EOI open until Monday 21st July 2025
Are you a practitioner, funder, educator, researcher, or policymaker interested in designing and facilitating a dynamic learning experience or session at ChangeFest25? or at an upcoming Learning Network online session?
We want to hear from you!
Expressions of Interest are now open for those who want to contribute to the ChangeFest25 program!
About ChangeFest25 – Walyalup
Planning for ChangeFest25 is well underway. Together the local and national convenors – along with the local and national governance groups – have been working to co-create the program story and weave together this years’ experience. The story developed by the Walyalup Elders and Leaders Group has provided a powerful invitation and has set the agenda for the CF25 gathering.
Now, it’s time to open the circle.
We’re inviting expressions of interest from across the ChangeFest movement from those who want to play an active role by leading a session that sparks learning, connection, and collective action.
Creating a new way
The overarching theme for ChangeFest25 is ‘Creating a new way’.
This years gathering is about community agency in addressing the injustices of the past and imagining new futures through the strength of collaboration in the present. The CF25 Program will centre stories from communities leading change, examples of collaborative action that is changing how systems work, and opportunities to develop networks for strengthening our collective influencing and learning.
The CF25 Program will explore the cycles of time, the seasons of change that occur as we explore the intersections of past, present and future into a single program and a shared experience. We are interested in sessions that align with CF25 key program elements;
- Grounding in where we’ve come from: Understanding the history and context of our communities and institutions is an important first step in collaborating together in community led systems change. Importantly, we will begin by grounding ourselves in the culture and stories of Walyalup country. Together, we’ll also explore practices and structures that enable the work of grounding in our contexts — such as storytelling, truth-telling, deep listening, systems mapping and establishing learning-centred collaborations that bring together diverse voices to connect, heal and reimagine.
- Collaborating in the present: Communities and collaborators across Australia are already demonstrating collective action to shift systems and address root causes. The program will highlight stories of community-led peacebuilding and healing and share practical examples of how community-centred systems change is happening across Australia — including measurement and learning, sharing power and decision making, building mutual accountability and community-owned resources and capital.
- Stepping bravely into new futures: From grounding and collaborating in place we then reimagine what futures we are co-creating for the next generations and young people of today. Here we will explore what power-shifting work is needed next – locally to nationally – to create systems that work for all people and country. This may include practices such as First Nations leadership of futures thinking, intergenerational learning and accountability, and opportunities for influencing policies, resourcing and narratives around place-based change.
We welcome sessions in a variety of formats — workshops, deep conversations, creative practices, or interactive experiences.
Submission Guidelines
Full guidelines are available here: ChangeFest25 breakout session guidelines
In summary:
- Approximately 15 sessions are available as part of the CF25 Program. EOIs will also be considered for inclusion in the ChangeFest Learning Network Program.
- All sessions must align with the ChangeFest25 program framing and address at least one of the key program elements.
- The format of the sessions is flexible, from a presentation to leading a participatory learning or sharing experience, roundtable, to something more hands-on.
- Session length: Standard sessions will run for 90 minutes, but alternative durations will be considered.
- Audience size: Sessions will host between 20-120 people.
- Delivery: All contributors must be available to facilitate their session in person at the event in Walyalup.
Contributors are responsible for their own registration and travel costs. A special early bird rate will be available to all session hosts.
Selection Criteria:
Submissions will be reviewed individually and as part of the overall program design to ensure balance, diversity, and alignment with the spirit of ChangeFest.
Key selection considerations include:
- Alignment with the ChangeFest25 theme, program elements and ChangeFest Statement.
- A balance of gender, cultural representation, and geography.
- Representation across sectors (community, government, services, research, philanthropy etc) and scales (local to national).
- The session’s potential to share applied learning and transferable insights to others in the field.
How to apply:
Expressions of Interest are to be submitted through the EOI form by Monday 21 July 2025.
Please ensure you have read the ChangeFest25 breakout session guidelines before submitting.
Important dates
- EOI released: 4 July 2025
- EOI close: COB 21 July 2025
- Selection Process: early August 2025
- Notify and engage selected contributors: by 31 August 2025
- Program Finalisation and release: September 2025
- Briefings with session hosts and final preparations: September/October 2025
ChangeFest25 will be held on the country of the Whadjuk people in the greater Walyalup area (Fremantle, WA) in partnership with Imagined Futures.
Need support?
If you have any questions, wish to discuss, or experience difficulties when submitting your responses online, please contact ChangeFest at changefest@changefest.com.au