168

Registered people

31

Guests

23

Interpreters

15

Sessions

The Unlearning Festival is an invitation to deconstruct harmful patterns and narrow perspectives; be challenged, provoked and inspired to rethink our practices and approaches.

Let’s do this in community, through shared experiences and reflections.

The Festival features diverse and interactive online session formats to explore six forms of oppression that we all need to unlearn:

Confirmed Speakers

Testimonials from previous editions

"Thanks so much for everything! It was a really great experience, and I feel lucky for having been a part of your festival."
"Regarding the quality of the speakers, I would say that it varied throughout the festival. Some were good and some were just mind blowing! <3"
"Thank you very much for this amazing festival with such a hardworking team 🙂 it's been a true inspiration to collaborate with you!"
"Foi uma experiência muito significativa e profunda. Ver tantos profissionais imbuídos neste "novo" saber/olhar foi muito emocionante e marcante."
"Fiquei muito emocionada com o encontro final. As palestrantes, assim como toda a equipe, tiveram um lugar de fala tão significativa e de uma forma tão profissionalmente amorosa que me fez acreditar que o mundo (não só do trabalho), pode, deve e precisa ser diferente. Foi lindo ver o engajamento e o propósito de todos os envolvidos e é este tipo de sociedade que eu acredito ser a única capaz de fazer diferente. Parabéns a todos pelo Festival. E que venham os próximos!"
"Although the sessions were virtual, it felt like a friend circle, the sessions were intimate, with vulnerability and learning and the support across the different sessions was beautiful, I honestly cannot fault the festival in any way, hope there will be opportunities to host others in the coming year, it was a space one wouldn't have wanted to miss."
"Working with Unlearning was a pleasure, and as someone who is very shy to speak about her work, I must say that I had never felt so comfortable sharing my thoughts and process with the amazing audience."
"Foi incrível demais conhecer pessoas de outros países e culturas. É muito bom estar perto de pessoas que têm um conhecimento muito inclusivo e inteligência afetiva."
"I loved the inclusivity of the festival from the topics, the speakers - the festival was a beautiful example of diversity and JEDI."
"Humanity needs more of the Unlearning Festival!"
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What to
expect

Non-hierarchical approach

The Festival is not about some people teaching others but rather about coming together to reflect. The Festival seeks to value different forms of knowing and doing. 

Co-responsibility

Making everyone feel comfortable to contribute and engage with the process of unlearning requires work from everyone to take responsibility to create a space free of racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, fatphobia, ableism, and all other forms of discrimination.

Intersectional approach

We invite everyone to be mindful of the different identities and experiences that will be present at the Festival. This requires us to listen carefully, reflect on how we communicate and the space we take up. 

Who is
behind the
Unlearning
Festival?

The Unlearning Festival is being organised by Instituto NOW in collaboration with the NOW Association, and with partial financial support of the Mercator Foundation Switzerland. 

Instituto NOW is a social enterprise powered by female and queer professionals from the Global South. We support purpose-driven organisations in their development and learning. Our work is guided by our values of social justice, sustainability and inclusion. The NOW Association is a swiss-based non-profit organisation that works to empower young people through inter-diversity learning.

We believe that selling tickets for the Festival should not be a barrier for anyone’s participation. That is why we use a sliding scale. We invite you to be conscious of your privileges when deciding the amount of your contribution.


If you are unsure where you stand in terms of income in comparison to other people on this globe, have a look at the World Inequality Database.