Festival of Thrift Information

In September 2013, thousands of people flocked to Darlington, a small market town in North East England to experience inspirational speakers who had joined forces with skill sharers and ethical traders to help place creativity at the heart of our shared sustainable future and celebrate a new way of ethical living. Festival of Thrift positioned artists as inspirers to action and encouraged change through workshops, exhibitions and performances giving families the confidence to create while having fun on a budget. That first Festival was a huge success and we have continued annually ever since, establishing Festival of Thrift CIC in 2015 with a mission to benefit the community and advance public awareness of sustainable living. Now based in Redcar, we reach new audiences from all over the UK year on year, building new partnerships with organisations who share our ethos. Our focus has always been on how we as individuals can make those small changes, the shift to thrift, that will add up to a big difference for the future of our planet, and encouraging others to join in. 2020 was a year of challenge and change and we expanded our reach to take our message wider, not just to those who can join us at our beautiful green site in Kirkleatham, Redcar, but worldwide and online. The climate crisis is growing, and we all need to take action, now. In our back yards, in our living rooms, in our communities, every day. So – we are no longer just an annual Festival, (though we SO look forward to returning!) but we are also becoming a campaigning organisation encouraging everyone to Be a part of the solution – not part of the pollution!