CHANGE Festival

20/08/2025

🧑‍✈️What happens when climate activism collides with the law?

🎭What does activism and theatre have in common?

🤐Why are climate activists silenced from telling their stories in the courtroom?

💙And what has 'love' got to do with it?

In a recent episode of podcast Climate Curious, CHANGE Festival directors Becky Burchell and Sophie Austin unpack the making of their short film ‘Climate Criminals?’ a documentary exposing what happens when climate activism collides with the law.

From Kafkaesque courtrooms with their nightmarish rule that in a case about climate action, you can’t talk about the climate crisis to the UK’s Public Order Act, this conversation moves beyond headlines to ask: who really deserves the label of 'criminal'?

🎧 Tune into the Climate Curious Podcast wherever you get your podcasts!

Recorded live at Oxford University's Right Here Right Now Global Climate Action Summit.

Filmmakers Becky Burchell and Sophie Austin discuss their latest documentary 'Climate Criminals?' with Climate Curious.

03/02/2025

You’ve probably heard the stories? Climate activists have been throwing paint at our national treasures, holding up motorways and gluing themselves to oil terminals. Many are now serving harsh prison sentences.

They’ve been branded ‘arrogant fanatics’, ‘eco zealots’, ‘criminally idiotic’ and ‘disgraceful vandals who pose a high risk to society’. Perhaps you agree.

But who are they? And why are they willing to do this?

In CHANGE Festival’s latest film ‘Climate Criminals?’ Director Sophie Austin meets the humans behind the headlines as they reclaim their actions in their own words.

We invite you to listen to their stories. Then make up your own mind.

See the full film here:
https://youtu.be/pjkHtXRpyI4?si=jfqmlZVSWLa1PgOW

CREDITS:

CHANGE Festival presents...

CLIMATE CRIMINALS?

Directed & Edited by SOPHIE AUSTIN

Produced by BECKY BURCHELL

Executive Producer JONATHON PORRITT

Original Poetry by ANNA HOLLAND

Music & Sound Design by MARK SMULIAN

Director of Photography NICK FLINTOFF

Stills Photography by SIMON LAMB

Additional Photography by RICH FELGATE and JSO

Post Production Edit & Colour Grade by NICK FLINTOFF

FEATURING: HANAN AMEUR, FIONA ATKINSON, OLIVE BURNETT, MEL CARRINGTON, MARK COLEMAN, ANNA HOLLAND, ALEX DE KONING, RAJAN NAIDU, SUE PARFITT JACOB PINES, OLLIE SAWDER, AVERY SIMARD, EDDIE WHITTINGAM

22/09/2024

🌑 Hello, darkness, my old friend
I've come to walk with you again...

🍁 Today is the Autumn equinox and our nights will start getting longer than our days. I love the summer, but my relationship with the darker months has deepened in the past few years and I now gladly welcome back the longer nights.

🦉 'Women of the Dark Skies', the nightime storytelling pilgrimage I lead, is taking place again in Chettle this October and November.

🦴 I have been asked whether I will run these events in summer, when the nights are warmer and lighter. But this misses the point of the experience. I developed 'Women of the Dark Skies' as an invitation to meet the darkness and really become comfortable with it. No torches, no talking, no light pollution from the modern world. A chance to walk in the footsteps of the Durotriges tribe who lived here in Dorset in the Iron Age. Four hours of immersion in the dark landscape, alongside a story that explores one of the most pivoting moments in our British history.

💫 Tickets in the past have sold out for all events, so if you would like to come and experience this unique storytelling pilgrimage in the dark, then it's best to book soon.

🌖 FOR WOMEN ONLY:
Friday 18 October
Saturday 26 October
Friday 1 November
Saturday 9 November

🌔 FOR MEN ONLY:
Friday 15 November
(For one night only, I will be offering the chance for men to experience 'Women of the Dark Skies' for male allies who are curious what all the fuss is about.)

7.00pm-11.00pm, £30

To book visit: www.eventbrite.com/o/73427297153

20/06/2024

This week I spoke to Ollie and Cess on the Upper Bottom podcast about "Booze and the call of the wild. Can we access our primal selves without a drink?"

Recorded for the the summer solstice, we delve into the complex relationship between alcohol and accessing our primal selves.

Alcohol has no doubt become a societal shortcut for tapping into our wild nature, but there are alternative paths to embracing our primal essence. Night walking, wild swimming or sober dancing anyone?

We discussed the importance of spending time in nature to rediscover our innate wildness.

We also talked about the role of community and surrounding ourselves with like-minded individuals who support and encourage our journey of self-discovery without needing to turn to shortcuts like alcohol.

We share some insights on the power of rituals and intentional practices in creating opportunities for experiencing wildness and pushing personal boundaries. We examine how societal norms and expectations have limited our access to our primal selves and propose ways to challenge and redefine these limitations.

This is an interesting exploration for anyone who is sober, sober curious or just wants to cut down on booze... there are other ways for us to feel that wild abandon, but without the hangover or bar bill attached!

Thanks to Ollie and Cess for a thoroughly enjoyable chat.

https://upperbottompodcast.com/episodes/

31/01/2024

🌖DARKNESS 🌑 POWER 🌔FREEDOM

👣This March I'll be stepping back to the Iron Age to lead four more 'Women of the Dark Skies' events, a storytelling pilgrimage I've created for women, exploring darkness, power and freedom. We'll cross the ancient lands of Chettle at night and finish with a women’s circle around a woodland fire.

🪨THE STORY
"Travel back in time nearly 2,000 years and meet the local Story Weaver from the Durotriges Tribe. She will lead you on a pilgrimage across the dark landscape to hear the story of Arla the Hare Runner’s journey from child to woman. But the Story Weaver brings word that an uprising against the Romans is being seeded by a formidable female Iceni warrior. As Rome threatens to extinguish your freedom and culture, will you heed the call to keep the powerful lore of your lands alive?"

This magical and unique experience combines storytelling, night walking (without torches!), ritual, history, nature connection, stargazing, feminism and spirituality.

Some of the feedback...

"Extraordinary"

"Unique and powerful"

"Masterful storytelling"

"A very sacred experience"

"Incredibly moving"

"Remarkable"

'"Awe inspiring"

Dates: Friday 1st March, Friday 8th March, Friday 15th March, Friday 22nd March

🦉I hope to see you in the dark!

BOOK HERE: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/becky-burchell-73427297153

13/07/2022

🌪 What do we do when the world feels like a whirlwind? We anchor ourselves in creation...

🪢"Our culture forms our future."

This beautiful film was created by the artists, leaders, visionaries, collaborators and communities who gathered at CHANGE Festival 2021, featuring highlights and reflections from the weekend. The wisdom, insights, joy and inspiration shared is still rippling many months later.

A huge thanks to Sophi Le Garden (Flow & Echo) for curating this video that so perfectly captures the energy of CHANGE Festival and the invitation and opportunity for us all to RISE UP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8kLbrwwOuM

And much love to all those who co-created the gathering...

Alan Lane
Amisha Ghadiali
Anita Okunde
Beccy McCray
Becky Burchell
Boss Morris
Chris Salisbury
Cindy Forde
City of Culture
Cloudscapes
Cosmo Sheldrake
Davey Burchell-O'Brien
Ellie Gowers
Flow & Echo
Flying Buttresses
Hannah Fitchett
Indra Adnan
Innosanto Nagara
Izzy Mcleod
Jayson Mansaray
Jo Sperryn-Jones
Julia O’Connell
Kadence Music
Kim Polman
Lauren Sheerman
Lorna Rees
Martin McNally
Metis
Orchestra for the Earth
Reboot the Future
Robot Rebellion
Ruby Colley
Sam Lee
Satish Kumar
Strike a Light
Talking Birds
Tamsin Omond
The Cocoa Butter Club
the wonderful
Tom Ross Williams
Warwick Arts Centre
Zoe Palmer

Highlights and reflections from CHANGE Festival 2021

06/04/2022

In our fourth and final Rise Up discussion, we explore:

How can we be fully present to all that is being asked of us and offered to us?

This discussion took place at CHANGE Festival on Sunday 7th November and it explores ways to reawaken our understanding of our own presence and our emotions.

With speakers Tamsin Omond, Zoe Palmer and Chris Salisbury and hosted by Amisha Ghadiali .

Watch the full discussion here 👉
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQFqKRZwQFA

This discussion series was created in partnership with Reboot The Future

31/03/2022

Our third Rise Up discussion is now live on YouTube! 👇

https://youtu.be/3O9L9y-rtzg

In Rise Up to Reclaim we ask:

How do we reclaim power and resources from the few, to distribute to the many? 👏

Can we reinvent the concept of ownership to ensure that every living being has equal access to resource?

Featuring an incredible line up of speakers: Indra Adnans, Sam Lee Anita Okunde and Radical Geographer Paul, hosted by Amisha Ghadiali

23/03/2022

Our second discussion in the Rise Up series is now on YouTube to view. Recorded live CHANGE Festival in November, we asked our speakers...

How can we reconnect with each other to rise up to meet this moment together?

Explore what it really means be united with each other and the planet 💚🌏

Watch episode 2: Rise Up to Reconnect 👉

https://youtu.be/I1GxyF-hmNQ

Hosted by Amisha Ghadiali , a gifted facilitator, author, mentor and host of the globally acclaimed podcast The Future Is Beautiful (aka 'All That We Are').

Speakers include Founder of Reboot the Future Charity Kim Polman, Artistic Director of Slung Low Alan Lane, and Social Anthropologist Hannah Fitchett.

16/03/2022

Rise Up To Reimagine...

Here's a second chance to witness one of our four incredible discussions that took places at CHANGE Festival in 2021.

What happens when we let our imagination run wild? Can we reimagine our relationship with ourselves, others and the earth?

Watch Rise Up to Reimagine to relearn your childlike sense of possibility and discover ways we can practice imagination in our everyday lives.

https://youtu.be/5x99b5rYqwg

With Amisha Ghadiali, Lorna Rees, Tom Ross Williams, Muccycloud and Cindy Forde.

In partnership with Reboot The Future