The SELFestival has officially begun!

Today was the first day of the annual Sustainable Enterprise London Festival and wow did it start with a bang.

The opening welcome session, ran by Sian Prime and Adrian De La Court, reflecting on the need to, and how to create spaces with inclusivity built into the foundations and walls of these places, whether they are online or off. Using descriptors of those leading the session and being mindful of vocabulary to make these sessions as open as possibly to anyone who comes through the door. They reflected on how they had chosen the themes for this year’s Festival, and how they hoped we would learn together and see the themes develop.

At 11.30 today, this year’s first session was brought to us by Ashley Evenson of Oval Productions, who laid down the importance of story, how it affects our relationships with each other and ourselves. In this session, she used a number of different exercises participants can come back to time and time again to understand our narrative and use story as a means of setting goals. How to find and wear our cape of confidence was inspiring.

This speaks directly to the theme for this year’s festival which is starting with Motivation, Perseverance and a touch of Optimism.

These sessions could not have been more perfectly planned, as the afternoon session was brought to us by Catherine Greig of Make Good and Artist / Facilitator Ivy Aubynn. The two paired up in real life to deliver an online session that made everyone think about the benefitted glory of shining a light on others, whilst achieving. Quoting the female Footballer, Abby Wombach, ‘Are you Rushing or Pointing?’ Meaning that when you ‘score a goal’, are you then pointing toward the people who helped you to achieve, or if someone scored a goal, are you rushing to celebrate their accomplishments?

The two spoke of how they collaborate and programme spaces (check out The Dovetail), what leading looks like- the ups and the downs, as well as how to support each other, in having hard conversations. Working together has brought each of them poignant lessons around having authentic relationships and the acceptance of comfort levels for each person they work with.