On Sunday 17th May, almost 1,000 people gathered at Big Penny Social for the UK’s first Festival of the Boy. We partnered with the incredible team who have run Festival of the Girl for the past 8 years to bring a celebration and exploration of boyhood to boys aged 7-11.
Festival of The Boy brought the same joyful, inclusive, and carefully designed approach that has made Festival of The Girl so impactful, extending it to boys and their families. We’re one for solutions as well as problems – boys are being spoken about a lot but not spoken to so much. Public discourse has been around them being lost and lacking role models, but action has been lacking.
We found during our Voice of the Boys research that boys are yearning for in-person connection to counterbalance their time online. Whether it’s football fields being turned into flats, or Scouts needing more volunteers to take more kids on, 81% of boys don’t feel there are enough spaces to be a boy today.
Boys today are going up social first, in a world where their online profiles mean as much if not more than their offline selves. They are facing misogyny classes at school, and are surrounded by AI and tech that can feel overwhelming. What we want to do at this festival is to create a space for boys to just be boys, to meet other boys and to connect with each other over shared activities and discussions in a place that celebrates being a boy today.
Lee Chambers, founder of Male Allies UK
That’s why this is the perfect time for Festival of the Boy. We gave boys an opportunity to try loads of different things, from dance to building surveying to reading. Boys and their families were encouraged to get involved, try something new, and speak to a variety of different adults and role models.
With Festival of the Girl being in its eighth year, Abi, Jen, Laura and the team are well-versed in giving kids a huge variety of things to do and the encouragement and freedom to do so. It’s not surprising then that 100% of attendees said they were having fun and enjoying themselves, and 92% said they’d learned or tried something new.
We’re honoured to have partnered with Abi and the Festival of the Girl team on this timely and much-needed space for boys, and we’re so glad the boys and their families got so much out of the day.
Do you have daughters?
Don’t miss Festival of The Girl in London on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th October at the Business Design Centre.