The Festival of Maintenance is a celebration of those who maintain different parts of our world, and how they do it, exploring and recognising the often hidden work done in repair, custodianship, stewardship, tending and caring for the things that matter.
The first festival took place in London in September 2018, and comprised short talks and discussion with diverse maintainers and those who support them. Check out the recordings and photos of the day, and read the full report. The Festival was featured on the BBC World Service (listen at 14min 25sec here) and in the Economist.
We are now planning the 2019 Festival which will take place on Saturday 28th September 2019 in Liverpool. Get in touch if you’d like to help as a volunteer, or are interested in sponsoring the event.
If you’d like to stay in touch and hear about future events, follow us on Twitter or sign up for very occasional updates by email. (We also have a Facebook page.)
Maintainers can be found in many contexts, including nature, software, infrastructure, communities, industry, information, arts and heritage. The Festival brings together traditional disciplines of maintenance, repair and stewardship, with new forms such as supporting digital products, sustaining open source software, and moderating online communities. The Festival aims to share learning around maintainer skills and tools and how maintenance is resourced and rewarded, and to boost the morale of maintainers across sectors with inspiring ideas and stories. The 2018 Festival of Maintenance sought to start a lasting conversation across communities of maintainers and stewards, building shared practices, and raising awareness more widely of the value of this work and where it sits within our society.
Find out more: About the festival — Code of Conduct — Get in touch
Check out the recordings and photos of the day, speaker bios and the schedule. Follow us on Twitter, like our Facebook page, or sign up for occasional email updates.
