This article originally appeared on TwentyThirty.
"Festivals go in different levels of vibration."
Jonathan Herzfeld
How do you get people excited about social innovators and their causes – especially if you feel like you don’t have time to do things the traditional way? You mix it up with great music!
Six years ago, Jonathan Herzfeld and some fellow entrepreneurs in Chile had a sudden inspiration: to put innovators and thought-leaders who work for positive social change on the same stage with popular musicians and artists.
Thus the Festival Internacional de Innovación Social (fiiS) was born – and artists, entrepreneurs, and innovators have flocked to its stages ever since. Among those who will join fiiS 2018 are Alyssa Carson, a teenager training for a mission to Mars; Starbuck co-founder Zev Siegl; Swish Coswami, a 21-year-old serial entrepreneur and UN Youth Ambassador; and women’s rights activist Khalida Brohi. This year's season kicks off on November 17 in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, takes the festival across Latin America, and finishes with a big bang in Santiago de Chile on December 4.
fiiS is a movement of people and organizations that dream and work for a world of love, peace, and joy. By showcasing solutions that the world needs now in a fun and innovative way, Herzfeld and the fiiS community aim to generate a personal and collective transformation towards a society based on respect and understanding.
During the festival, social innovators and entrepreneurs present local solutions to global problems to an audience that is in the right mood to listen – and take action. The causes fiiS puts on the main stage range from poverty, health, inclusion, education, and social integration to animal welfare, ultimately advancing the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda of the UN.
Jonathan Herzfeld is a member of the BMW Foundation Responsible Leaders Network. He took part in the Responsible Leaders Forum Marseille in 2018.
Participants of the Responsible Leaders Forum in Chile in 2017 enjoyed a pre-program event with fiiS. So far, the festival has featured several BMW Foundation Responsible Leaders, including Leonardo Maldonado, Estevão Ciavatta, Tomás de Lara, and May East.
This article is presented in collaboration with TwentyThirty.
TwentyThirty is an online magazine presented by the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt. It sheds light on the social, political, and environmental challenges we face and features inspiring Responsible Leaders who are working to solve them. Follow their work on Facebook.
