This years Elevate Festival opening will take place amidst the honorable arcades and historic walls of the Lesliehof in the Joanneum district. Upbeat and celebratory, but also insightful and with a lot of depth.

Hosea Ratschiller, well-known from his multi-faceted activities as host, columnist, satirist and producer will host the event.

A preview of the multi-layered festival program will be given by transformation psychologist and guest curator of this year's festival edition Irina Nalis and Bernhard Steirer, one of the Elevate founders.

Maja Göpel, transformation researcher, best-selling author and honorary professor will be giving the opening speech. She is a member of the Club of Rome, the World Future Council, the Bioeconomy Council of the German government and co-founder of the initiative "Scientists4Future", amongst other things. Her work and models for the transition towards a sustainable society are based on the holistically applied concept of a stable and balanced circular economy.

Politicians, such as Christopher Drexler, Governor of Graz, Judith Schwentner, Deputy Mayor of Graz, and Günter Riegler, City Councillor for Culture will also be part of the opening show.

This will be followed by a concert of American-German musician and producer Sophia Kennedy.

The evening will further be musically accompanied by the German-French DJ and producer Milès Borghese.

Doors: 19:00, Start: 19:30