How To Be Hopeful Episode 29 "Back & Fill- a festival of hope"

I had the treat of speaking with poet, artist and wonderful troublemaker Dan Thompson this week, as he launches his Back & Fill festival: a fantastically ambitious social distance complying yet Covid-defying carnival of creativity in 12 seaside towns from Portrush in Northern Ireland to Westward Ho! in Devon. We chat about Dan's work being about hope and  "giving people the power to do things themselves" and how if you are an artist and/or an activist then you can't "separate it from the rest of your life... ". We speak about an Ian M Banks inspired post-scarcity utopian future "we need to get beyond money and work"  and how we can start to move towards that rosy future "start bartering, start swapping, start giving things away" 

We end with a beautiful prayer by Cardinal Newman, and by chatting about the similarities between him and one of my personal heroes, Mr Motivator. 

You can find out more about all of Dan's wonderful and hopeful work here

This podcast is to accompany my book of the same name, published by Elliott and Thompson, available from your local independent bookshop and here 

To find out more about me, please go here 

Thanks so much for listening- more soon!