On 14 July, 16 representatives from different learning cities and communities met online to plan the first ‘Global Learning Festival’. This festival is set to run from 1-4 September 2020 globally and will provide a variety of learning events, in an assortment of languages, across time zones, to celebrate unity and connection at such a globally challenging time.  

Led by Wyndham City Council and Melton City Council, this global initiative is informed by a strong partnership with various other leaders in learning across the world who joined the meeting to share their ideas. For the Global Learning Festival, each organisation/community will contribute one free online learning event of their choosing, for a maximum of 1 hour per event. 

This will not be a replication of local Learning Festivals but rather a collaboration with and celebration of, other cities globally. The group will be meeting again in two weeks to further progress this exciting project. If other learning city members are interested in getting involved, please contact Diane Tabbagh or Jac Torres-Gomez at Wyndham City Council.

The coming together of cities and communities has been provoked by a discussion at the first UIL/PASCAL webinar on 17 June 2020 in the series, Learning Cities’ COVID-19 recovery: from research to practice.PASCAL Directors, Robbie Guevera and Mike Osborne and PASCAL Board member, Leone Wheeler were part of the discussion as well as representatives of PASCAL LCN cities, Derry and Strabane, Swansea and Wolverhampton amongst others. PASCAL has agreed to provide whatever support it can to Wyndham’s and Melton’s efforts.

Also our detailed program for Wyndham City’s 2020 Transformative Education Showcase - Learning Transitions: Blurring The Edges on 24 July 2020 is now live and includes awesome international speakers.