Lifting the Lid is an annual, online, international, online festival that lifts the lid on everything death & dying through conversations, interactive events, workshops, art and craft sessions, live music poetry and performance. It is informative, creative, fun, joyful and life affirming, and caters for people of all levels of interest.
Lifting the Lid was originally co-founded by artist Jo Dagless and funeral director and Death Cafe host Victoria Keen who met in 2020 during Jo’s film project ‘Conversations On Life and Death’.
The festival is now produced solely by Jo Dagless with the help of a small team of dedicated, volunteer, session facilitators.
Around 3000 + attendees from 40+ countries have come together to take part in around 300 virtual events so far. People are able to find out as much or as little as they like and are welcome to dip in and out of the 72 hour programme as they feel comfortable.
The positive feedback during and after the first 5 annual festivals has been overwhelming and, as hoped, the events encouraged people to be open to an acceptance of the inevitability of loss and impermanence. We hope to continue taking some of the fear of death away so people can ask questions and talk openly and honestly about their experiences.
We delve into a variety of subjects from planning your own funeral or making your own shroud, to learning about the history of funeral rites and rituals. We look at the growing trend for green funerals and what you can do at home for the dead and the dying. We have explored death in film and computer games, the history of mourning jewellery, humour, folklore, and sharing the ways we remember the dead as well as looking at managing grief and the after death administration for someone you know.
Through the incredibly hard work of Jo and the event facilitators Lifting the Lid has now become a successful annual event. Lifting the Lid is available for free to those who are unable to afford the suggested ticket price and we want to continue to make this unique online event truly accessible to all.
All those involved give up their time on a voluntary basis, the festival is un-funded and donations cover basic administrative costs and allow us to continue making this event accessible to all.
Thank you in advance for anything you can spare to support this important event.
Organizer
