Festival to debate and reflect upon death and dying
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
The 'Before I Die' Festival - a festival for the living about dying, curated by JOMEC’s Professor Jenny Kitzinger, will take place over ten days beginning May 11th.
Festival events in and around Cardiff will include music, art, poetry, theatre, film, expert panels and public debate. The events are designed to inspire, inform, support and raise debate about death and dying.
During the festival questions such as What makes for a good death? What do we need to do as individual and within families? and How do you write a ‘living will’? will be discussed and debated.
The festival is part of a growing social movement to reflect on how people manage death and dying and is linked to a network of events across the UK for 'dying awareness' week.
Professor Kitzinger’s interest in curating the festival grew from her research into people’s experiences of having a loved one in a long-term coma and their thoughts on what the patient themselves might have wanted in this situation, and what constitutes ‘meaningful life’ and allows for a ‘good death’. Speaking of the festival, she said:
"I have become convinced we urgently need to talk about end-of-life issues as individuals and as a society.
“I want this festival to provoke conversations with family and friends about end-of-life wishes, to support us in thinking about our own mortality, to allow us to reflect on grief and loss, and to help us develop the social and policy context to support as good a death as possible for each of us."
Many events are already fully booked so please ensure to register for your chosen events to ensure your place. Most events are free. Dates, times and ticket prices can be found at the festival’s website.
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