Next Gen Big Ideas

Look, let’s get one thing straight about the schools’ program section of the festival. It’s for everyone, okay? You don’t have to be in nursery school, primary school, high school or ninja assassin training school to attend. In fact, every year shrewd festival attendees of all ages take advantage of the fact some of our liveliest, most interesting sessions occur during this 4 day period and best of all? Sessions are either free, or only six bucks. Yes, you heard correctly. 6 DOLLARS. I went to a ton of sessions last year and it felt like I was in on some secret no-one seemed to know about, which is why I’m blowing this open right now. You should check out the schools’ program and come along, there is no wink, nod or secret handshake required.

Now I understand that the schools’ program runs Monday 30th August to Thursday 2nd September and that you may be at work (seriously, take the week off, you deserve it). However there is no excuse for missing our Big Ideas for the Next Generation sessions each night at 630. We kick off on Monday night with Tim Flannery giving us the lowdown on the future of the planet, get into politics with three honest-to-goodness cool young politicians (John Shipp, Hayley Conway, Nicholas White) on Tuesday, discuss activism and having your voice heard with Adam Smith and Chris Varney on Wednesday, and embrace the media on Thursday with The Monthly‘s Ben Naparstek, SBS’s James West and writer Emily Maguire. Remember what Jello Biafra said folks, “Don’t hate the media, become the media.”

Did I mention these corking sessions are only $6? I did? Well then, what are you hanging around here for?

Some awesome ninjas who need a bit of schoolin’: