Hybrid European Democracy Festival

We are currently facing the biggest challenges since the world wars. We want the diligent and ambitious Europe to be a positive role model for the world again.

“How to survive…” is the defining question for the organisers of each discussion. As is typical of Tartu, students and higher education institutions play an essential role in the debates. It is the ambitious young people and student organisations that are behind this hybrid festival.

Two outstanding events are uniting in order to organize something great: Hybrid European Democracy Festival and Tartu [pre]opinion festival.

Hybrid European Democracy Festival is an opinion festival, with debates taking place in different university towns across Europe, and connections between participants from different countries being established using the latest hybrid reality solutions. At least 15 cities will have physical debate arenas, from which we will be broadcasting the debates to other cities, allowing people to interact with each other without travelling to another country. You will have the opportunity to be present in all these cities at the same time. Find the festival locations https://democracyfestival.org/event-hubs/

[pre]opinion festivals have been established to spread good debate practices throughout Estonia and the event is inspired by the Opinion festival in Paide. In addition to the HEDF discussion area, there are three other areas at the Tartu [pre]opinion festival, where dozens of interesting panel discussions will take place over two days. The discussions are led by experts and topics range from education and health to social and environmental issues. The entire program of the Tartu [pre]opinion festival will be released on April 25th. For more information, visit the website arvamusfestival.ee/tartu.

We will bring critical alertness to life. How do we survive climate change? How does democracy survive in Europe? How can we value knowledge-based thinking? How to be happy?

We will create an environment where people from different backgrounds can come together, share their experiences and address local, national and European issues.

The students of Tartu will regain the courage and initiative to speak up for the future together with other generations. We need your ideas and listening skills – these will be beamed into space in a unique hybrid format.