Biz, Power of Pop Community Council Member for Comic Relief’s Pop Fund, writes about our recent Pop Culture and Social Change Retreat.
In October 2024, Counterpoints Arts held their biannual ‘Pop Culture & Social Change’ retreat at Dartington in the southwest of England. A range of participants – creatives, activists, funders, and charities – coalesced to develop cultural interventions at the nexus of climate and migrant justice.
Workshops took place, ideas were shared, all with a view to help those in the room tell better, more popular stories. The retreat provided an opportunity to learn about each others’ work in narrative change around migration and the environment, a much needed ‘temperature check’ for an emerging field.
In the weeks since, the PoP Fund has been keen for attendees to reflect on the retreat’s impact, to develop a greater understanding of our collective work. Here is a collection of snapshots, which drawn together see a number of themes come through, notably that authentic experience bears storytelling with integrity, a shared willingness to learn from those with different specialisms, and a desire for more joy in the work we do.