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The Conscious Festival goes virtual for the first time on 12-14 June

Published by Green Is The New Black

May 25, 2020

For the very first time in its five-year history, The Conscious Festival will be accessible as a three-day immersive virtual event on the 12, 13, and 14 June 2020.

Organised by Green Is The New Black

Striving to create change and positive impact in a time of global doubt, The Conscious Festival will power on for 2020 in a considered move to digital.

With the previous five years playing host to immersive festivals in Singapore and Hong Kong, this year’s offering will enable Europe to get involved, virtually arming a wider global collective with knowledge, tools and motivation, and delivering energising talks, workshops, and a conscious shopping experience.

What should be the “new normal” has never been more accessible.

In a time of increasing anxiety, The Conscious Festival team knew that it was more important than ever to build resilience, find optimism and explore the future of our planet and our roles in it. Whilst we battle one crisis, another still reigns - the race against climate change doesn’t slow for anything or anyone.

Back and bigger than ever, the overarching aim is simple; open an enviro-emporium to all + provide nuggets of inspiration + the mindful community = pave the way for actionable green steps to be taken. Attendees will be able to roam the virtual zones via any device to mindfully shop, learn, evolve, network and connect with live experiences.

The festival doesn’t just stop at inspirational content; big goals can be achieved by little steps, which collectively force systemic change. Green Is The New Black want to collect 10,000 pledges from individuals and companies to take #littlegreensteps in their daily lives.

“It has been a surreal year”, says Green Is The New Black Founder, Stephanie Dickson. “From bushfires in Australia (which seems like another lifetime), to flooding in the UK, to now a global pandemic. While we’ve seen a heightened awareness of our collective impact and destruction on the planet, is it enough to see a continuation of action and drastic measures? In just a few months we’ve seen decreased air pollution and reduced emissions, and if any positives result from this, hopefully it will be an environmental shift and reimagined shared future. By celebrating change-makers and supporting conscious brands in a virtual way, The Conscious Festival hopes to continue to be a driving force for change by providing an outlet to support businesses, whilst elevating individual consciousness, and collective action.’

Co-founder Paula Miquelis adds, “The epidemic that is ravaging the world has already brought an awareness to the rate at which we consume - be it travel, food, or fashion. Now is the time for us as individuals to reflect and re-evaluate how we live, and for businesses to assess how sustainable their models are. We know that any anti-climate change measures cannot be taken overnight, however together, we can collaborate and contribute to creating more positive impact. By taking #LittleGreenSteps we can further fuel the huge global awakening that we’ve started to see emerging. This year in light of the current climate, The Conscious Festival has retained its carbon-neutral, plant-based ethos, and adapted to an online model to continue to celebrate change-makers, and thanks to our amazing partners The Mills Fabrica, Sino Hotels, City Developments Limited, New World Development Company Limited, Carbon Care Asia and MASH Brands, we’ve been empowered with their support’.

Vanessa Cheung, Managing Director of Nan Fung Development and Founder of The Mills Fabrica shares, “We’re proud to be supporting Green Is The New Black with their first ever Virtual Conscious Festival and helping guide consumers towards living a more sustainable and conscious lifestyle for the planet. We hope that this event will bring about long-lasting change to the lifestyle industry and encourage more conscious consumption around the world.”

In a bid to help guide attendees towards embracing a more sustainable lifestyle by reconnecting with themselves, others, and the planet, the virtual festival will fuse the best speakers, change makers, businesses and brands.

Here’s what you can expect:

THE TALK STAGE & LIVE SESSIONS

Diving into four core themes, attendees can tune into a series of talks, panels and workshops, focused on wellbeing, business, fashion and the planet, tapping into areas such as purpose-led business, up-cyling for a circular economy, and cleaning up our oceans.

With talks from key industry authorities, brand founders and activists, attendees will have unprecedented access to insights from leading voices, including, model activist Arizona Muse, Barney Swan (the first man to walk the South Pole only on renewable energy) speakers from Project Drawdown, Plant Based News, Extinction Rebellion, Ikea, LUSH, Kering and many more.

Business: We’re dedicated to understanding the business of sustainability and want to share why purpose-led models work. On both Friday and Saturday, we’ll be exploring capitalism VS the climate, the plant-based revolution, and why inner compassion & gratefulness remain more important than ever.

Speakers include: Chad Frischmann Vice President of Project Drawdown, Robbie Lockie founder of Plant Based News, Model activist Arizona Muse, Barney Swan polar explorer & founder of Climate Force (AU), Zoe Knight Global Head of Centre for Sustainable Finance at HSBC,Malin Pettersson-Beckeman Head of Sustainability Engagement and Communication at Inter IKEA Group, Dr. Leyla Acaroglu sociologist, entrepreneur and founder of the Anatomy of Action (AU) in partnership with UNEP, and many more.

Planet: Ever wondered what the future of climate activism might look like? Or how tech or nature-based solutions work? Here’s your chance to deep-dive into some of these challenging debates, and learn about the impact of slowing down. Join on Sunday 14th for our planetary insights.

Speakers include: Aditi Mayer, social justice activist (US), Zio Lights spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion, Claire Kneller of WRAP, and many more.

Well-being: Building resilience has never been more important iIn a time of mounting anxiety. On Saturday 13th, we’ll help you navigate through these challenges to emerge stronger, inspired, and ready to take positive action, no matter how small the steps.

Speakers include: Carl Pratt of Future Planet, Keshia Hannam Founder of Camel Assembly (US), Adah Paris, Tash Menon founder of MASH Creative (AU) and many more.

Fashion: Dressing with purpose, the up-cycling economy, and circular fashion are gaining popularity in an industry that predominantly celebrates a fast-moving pace. We’ll be getting to the bottom of whether fast-fashion is all bad on Sunday 14th, and whether there is room for collaboration that will lead to positive change within the industry.

Speakers include: Alexander Chan Co-Director of The Mills Fabrica (HK), Christine Goulay Head of Sustainable Innovation at Kering, Harriet Vocking Chief Brand Officer of Eco Age, Tamsin Lejeune CEO of Common Objective, Christina Dean Founder of Redress (HK), and many more.

VIRTUAL MARKETPLACE ‘EXPO’

The EXPO is the hub of The Virtual Conscious Festival, and the marketplace will now showcase over 70 different conscious brands and retailers, ensuring consumers understand the importance of supporting small businesses and their aims.

Brimming with treasures across lifestyle, art, food, beauty, fashion, and wellbeing, attendees can shop safe in the knowledge that each exhibiting brand is conscious and mindful in their business practices.