Bread & Roses

A gathering for changemakers in a changed world. 

Saturday 31 October & Sunday 1st November 2026 
Bundjalung Country/Main Arm  NSW

The world has changed. So has the work of creating change.

 

Climate impacts are no longer distant predictions. Democratic institutions, communities and social trust are being tested in new ways. Technology is transforming our lives at extraordinary speed, public conversation is increasingly fragmented and many of the assumptions that have shaped social change work no longer feel as dependable as they once did.

This moment asks more of us than simply working harder. It asks us to question how we create change, what assumptions we are carrying and whether the approaches we have inherited are fit for the complexity of the world we are now living in.

Bread & Roses is an invitation to pause, to question and to think alongside others navigating the same complexity, confusion and challenge.

Curated by Kate Walsh and Tim Hollo and presented by In Good Company, Bread & Roses will bring together people from across Australia’s change ecosystem: campaigners, community organisers, philanthropists, First Nations leaders, artists, researchers, policy thinkers, founders, public servants, farmers, storytellers and people working both inside established institutions and beyond them.

Not another conference

Bread & Roses has no keynote speakers, panels or tightly packed agenda. Instead, the weekend privileges conversation over performance and curiosity over certainty.

We will cook together, eat together and walk together. We will spend time in facilitated discussions, gather around fires, sit with difficult questions, share stories, have fun, and leave room for the conversations no one could have planned.

Together, we will explore questions that rarely fit inside strategy documents, board meetings or grant applications.

Why do so many theories of change fall short? What does decolonising philanthropy really ask of us? Is storytelling still enough in an attention economy? How do we carry climate grief without burning out? How should we organise when institutions and power no longer operate as they once did? What becomes possible when we stop defending what we know and become genuinely curious about what we do not?

We are not gathering to produce a declaration or a neatly packaged set of recommendations. We are creating the conditions for something less predictable and potentially more valuable: new relationships, challenged assumptions, fresh perspectives and collaborations that continue long after the weekend ends.

Everything you need to know

  • There will be no keynote speakers, panels or sages on stages. Before the gathering, we’ll invite participants to share the questions they believe changemakers most need to explore. These responses will shape a series of thematic streams, with facilitated conversation circles of no more than 12 people. Alongside these challenging, well-informed discussions, the program will include shared meals, time in nature, music and plenty of space for informal conversations and unexpected connections.

  • We’re expecting thoughtful and experienced changemakers from across Australia — campaigners, community organisers, philanthropists, First Nations leaders, artists, researchers, policy thinkers, founders, public servants, farmers and storytellers. They will bring different disciplines, perspectives and lived experiences to the gathering. They will not all agree, but they will share curiosity, generosity and a willingness to engage in challenging, well-informed conversations about how change happens now.

  • Saturday 31 October 2026
    9.00am–5.00pm, followed by dinner from 6.00–9.00pm

    Sunday 1 November 2026
    9.30–11.30am

    Location: Durrumbul Hall, 16 Mud Brick Lane, Main Arm NSW 2482

    Durrumbul Hall is a beautiful mud-brick community hall built by the Main Arm community in the 1980s. It is around five minutes from Mullumbimby, on Bundjalung Country in the Northern Rivers of NSW. The closest airports are Ballina Byron Gateway and Gold Coast.

    Cost: $180 per person

    Scholarships will be available. If the ticket price would prevent you from attending, please get in touch and we’ll find an arrangement. We are also offering tickets in exchange for volunteering (photography, event help).

    We’re also seeking contributions to make the gathering accessible to more people. If you’re in a position to sponsor another person’s ticket, make a donation or connect us with someone who might be able to help, we would be enormously grateful.

  • Bread & Roses is curated by Kate Walsh alongside a constellation of brilliant facilitators, thinkers and creative people. There will be thoughtful conversations, shared meals, time in nature, music, reflection and plenty of collective joy.

    Kate has spent more than 25 years working across advocacy, philanthropy, strategy, communications and the design of transformative gatherings. From TEDxByronBay, festivals and national conferences to giving circles, strategic retreats and movement gatherings, her work explores how thoughtful experience design can create the conditions for conversations that genuinely change people and help them create impact.

  • Cost: $180 per person which includes lunch and dinner on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday.

    Scholarships will be available. If the ticket price would prevent you from attending, please get in touch and we’ll find an arrangement.

    We are also offering tickets in exchange for volunteering (photography, event help).

    We’re also seeking contributions to make the gathering accessible to more people. If you’re in a position to sponsor another person’s ticket, make a donation or connect us with someone who might be able to help, we would be enormously grateful.

  • Camping is available at Mullumbimby Showground, with pub accommodation at The Mullum and a range of holiday rentals nearby. Brunswick Heads also has several hotel and motel options. We can also arrange billeting. If you get stuck, let us know and we’ll help.

Expression of interest