Day 1 – Effective Storytelling

Sidharth has combined his two lifelong passions, food and music, by setting up and establishing multiple, award-winning businesses in those sectors. He has spent the last 20 years creating strong, resilient brands such as The Thali Cafe, Shambala Festival and his latest offering KIN.

The common theme that runs through all his various projects, past and present, are the concepts of: sustainability, innovation and social benefit. Sidharth believes that the most difficult and pressing issues that we face as a society, can be tackled by using creativity to reframe the problems and deliver solutions.

Outside of his work for Kambe, Sidharth has sat on the board for the Association of Independent Festivals and the Bristol Food Policy Council – both as a founder member. He is a trustee for FareShare Southwest the food waste / food poverty charity, and a Director of Bristol Food Network

In 2011 he was the first person to be awarded the title of ‘Local Food Champion’ by the City of Bristol in recognition for his work in promoting sustainable food.

Sidharth’s Session – Effective Storytelling

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Leila is director of the participatory photography project Voice of Freedom, which works with women who have escaped trafficking and torture. Leila trained as a barrister before going on to work as a legal editor and journalist for several years, and since then has used writing and photography in community advocacy projects, such as Change the Picture (with prostituted women in London’s East End), the Jaffa Photography Project (with Arab and Jewish teenagers), and Voice of Freedom.

Voice of Freedom enables women who have escaped slavery to document their lives, feelings and experiences through the camera lens, and supports them as they create texts in their own words to accompany the images. Photographs by women on the project have been shown widely in educational and anti-trafficking campaigns, including by Amnesty UK, Anti-Slavery International, and the Nottingham University Rights Lab.

Leila’s Session – Effective Storytelling

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Dr Matt Pritchard is a science magician and Curator of Wonder. His amazing performances both inspire and inform. Matt loves being creative and is passionate about simplifying the complex.

As an independent science communicator he performs to over 50,000 people a year and works with organisations like The Royal Institution, British Science Association, The Big Bang fairs, and the Science Museum Group. Previously Matt conducted atomic physics research at Durham University, where he won the Institute of Physics’ Postgraduate lecturer award. He subsequently went on to work within the Education department at Thinktank Science Museum, Birmingham.

In addition to this experience, he has spent the last 18 years working as a professional magician and is an Associate of the Inner Magic Circle – one of only 300 people in the world to hold this distinction.

Matt’s Session – Effective Storytelling

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