YxY Learning Festival 2023 Program

The Cafés are 3-day learning journeys for our youth activists. Every year, we receive over 300+ applications from young people around the world, and match them with 2-3 youth Hosts and a small, globally-diverse group of selected YxY Activists, to deeply connect, learn and collaborate around our Festival's guiding questions. Additionally, we have an "Open Space" Café for youth activists who registered later to participate in a similar process.

In this session, you will hear from young people who have overcome adversity and found a way to not just survive but thrive. They will share their stories of going through extreme challenges and their tips for nurturing wellbeing amidst difficult times.

Traditionally, ideas of success have tended to involve fame, fortune, and the accumulation of possessions. But research shows us that measuring our success by these external metrics leads to dissatisfaction, financial worries, and mental health issues. Right now a shift is taking place, away from the self-centredness and materialism of the past, towards lives of greater creativity, purpose and contribution. For most of us, the things that will make us proud of a life well lived are healthy relationships, a sense of belonging, and the knowledge that we left the world a bit better than we found it. In this session, Roz tells the story of how her life has confirmed the truth of these findings, and offers practical pointers on how to craft a life worth living.

In this session, we will explore the power of experiential learning programs in developing global citizenship and delve into the CIA model (Curriculum, Intentionality, Assessment) to learn how educators can use this model to empower students to take action in shaping the forces of globalization. Join us as we explore how digital technology can be leveraged to inspire individuals to take global actions.

In this session, we listen to Dr. Karambu Ringera, the Founder and President of International Peace Initiatives (IPI) in Meru, Kenya. Dr. Ringera will share her valuable insights on how compassion and care can be used to create initiatives that promote peace and stability in communities.

The YxY Global Action Circles are our signature 5-month peer learning journeys for intergenerational activists seeking to deepen their learning and action around a specific theme in education transformation. This Showcase session is the culminating presentation and celebration of two Global Action Circles: Relational & Inclusive Education and Climate & Nature Education. In addition to sharing collective insights on these themes, our activists will share their projects developed through this program.

The Cafés are 3-day learning journeys for our youth activists. Every year, we receive over 300+ applications from young people around the world, and match them with 2-3 youth Hosts and a small, globally-diverse group of selected YxY Activists, to deeply connect, learn and collaborate around our Festival's guiding questions. Additionally, we have an "Open Space" Café for youth activists who registered later to participate in a similar process. NEW THIS YEAR: We are hosting a youth-led intergenerational Learning Collective to radically imagine new ways that youth-led and youth-serving organisations can support one other.

Join us at this campfire session for an inspiring discussion with Sahba Aminikia, an Iranian-American composer and founder of the Flying Carpet Festival. This innovative Festival brings together artists, musicians, dancers, and acrobats to create a multidisciplinary arts experience for children living in conflict zones. Hear from Sahba about the creation process, the impact of the festival, and how it brings together artists from around the world to provide a powerful and meaningful experience for children.

Join us at YouthxYouth's Open Mic, where our community of artists, musicians and creatives will showcase their talents and share their expressive interpretations of the day's guiding question: "Who do we need to be to create the world of our deepest longing?". This community garden event will be a safe and brave space for our community members to share our most "vulnerageous" (vulnerable-courageous) creative selves!

The Cafés are 3-day learning journeys for our youth activists. Every year, we receive over 300+ applications from young people around the world, and match them with 2-3 youth Hosts and a small, globally-diverse group of selected YxY Activists, to deeply connect, learn and collaborate around our Festival's guiding questions. Additionally, we have an "Open Space" Café for youth activists who registered later to participate in a similar process.

Join us in this Activist Classroom session to hear from Manish Jain, co-founder of Shikshantar: The Peoples’ Institute for Rethinking Education and Swaraj University in India, as he delves into the concept of "Swaraj" or self-rule. Manish will share his insights on the importance of decolonizing our lives and education systems in order to regenerate our diverse knowledge systems, free our cultural imaginations and expand our consciousness.

Join us at the Campfire session for a dynamic discussion on how youth educators are working to transform education, from early childhood education to community building and climate action. Rachel Mousson, our keynote speaker and the founder of Thoughtbox Education - an internationally-acclaimed curriculum and training program accessed by educators in over 70 countries - will lead the conversation alongside youth activists and educators.

In this session on Global Youth Solidarity, we come together to listen to the stories of young people whose lives and education have been affected by conflict. They will share their experiences and perspectives on the challenges they and their peers face. As a community, we will reflect on how we can support and stand in solidarity with them and their communities. This session will provide an opportunity for us to explore ways to build global youth solidarity and take action to create a more inclusive and equitable world for all young people.

Imagine a traffic conductor in your mind. This person is directing the traffic of your mind, allowing certain things to enter your conscious thoughts, and denying others. When there is minimal stress and/or stimulation, this person’s job is a breeze, and your thoughts feel light, allowing you to feel positive and in control. However, when things get overwhelming and stressful, there is only so much this one person can do before traffic gets into a jam or crashes occur. This sense of “crashing” can be related to the feeling of burnout. Burnout doesn’t just “happen”, and is not cured after a good sleep or even a week off. The root causes are multi-faceted and complex. Do you know the causes of your burnout? Join this short session to map the causes of burnout and access resources to address them.

The YxY Global Action Circles are our signature 5-month peer learning journeys for intergenerational activists seeking to deepen their learning and action around a specific theme in education transformation. This Showcase session is the culminating presentation and celebration of three Global Action Circles: Supporting Youth Educators, Youth Mental Health, and Funding & Fundraising in Education. In addition to sharing collective insights on these themes, our activists will share their projects developed through this program.

The Cafés are 3-day learning journeys for our youth activists. Every year, we receive over 300+ applications from young people around the world, and match them with 2-3 youth Hosts and a small, globally-diverse group of selected YxY Activists, to deeply connect, learn and collaborate around our Festival's guiding questions. Additionally, we have an "Open Space" Café for youth activists who registered later to participate in a similar process. NEW THIS YEAR: We are hosting a youth-led intergenerational Learning Collective to radically imagine new ways that youth-led and youth-serving organisations can support one other.

Join us for a special session on co-creating YouthxYouth. We'll be joined by Inez Aponte, co-founder of the Crazy Beautiful Wisdom podcast, a partner of YouthxYouth where our community of young activists get to interview experts and learn from their experiences. During this session, we'll reflect on the future we want to co-create for YouthxYouth and beyond. Our YxY Community organizer team will hold a space to co-design our peer-learning community with YxY Activists and to discuss how we might partner with YxY Allies.

Join us for the Closing Ceremony of our 2023 Learning Festival, where we will bring together the insights and stories shared throughout our 3 days of inquiry around the guiding question: “What do we need to learn, be, and do to create the world of our deepest longing?”. Our YxY Café Hosts will share their takeaways and insights from the deep-dialogue sessions. We will also celebrate our team of YxY Hosts who have dedicated 11 months to learning to be community weavers and facilitators of transformational spaces.

After the ceremony, we invite everyone to join us for one last DANCE & hangout in the YxY Community Garden to celebrate our journey together!