FORWARDS instigates urgent conversations in 2022.

Capturing the mood of a nation at a pivotal moment in time, FORWARDS today announces leading UK disruptors, artists, writers and thinkers for its debut, putting forward-thinking conversation side-by-side with an epic music lineup headlined by The Chemical Brothers and
Jamie XX.

No conversation is off limits at THE INFORMATION, the festival’s space for examination and debate on today’s most pressing cultural issues. This platform will tackle race and diversity, the cost of living crisis, LGBTQIA+ rights and gender fluidity, feminist agendas and the music industry today, plus more.

More than a music festival, FORWARDS aims to harness the legacy and power of live events for positive change, stirring crowd consciousness in Britain’s most progessive and socially-minded city, Bristol. FORWARDS’ lineup includes the most cutting-edge talent in global music presenting Little Simz, Roisin Murphy, Khruangbin, Fred Again.. ShyGirl and more.

Now a programme of speakers and popular culture voices from across the social and political spectrum will join these names at the festival on 3rd and 4th September 2022. The first talks unveiled today to lead the THE INFORMATION programme, include: JOHN BARNES AND LAWRENCE HOO ‘EXCEPTIONALLY BLACK, THE SILENT MINORITY’ Former footballer John Barnes MBE speaks with Bristolian poet and active media spokesperson on the Colston Four trial, Lawrence Hoo, for a special one-off conversation on the black experience.

Discussing their childhoods growing up between Jamaica and North London, and in the care system in Bristol, the pair will talk about their shared Jamaican heritage, how racism plays out in their respective fields of sport and literature, and ask the question: does having ‘profile’ detach you from the experience of being a black man in the UK? LEMN SISSAY ‘MY NAME IS WHY’- ONE MAN SHOW One of the UK’s best-loved poets, Lemn Sissay, performs his 'My Name is Why’ one-man show reflecting on a childhood in care, self-expression and Britishness.

Drawn from his Sunday Times bestselling memoir, and infused with all the lyricism and power you would expect from one of the nation’s best-loved poets, this moving, frank and timely show is a celebration of the redemptive power of creativity. JACK MONROE AND JAY RAYNER ‘STATE OF FOOD’ The Observer food critic Jay Rayner takes to the FORWARDS stage with British food writer and activist Jack Monroe, known for campaigning on food poverty issues and launching the Vimes Boot Index, which measures the creeping price of basic food products.

Together Monroe and Rayner attack the pressing issues of ‘Food Bank Britain’, the cost of living crisis and the realities of food as luxury or a commodity today. Plus the future of food and crucial environmentalism questions facing us all. TRAVIS ALABANZA X SHON FAYE ‘MODERN LOVE, AND ROMANCE’ Sunday Times bestselling author of 'The Transgender Issue: An Argument for Justice' Shon Faye and award-winning writer, performer and theatre maker, Travis Alabanza wil spill the tea on the realities of contemporary romance.

From trans and non-heteronormative issues, to intersectional feminism, the two Bristolians will unpick modern day love in all its often complicated and beautiful forms.