The Web We Want Festival, which was launched today (7 May), will look at the profound impact the internet has had on individuals, governments and societies at large. It has been unveiled with the support of the inventor of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, and Southbank Centre’s artistic director, Jude Kelly.
Organisers have revealed the launch of the festival will take the format of a ‘think-in’ event, held with an invited audience of artists, activists, technologists, journalists and thinkers, and will explore the ideas of freedom and creativity on the web. Today’s think-in will help shape the festival programme of talks, debates, performances and installations.
The festival will span eight months from September 2014 to May 2015. In addition to three dedicated weekends, the Web We Want festival will span Southbank Centre’s Winter 2014 – Spring 2015 programme, including the London Literature Festival, Imagine Children’s Festival and WOW (Women of the World).
Jude Kelly, artistic director at the Southbank Centre, said: "Inspired by the pioneering work of the World Wide Web Foundation, we have created this festival because we believe the web holds the key to many of the questions facing humanity today.
"The web is vitally important to all of us and needs to both be fully understood and protected for all it can achieve, but presents particular opportunities and challenges to women, young people and those in developing economies and will continue to transform our world in ways we cannot yet fully imagine."
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web and founder of the World Wide Web Foundation, added: "The future of the web depends on ordinary people discussing it, taking responsibility for it and challenging those who seek to control the web for their own purposes. The first step is to answer one simple question: what kind of web do we want?
"Southbank Centre’s festival will make an important contribution to building – from the ground up – a global, participatory movement where ordinary people can discuss, debate, and have their say."
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