Elevate #10 - Opening Show

Is this the tenth Elevate Festival already? Many people are amazed at how quickly time has passed, and this is also where the opening show of the tenth festival edition will start. John Holloway, university professor in Puebla, Mexico, delivered the opening speech of the first Elevate Festival in 2005, and we have invited him to do so again this year.

In the past nine years, a lot has happened. We have been confronted with the Great Recession, geopolitical power shifts and new wars. The scramble for our dwindling planetary resources has intensified and the greenhouse gas emissions that fuel climate change have increased even further. Elevate has addressed all these issues in recent years, but has also highlighted many encouraging new social movements and initiatives that have arisen in response to the crisis. The interrelation between the crisis, social movements and hope is also the topic of John Holloway's opening speech.

The subsequent guests and live-music performances will offer a foretaste of this year's festival programme. The evening will be hosted by the charismatic British blogger Christian Payne and the Elevate team.