We Are Free To Change The World

We Are Free To Change The World is our brand new event series — created with ArtsAdmin and the Fête of Britain — that asks how artists and activists can work together to imagine change, and act on it.

The title comes from Lyndsey Stonebridge’s beautiful personal book on Hannah Arendt, who reminded us that “we are free to change the world and to start something new in it.” For Arendt, freedom was not an idea but a practice — a life of doing — and real freedom required the presence of others, the courage to speak and to listen.

This idea has been growing in me for some time. It took root back in February 2024, when I travelled to Manchester to take part in the first Fête of Britain, a gathering of artists, activists and citizens determined to do democracy differently. Dash Arts was there with our speech-making workshops — an experiment in giving people a platform to speak, to imagine out loud what they would change if they had the chance.

What struck me most that weekend was the sense of connection. People from every background were trying to tell a new story about this country — one grounded in listening, collaboration and care. And I’ve seen that same energy in every Hard Art gathering since: scientists and journalists standing alongside artists and architects; environmental activists sharing space with teachers, policy-makers and academics. Everyone seemed to be working towards the same idea — that democracy is something we do together, not something that happens to us.

Galvanised by generosity

That first Fête encounter stayed with me. I left Manchester galvanised — not just by the imagination in the room, but by its generosity. There was a feeling that creativity could be an act of citizenship; that art, conversation and collective thinking might help us navigate the complexity of the present moment — what Arendt called “the hazards, vulnerabilities and perplexities of reality.”

Since then, those ideas have continued to shape my work. Our speech-making workshops have now reached more than six hundred people, each crafting and sharing a short piece about what we could do today to make tomorrow better. Every time we run one, I’m blown away by the power of voice — how speaking something into existence can shift what feels possible. And those speeches have led to a new play, Our Public House, which I’m thrilled to share will tour theatres across England next year.

It was in the midst of this ongoing work that I came across Stonebridge’s We Are Free To Change The World, her deeply personal study of Arendt. The title itself felt like a call to action. Between Arendt’s belief that every act begins something new, and the collective energy I witnessed at the Fête, a new idea took shape: what if we created a space where artists and activists could explore not just why we act, but how — and fill it with performance as well as conversation?

That’s how We Are Free To Change The World was born.

Ready, Steady, Go

The series begins with READY on Thursday 20 November 2025 at Toynbee Studios, the building Dash has called home for many years. Toynbee has always been a place of social activism and experimentation — it feels right to begin here.

I’ll be joined by journalist Carole Cadwalladr, musician and composer Bishi Bhattacharya, academic Lehni Lamide Davies, who leads the Theatre and Social Change course at Rose Bruford College, and folk musician and environmental activist Sam Lee. Together, we’ll explore what it means to begin: how we prepare ourselves to act, how we sustain courage, and how creativity can help us reimagine our collective future.

This is the first in a three-part journey. In early 2026, we’ll host STEADY, an evening centred on balance, listening and solidarity — how we stay grounded amid complexity. Then, in March, GO, which looks at action and momentum: how we move from words to doing, and how we might keep doing, together. 

A national dialogue

My hope is that We Are Free To Change The World will expand the ideas behind the Fête of Britain — giving a platform to extraordinary artists, activists and thinkers, and amplifying them to a wider audience. I’d love this to become not just a conversation in London, but a national dialogue: one that celebrates creative leadership, shares practical tools, and encourages collaboration across disciplines and regions.

Perhaps these events could travel — taking place in towns and cities across the country, wherever people are already experimenting with new ways of working and listening. Change rarely happens in isolation. It begins in moments of encounter: in a workshop, a rehearsal room, a conversation after a performance.

When I think back to Manchester, to the energy of the Fête of Britain, it feels like a thread leading directly here. The questions haven’t changed, but like many of us, I definitely feel more urgency. How do we begin? How do we stay steady? How do we go on?

To Arendt “real freedom requires the presence of others.” It begins with showing up, together, in rooms like these. I hope you’ll join us.

Book your tickets for READY HERE [Pay What You Can] - Thursday 20 November 2025, 6–9pm – Toynbee Studios  28 Commercial St, London E1 6AB

STEADY – Thursday 22 January 2026, 6–9pm – Toynbee Studios BOOKING.

GO – Thursday 19 March 2026, 6–9pm – Toynbee Studios BOOKING.

Friday's Launch of GOOD NEIGHBOURS LIVE!

Friday 31 Oct 1pm-2pm Live at YouTube/TheFêteofBritain

It’s EuroTrash meets a zoom call for the arts and culture movement, with guests from the grassroots, Britain’s Got Tarot, and much more!

Join hosts Clare and Jess as they guide us through the love, laughter, heartbreak, stories and songs of what it means to be a Good Neighbour today. In this show:

• author Anthea Lawson (The Entangled Activist) on being a good neighbour
• the premier of a new video from Eurotrash producer legend Peter Boyd
• ‘Do The Maff’ beaming in live from a Camerados Public Living Room!
• stories of life from Oldham’s Support and Action for Women’s Network
• commercial break from the director of Don’t Look Up Adam McKay

It’s a magazine livestream for artists, organisers, and everyone who has a stake in our shared culture across our neighbourhoods and nations. See you there!