Yesterday we invited 10 carefully selected students from all over world and the academic spectrum to challenge, provoke and co-design the Gather Festival which will take place in Stockholm this september.

Students were divided into groups of three and were each given a persona with a particular set of characteristics to design and curate the experience for. The three personas: The Daredevil, The Connector and The Changemaker, all had distinct personalities with different tastes and interests that the students had to take into consideration when planning their days.

Based on a not-yet released festival schedule, the leadership team from Gather guided the participants through the five themes of Gather (Democracy & Power, Media, Design & Creativity, Human & Machine, Urban Development & Planning and Money, Business & Transactions) and introduced the many speakers, cultural performances and actors that will be part of the festival.

The final journey for the Connector included everything from talks about “Physical Filter Bubbles” and “Fixing the Future” to AI art installations and Beer-tasting. The journey of the Daredevil included a Lab on the “Future of Learning”, talks on “Redefining Trust” and Silent Room Reflection. The Changemakers curated schedule included morning raves, talks on urban planning and blind lunch-dates with strangers.

All in all, it was a great opportunity for SSES students to participate in the creation of the Gather program and for the Gather teem to get some crucial insights into what students want to see more of.

And since all participants got free full-access tickets to the festival in September, this is surely not the end of the Gather x SSES experience.

Click here for more information about the Gather Festival.