Forward Festival 2021

After a successful hybrid event premiere in October 2020, Forward Festival is entering the next round. The 2021 program promises diverse entertainment for on-site audiences as well as for livestream viewers and includes talks by top creatives, workshops and interactive formats from all areas of the creative industry.

Forward Festival 2021 will focus on the virtualization and post-digitization of creativity. The question of how a digitized world—reinforced by the current lockdowns—affects our lives is essential in order to open our eyes to all aspects of this development, especially in the areas of design and creativity. Where to draw the line between real and fictional, how does creativity work in this rapidly changing world, how to deal with the dominant online focus and how does digital overstimulation affect the creative process?

Collaborative work, creative networking, the future of online marketing, digital new-business, VR / AR technologies, artificial intelligence, leadership and positioning—lectures, panels and workshops focus on the most central topics that currently concern creatives and their environment. In addition, the high relevance of the creative industry for solving problems in other areas of society is highlighted, as well as the question of how communication, design and creativity can serve perspectives for our everyday lives in difficult times.

Forward Festival Munich will take place as part of the Munich Creative Business Week (MCBW) with this year's motto “Shaping Futures by Design”. In Vienna, Austria's largest cinema, the Gartenbaukino is the place to be. Both festivals are also broadcasted via livestream. Graphic design guru Stefan Sagmeister, film designer Annie Atkins, photography icon Martin Parr, consulting mastermind Emily Cohen, digital artists DVTK, Ines Alpha, Nikita Diakur and many more have already been confirmed as speakers.

“We are firmly convinced that there must not be a cultural and creative vacuum even in challenging times. Together with partners and speakers, it is very important to us that creativity is not neglected or even completely ceased at any time.” says Othmar Handl. He stresses that he is convinced that the creative industry and the many surrounding industries have an increasing need for knowledge transfer, inspiration and exchange—after all, the festival’s mission has always been to serve as a platform for creative people and to promote exchange.

Forward Festival Vienna 2020, which was organized under strict security and hygiene precautions and with reduced capacity, the on-site event was completely sold out. More than 2.000 additional viewers from over 30 countries were following the various programs with 20+ talks on two festival days via livestream.

Forward Festival 2021

When / Where
Munich, March 12th, 2021 at HFF, as part of MCBW
Vienna, April 15th–16th, 2021 at Gartenbaukino

Price: Several ticket categories (from 85.– Euro On-site and 55.– Euro Livestream)
Specials: Livestream, Video on demand, AR-App, Forward Print Magazine Special