Sun. 7:30–8:30 PM – LIVE MUSIC: Banda Comunale – Acoustic Version (Garden)
The sky glows outside as Banda Comunale loudly ushers in the festival finale in the garden of Blaue Fabrik. The band gets the crowd dancing and creates a vibrant atmosphere that gently closes the festival weekend. The music and being surrounded by people actively engaged in transformation generate a special energy and sense of community. This feeling is especially important and has already become firmly associated with the educational festival for both the organizing team and participants. Because these are exactly the moments we need to recharge, release emotions, take a short break, and then return with renewed strength and inspiration to learn and create.

Cafe Bailando
Café Bailando works with a mix of organically grown and rescued products to counteract food waste. Visitors were able to experience catering based on this principle. On the one hand, they could try cakes made from food-sharing ingredients, rescued fruits and vegetables, as well as baked goods from a nearby bakery directly at the festival. On the other hand, there was the option to take rescued fruits and vegetables home to include them in their meals in the following days. Additionally, we invited people who have known the festival for a longer time to bring a cake and contribute in this way. Through this experience with this type of food, people got to learn about alternative ways of consuming food and community-based catering at events.

Küfa by the cooking collective ‘Fette Beute’
Learning by doing: Throughout the entire festival, participants were provided with delicious vegan meals by the cooking collective “Fette Beute.” Here too, a mix of rescued food and organically grown vegetables was used. The local community-supported agriculture (CSA) farms around Dresden generously sponsored a large amount of vegetables. The meals were offered for a donation, allowing all participants to eat regardless of their financial means.

It became clear to the participants how large quantities of seasonal and rescued ingredients can be transformed into delicious dishes, food waste avoided, and solidarity-based principles applied to distribution. The participants enjoyed sharing the pleasant and open atmosphere during communal meals and even spontaneously stepped in to help out in the kitchen when needed. Many visitors praised the ideas and professionalism of the cooking crew and regarded the “Kitchen for All” as a valuable contribution to the festival.

Screen printing station, swap corner, painting corner
As part of the festival’s side program, we aimed to showcase opportunities for sharing, upcycling, and creativity. We set up a swap corner where people could bring items they no longer needed and take things they liked. The visitors actively used the corner—many came with something to give away and were happy to share it. Others found things they could use and were delighted to discover a new favorite piece of clothing, a plant, a book, and more.

We also provided a screen printing station for T-shirts. People could bring old T-shirts or bags and give them a new design. They were not only proud to have made something themselves but also happy that they liked their old items better as a result. In the painting corner, people—especially children—could simply be creative and paint their impressions on a large piece of paper. We are convinced that applying degrowth principles at the festival itself, showcasing examples, and providing spaces for hands-on experiences is one of the best ways to learn about the festival’s content and get inspired to incorporate some of it into everyday life. We saw that visitors made good use of and appreciated these offerings.