Sarah Corbett is an award-winning activist, founder of the global Craftivist Collective and author of ‘How To Be A Craftivist: the art of gentle protest’. Sarah has helped change government laws, business policies as well as hearts and minds through her kind and creative form of campaigning.
We are delighted to welcome Sarah as our ‘Craftivist in Residence’ for our festival as she will be delivering a number of workshops as well as this keynote in-depth conversation with Katherine McDonald the CEO of Craft NI.
Sarah grew up in a low-income area of Liverpool into an activist family squatting to save social houses at the age of 3 (they won) as well as campaigning on global issues, winning lockers for her school aged 17 when her Head Teacher said it would be impossible and has worked as a professional activism manager for over a decade for Oxfam GB, Christian Aid and the UK Department for International Development.
Creating DIY kits, products, books and tools for individuals and groups around the world, she has also worked with charities such as Save the Children and Mind, the mental health organisation, arts institutions such as Tate and V&A amongst others and focuses on reaching new audiences with unusual allies such as Secret Cinema and Tatty Devine. She teaches her unique ‘Gentle Protest’ approach to activism in universities around the world from Parsons New School NYC to Helsinki University. Her talk ‘Activism Needs Introverts’ was chosen as a TED Talk of the Day and has over 1million views.
Katherine McDonald
Katherine worked for 12 years in lobbying and public relations in Northern Ireland helping organisations connect with government and policy-makers. Since 2012, she has undertaken a range of Executive roles in voluntary sector organisations in Northern Ireland, including four years as Director of an all-Ireland social enterprise in a large mental health charity. She has been Director of Craft NI since April 2019.
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