach, Justine established Flow Creativity as a way of combining creativity and coaching. Most of Justine’s career has been with the NHS and she continues to work part time with a fantastic team.

12:00 - 13:00 | Thursday - 4 Feb

Undoubtedly the best session at the Festival

In a recent evaluation over 95% of people thought this session was undoubtedly the best event at this year’s Firestarter festival. Data suggests that over 90% responded favourably when asked to consider the impact on their professional learning and development. The session will be facilitated by two award winning facilitators recognised by all the major leading regulating bodies. Their work has been recognised at an international level as global leading. This one-hour session will allow you to improve your personal and professional self, become a better human being, and reach goals you did not know you had. We will give you the step by step, or spoon by spoon, instructions to ensure you have a clear plan to follow. You will be given insights of professional learning projects that have changed the lives of everyone in the world. The best thing is, you do not need to think about it – just turn up and we will do the rest. Simple.

13:00 - 14:00 | Thursday - 4 Feb

Beehive Cafe

14:00 - 16:00 | Thursday - 4 Feb

Powerful Fictions: a Beginners Writing Workshop

Join award-winning writer and poet Beth Cochrane in this beginners writing workshop. Explore what power can mean to you in this relaxed and informal two hour workshop: who is powerful, where does power lie, and how can you claim power through your writing? You will be lead through a series of writing exercises which will help you begin writing and develop your ideas. We will think about different forms your writing can take, whether it’s automatic writing, a list, or short story. You will also be given a short opportunity to share you work at the end of the session, however this will be very much optional (although encouraged!)

15:00 - 16:30 | Thursday - 4 Feb

Care Full Fire Starting

Leadership today sometimes seems like it has learned the fine art of not caring. Or perhaps pretending to care, while creating a world that puts people and planet under the most intolerable of pressures. Leadership that takes no care. In this short workshop we will explore whether the way think about taking and giving care, working with an Ethic of Care, might transform our lives, our organisations and our society.

15:30 - 17:00 | Thursday - 4 Feb

How do we learn not to bully?

16:00 - 17:00 | Thursday - 4 Feb

Building micro-local community: Village In The City

Join Village In The City founder Mark McKergow to figure out how to help micro-local communities flourish in urban settings as part of the 2021 FireStarter Festival. Village In The City was founded by Mark McKergow in June 2020. Mark noticed that his street in Edinburgh's West End started to communicate in a new and more productive way during the pandemic lockdown, and he wanted to extend on this newly appearing connection as well as encourage others to do the same. Drawing on his experience in developing Host Leadership and solution-focused change methods, Mark developed a manifesto and invited people to get involved. The project now includes 'villages' in the USA and continental Europe as well as in Scotland. Resources including a village-bulilders handbook and worksheets are developed, and there are calls every month with special guests and to support community builders. In the event Mark will briefly introduce the project and lead a discussion about what (else) can help people in taking initiatives to work on the micro-local level - a few streets or blocks. Edinburgh council lists 154 'natural neighbourhoods', so the potential for this kind of action is huge, the results are rewarding, and the exercise can address demographic, cross-generational and inter-community connection as well as simply building a better place. The future - post-pandemic - is more local than we were expecting! Come and share your ideas, questions and potential with us on Thursday 4 February at 4pm UK time.

17:00 - 18:00 | Thursday - 4 Feb

A Brave New Field

In last year’s Fire Starter Festival, a group of educators sparked off a debate about the future of education. Little did we know that one month later we would be living out some of those futuristic visions. One of the amazing things to arise out of the pandemic and our on-line connections was a Creative Bravery network which co-created the Creative Bravery Festival. The virtual festival field was a place to wander, to wonder, to connect, to participate, to listen, to be inspired and to learn. Moreover, it was organised to support learners and educators in this time of uncertainty, showcasing creatively brave initiatives and sparking debate. It attracted a global audience and has received amazingly, positive feedback. Through the experiences and cross-pollination of ideas educators and learners formed connections, were stimulated to create their own ideas, and felt more empowered to test out these ideas. Throughout the year we have continued to meet in numerous campfires – brave spaces for reflection and connection. The movement is growing but what next? We need your imagination and creativity to imagine a brave new field.

20:00 - 21:00 | Thursday - 4 Feb

The Candlelight Club

08:00 - 08:30 | Friday - 5 Feb

The Sanctuary

08:00 - 21:00 | Friday - 5 Feb

Block Walk: Conversation, Community, Connection

Self-organised walks in your local area. An opportunity to get to know your neighbours and re-imagine your community.

08:30 - 09:30 | Friday - 5 Feb

Curiosity Café

10:00 - 11:30 | Friday - 5 Feb

The Art of Making a True Move

Practice and Practicality: Action and inaction for Sticky issues Sit, be still, and listen, because you're drunk and we're at the edge of the roof." Rumi Finding surefootedness in strange times starts with stopping. What happens when we listen in, get comfortable with not knowing what comes next and then acting in an instant, with our feet on more solid ground? What happens when we unstick ourselves from our current way of thinking about situations we find concerning? How can these simple practices help us figure our way through complex issues and plug ourselves into the wisdom and sanity in the system that surrounds us? Join us to practice the art of making a true move with Social Presencing Theatre. and some practical discussion on how it can help with personal, organisational and societal sticky issues. There is time for practice and reflection as well as a look at some practical areas of application.

10:00 - 12:00 | Friday - 5 Feb

Surviving the zombie apocalypse: ourselves in the new normal

Nearly a year ago on Friday 31 Jan 2020, it’s safe to say that we were vaguely aware that our everyday world was on the brink of change. The UK left the EU and the first cases of coronavirus were confirmed in the UK. It was also the day we hosted the Fire Starter Festival event “How we survive a zombie apocalypse” to explore how participants could help their group survive a societal-changing event by tapping into their own and each other's capabilities and experiences. Well, we are back for Fire Starter Festival 2021 to use our collective imagination, collaboration and a meaty metaphor to make sense of where we are now: We’ve been living with the zombies for a long time now; ten, eleven months maybe? I’ve lost count. Each of us has been isolated in our homes, cut off from the outside world, with no services and little contact. Suddenly, the internet starts working again and you hear a broadcast calling out to anyone listening, inviting you to an online meetup to connect and share how each of us have been surviving, hopefully even thriving, in our new normal… You’ve heard the message. Do you want to join us?

12:00 - 13:00 | Friday - 5 Feb

Give me the video camera

Who should be in charge of a video about my life? Me! Participatory video is a powerful tool for social change. Join this session to see the results for yourself. Treat yourself to an early lunch and an easy-going, entertaining session. Short and sweet, only 40 to 45 mins. Take part in the discussion, ask anything you want; or just enjoy the show

12:00 - 13:00 | Friday - 5 Feb

What matters?

Come & creatively explore what, in an uncertain world, keeps you grounded. What matters to you? What underpins your way of being? What gives you a secure anchor to build and grow through the wildest storms & the angriest seas? These values matter. They are our foundations Join Lorna Brown and Jane Booth for a lunchtime exploration of your values, the things that light your fire & keep it lit. Inspired by the work of Brene Brown, Maya Angelou, Amy Cuddy and other phenomenal women and artist...use creative techniques to reflect on what’s important to you. Spend time contemplating words, poems or images that connect with you, your beliefs and your loves. Start now… What inspires you? Before the event we’d like you to look at this document & think which image, quote or photo really 'speaks' to you? (Click the link to download the document - https://www.dropbox.com/s/n5mte3hh0ccuacx/Creating%20Values%20FSF%20session%20spark%20-compressed.pdf?dl=0) You will need - magazines, junk mail, catalogues, newspapers, old calendars...images & words you can rip/cut up! Paper, pens, pencils, scissors & glue.

13:00 - 14:00 | Friday - 5 Feb

Beehive Cafe

14:00 - 15:30 | Friday - 5 Feb

Walking Our Landscapes

This is experimental walking event gives an opportunity to reflect on a week of walking our landscapes. Throughout the week of the Fire Starter Festival, participants will be offered a range of embodied, artistic and sensory walking practices to experiment with, as well as the opportunity to be linked with a walking partner – potentially someone you don’t know. This is a slow-event … it will bubble away in different spaces over the week before a final reflective gathering at the end of the week. We will invite you to various spaces over the week of the festival to find a partner to go for a walk with virtually. These spaces include the Curiosity Café, the Beehive Café, or the Candlelight Club, as well as the Legislative Theatre Launch where we will be exploring power and activism. At the end of the week on Friday, we will come together as an experimental walking community, to reflect on our walking practices, our learning and consider what potential walking can play in our lives. Before the event: Once you have registered we will send you information about the practices and information about how to find a potential partner. Information will be given about some practicalities for your walk, some key questions to reflect on and some guidance for practices that can engaged with at home.

15:30 - 17:00 | Friday - 5 Feb

How do we learn not to bully?

16:00 - 17:00 | Friday - 5 Feb

Fire Starter Festival Finale

We warmly welcome you to come around the final Bonfire and celebrate the stories of the week. We will reflect on the festival, share the sparks and consider what we need to fuel them into small fires of change.