Celebration of women in digital and tech

Running in March to coincide with International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, the Spring Forward festival focuses on supporting and celebrating women in digital.

The festival’s mission is to encourage women to take a greater role in tech by creating a range of platforms that promote digital community events with women at their centre.

Spring Forward was launched in 2014 by Jenni Lloyd and Viviana Doctorovich and for the past two years has been organised by Rifa Thorpe-Tracey and Jo Summers.

Organiser Rifa Thorpe-Tracey said: “It’s fantastic that Sussex has become not just a hub for the UK’s tech industry and digital arts community, but also a pioneering region for women operating in that world. Spring Forward is a key part of that success.

“The local tech and arts sectors are hugely supportive and I think we can be optimistic about our region.”

Spring Forward kicked off last Friday (March 2) at The Green Door Store with a celebration of women’s achievements in music and performance.

On Thursday, March 8, women’s networking group SheSays Brighton will host a panel event at Fabrica, focused on the benefits and challenges of the social media revolution.

Girl Game Maker Day takes place on Saturday, March 24 at the Unity offices, where girls between nine and 14 can learn to make video games and get hands on with code, art, and making games fun.

A key event for this year’s festival is #BelongCon, which will see an all-female line-up talking candidly about issues that impact women, including imposter syndrome and post-natal depression.

The Belong Conversation – or #BelongCon for short – provides a safe space for people to share their stories and be open, honest, and vulnerable with each other.

At each event, it welcomes several speakers to talk about their journey to finding belonging and acceptance, and through authentic, unscripted conversation, its aim is for everyone who attends to feel less alone, and more connected. The conference will be held on March 27 at 68 Middle Street.

Sponsors of the festival are : University of Brighton - Connected Futures, Pragmatic, and Clearleft.

For more on the festival, and for a full programme, visit: {http://wespringforward.com|wespringforward.com