A micro-festival nestled in the hills of Bannau Brycheiniog, hosted by Black Mountains College. Unlock your capacity to create a future in which people and the planet can thrive.

Our planet is in crisis. Our way of life is increasingly unsustainable and unequal. Meanwhile, there is no shortage of ideas and models for solutions and alternatives to turn things around. Yet, actual application of these ideas is painfully slow.

So, we are asking, Beth Nawr? (Now What? in Welsh).

This festival brings together community builders and activists, farmers, politicians, food leaders and many more all pioneering practical systems change across the UK and internationally.

Join us in a day of interactive sessions, to learn how they are doing it and explore how you too can help leverage change in small and big ways to build a more just and regenerative society.

Find information on travel, accommodation, food + drink here. 

Staying in touch

Join our Beth Nawr? WhatsApp Community group to get festival updates and connect with BMC team and attendees. 

Programme

On Saturday the workshop programme runs 9.30am - 7pm. There will be four workshop slots, with 2-3 parallel sessions each. In the evening there will be live music at Trigg’s Cafe and an informal campfire social. All venues are in Talgarth and within short walking distance.

On Sunday morning we will gather for a walk to explore the BMC farm campus and local landscape, deepen connections we’ve made, and continue conversations we’ve started.

Each workshop is ticketed at £10 and spaces are limited. Be careful to book one workshop per time slot (morning, noon, afternoon, evening).

Look out for special student-led sessions, which are free to attend, including a Hula-Hooping workshop with Cardiff based troupe the Sparklettes (14:15 - 15:15 on Saturday).

Morning Sessions: 9:30 – 11:30

Workshop 1: How to reimagine our relationship to plants beyond the narrative of invasion
Tsitsi Mareika Chirikure
Location: Unit 5 Classroom

This workshop explores the narratives surrounding invasion ecology and immigration, drawing connections between the two. Through personal storytelling, Tsitsi shares her experiences with so-called invasive plants and her perspective as an immigrant in the UK. Participants are invited to question dominant narratives of “invasion” and consider alternative, kinship-based ways of relating to plants. The session aims to shift from militaristic language to one that acknowledges complexity, agency, and coexistence, both human and non-human. Together, we will reflect on how these stories shape our understanding of nature, belonging, and community.

Tsitsi Mareika Chirikure is a researcher, artist and cultural producer. Her practice is devoted to crafting imaginative spaces that envision more equitable ways of living for all life forms, both in tangible reality and in realms of thought. Her multifaceted work includes festival curation, facilitation, performance, and design. Tsitsi’s work delves into ecology, environmentalism and anti-racism, aiming to foster just and resilient societies. She uses storytelling, blending visual, oral, and written narratives, to bring people together to think novel thoughts and break through structural boundaries.

Workshop 2: How to take back control; land, power and community
Chris Blake - The Green Valleys
Location: Talgarth Town Hall

Who controls how land is managed? Chris Blake (with Catherine Howell) leads a workshop to map who, from the local to the global, has influence about how an acre of land is managed. We will then start exploring how to change the system. What does it take to bring about a land revolution?

Chris Blake is an activist, social entrepreneur and researcher on community empowerment and land reform. He is a passionate advocate of social enterprise and was a founding Director of The Green Valleys supporting community responses to climate change and is currently leading the Skyline project for landscape scale community stewardship of public land in the South Wales Valleys. He is also Chair of Trustees for Black Mountains College, an Entrepreneur in Residence at Oxford Brookes Business School. He lives on a small holding close to Talgarth

Noon Sessions: 12:00 – 14:00

Workshop 3: How to start local, future-proof economies and industries
Thomas Duggan - Thomas Duggan Studio
Location: Talgarth Town Hall

For the past year Thomas has been dedicated to a project titled ‘Assembly Space’ with the aim to build bioregional industries and settlements that meet the need for deep localisation in response to global challenges. In this mapping workshop, we will examine the bioregional resources of Wales, promoting a systems-thinking approach to coordinate actions across distributed localities. You will map available resources, materials, and skillsets to understand the potential industry of available materials, how those can generate local jobs, and serve as a basis for residents' income on OPD sites. 

Thomas Duggan is a designer and Co-director of Assembly Space. Assembly Space creates deep value chains and new markets for regenerative architectural solutions that meet the needs of today and shape the landscapes of tomorrow. 

Workshop 4: How to protect our forests - CANCELLED
Lina Brunelius - Protect the Forest Sweden

Due to illness Lina is unable to make the epic 3-day overland travel from Sweden to Talgarth and we made the difficult decision to cancel the workshop. She is keen to join us next year - so watch this space! 

Afternoon Slot: 14:30 – 16:30

Workshop 5: How to centre future generations
Jane Davidson - #futuregen: Lessons from a Small Country
Letitia Calin - BMC student
Location: Talgarth Town Hall

In this session Jane and Letitia will lead a collective brainstorm around the kinds of laws we need to transition towards a just and regenerative society. What laws and policies at local levels could support the delivery of the Well-being of Futures Generations (Wales) Act? Jane will share what the Act is about, its importance and opportunity to act. You will gain a clearer understanding of what politicians at various levels ‘do’, and how you can work with them to influence these politics to create better policies and actions for the benefit of people and planet.

Jane Davidson is on a mission to mainstream sustainability. She is the author of #futuregen: Lessons from a Small Country, the story of why Wales was the first country in the world to introduce legislation to protect future generations. Her know-how and passion were forged as a Welsh Government minister, university Pro Vice-Chancellor and land restorer. She lives on a smallholding in west Wales, where she aims to live lightly on the land.

Workshop 6: How to build community learning infrastructures for just transitions
Daniel Blyden and Emily Churchill-Zaraa - CIVIC SQUARE
Location: Talgarth Community Hall

Learn how CIVIC SQUARE, alongside an ecosystem of partners and neighbours, create social and civic infrastructure in their neighbourhood in Birmingham to make space for the skills, wisdom and knowledge we need for a just climate transition. In this session, Emily and Daniel will surface conversations around repair and skills sharing before facilitating a mapping activity where we each explore how to create learning infrastructure in our own contexts.

Emily Churchill-Zaraa is a facilitator, writer and producer interested in the transformative power of our everyday practices and relationships. At CIVIC SQUARE, she has helped coordinate Neighbourhood Trade School, a weekly neighbourhood skills-share run on an exchange and barter basis, and Material Matter[s], a learning journey reimagining our relationship with materials, hosted with Material Cultures. Her current focus is everyday participation in Site as a Classroom, where the co-building of Neighbourhood Public Square (regenerative civic infrastructure in Ladywood, Birmingham) inspires collective learning and explorations for neighbourhood-scale climate transition. With her partner Basel Zaraa, Emily is artistic collaborator on ‘What Will We Do Without Exile?’, an interactive installation celebrating Palestinian imagination. She was previously Community Engagement Producer at Midlands Arts Centre and Refugee Week UK Coordinator at Counterpoints Arts.

Workshop 7: How to centre justice in our food and land systems
Ali Taherzadeh - Splo-down Food Coop and Teasel Coop
Sanab Hersi - Green Soul
Location: Unit 5 classroom

This workshop explores themes of justice and inclusion in relation to community organising and system change. While Sanab and Ali will be sharing their own experiences of organising around food and land justice in Cardiff, this is an interactive workshop where participants will be invited to share their experiences and ideas. We will collectively dream up a more just food and land system for our cities, as well as get into some of the nitty gritty of making it a reality through organising from the ground up.

Ali Taherzadeh is a facilitator, community organiser, and researcher in the food sovereignty and land justice movements. Ali is cofounder of Splo-down community food cooperative and Teasel queer land justice collective in Cardiff and they currently work for the Landworkers Alliance developing models of support for landworker members. They have also recently finished a PhD on social movement organising practices in the UK agroecology movement and are now organising with others to support coalition and movement building for a better food, farming, and land system.

Sanab Hersi is with Green Soul, a grassroots community organisation in Cardiff dedicated to fostering social inclusion through meaningful connections with nature. We create pathways for individuals to connect with the natural world, with others, and with themselves—nurturing a sense of belonging, wellbeing, and purpose.

Evening Slot: 17:00 – 19:00

Workshop 8: How to reimagine fair food systems for the future of Powys
Chloe Masefield - Bwyd Powys Food
Carwyn Graves - Cegin y Pobl.
Location: Talgarth Town Hall

Come on a time-travelling adventure with Chloe and Carwyn to explore the past, present and future of Powys’ food systems. In this interactive session, we’ll look at the history of food and farming across the largest Welsh county, Powys, before sharing our ideas on what a positive future could look like for rural food systems. Chloe and Carwyn will share practical, tangible ways that they are helping to strengthen food distribution, growing markets, cooking classes and more.

Chloe Masefield is the South Powys Coordinator for Bwyd Powys Food, Powys' food partnership. Chloe is working to deliver on the vision of “Good food for POWYS! Where local, sustainable and healthy food supports communities, its people and the environment.”

Carwyn Graves is a bestselling author on food and farming in Wales and a regular broadcaster on BBC and S4C. With over 15 year sin charity govenance, he supports 300 Babtist churches in Wales through the Babtist Union. Carwyn chairs Camarthenshire’s Food Partnership, Bwyd Sir Gar, is on the advisory panel for Food Sense Wales, and co-founded Cegin y Bobl.

Workshop 9: How to protect our rivers
Nicola Cutcher - Rivercide and Friends of the River Wye
Paul Powlesland - Lawyers for Nature
Location: Talgarth Community Hall

Explore how nature guardianship and citizen science can help protect our waterways against pollution. Hear how Paul set up Friends of the River Roding and how Nicola helped set up Friends of the River Wye, to monitor local water quality and campaign for cleaner rivers. Paul has exposed illegal sewage outfalls and Nicola has been working with the farming community to avoid agricultural pollution.

Nicola Cutcher is an award-winning investigative journalist, Bafta-nominated documentary filmmaker, and writer. She co-produced Rivercide, a documentary about river pollution which was presented by George Monbiot. She is a founding member and trustee of Friends of the River Wye.

Paul Powlesland is a barrister, river guardian and advocate for the rights of nature. He is the founder of both Lawyers for Nature and Friends of the River Roding and lives on a houseboat. Last year he made headlines and legal history for swearing his juror’s oath on the River, which he holds to be sacred. He contributed an essay to the visionary book 'Wild Service'. He has been instrumental in guiding the Wye Nutrient Management Board to appoint a ‘Voice of the River’.

Workshop 10: How to create education that teaches people to change systems
Andre Pusey, BMC Degree Lead.
Forrest Lawrence, BMC Student Society.
Natalia Eernstman, HE lecturer and creative practice lead.
Ben Rawlence, Co-founder at CEO at BMC.
Location: Unit 5 Classroom

At Black Mountains College we are pioneering education that aims to teach students across FE and HE courses how to change systems towards a future in which nature and human societies thrive. Join us in an honest reflection on our education thus far. What are we learning about how to teach systems change? What lessons from our experimental approach would benefit other HE and FE institutions? And what do our experiences tell us about the role of education in times of planetary crisis? 

Evening Programme: 19:00 – 22:30

Tickets are now SOLD OUT - you can still come for takeaway food, Trigg's will be serving from the hatch.

If you missed out on getting a ticket, feel free to drop by and if we have space/no-shows then we will sell tickets on the door.

Join us at the Beth Nawr? After Party for locally-sourced food and live music at at Trigg's Cafe!

Hawk Howard & Michael Warburton
British folk scene up-and-comers Hawk Howard (guitar, vocals) and Michael Warburton (mandolin, vocals) bring their improvisational, genre-spanning approach to Triggs'. Borrowing from bluegrass, 60s folk singing and the Hot Club, expect up-tempo tunes, slow waltz's and beautiful harmonised songs informed by their eclectic taste.

On the Menu

A range of street food kebabs using ingredients sourced from within 20 miles.

Book your After Party tickets here.