Festival of Dangerous Ideas (FODI) is Australia’s original disruptive festival.
FODI holds uncomfortable ideas up to the light and challenges thinking on some of the most persevering and difficult issues of our time, questioning our deepest held beliefs and desires.
It presents a lineup of international and local thinkers and culture creators, inviting us all to immerse ourselves in ideas and conversations that encourage debate and critical thinking.
Each festival’s expert lineup demands attention. We all know progress happens when we are bold enough to interrogate ideas – when we’re able to have uncomfortable conversations and unafraid to question the status quo. We need to be curious – as individuals and as a society. The world we are making and unmaking, is a reflection of ourselves. Do we like what we see?
In an era of avalanching information, FODI is a curated festival, encouraging audiences to go deeper, beyond hype. What are the truly dangerous ideas and where exactly should we focus our time and our investment?
It’s time to get uncomfortable…
The Festival of Dangerous Ideas (FODI) was co-founded by The Ethics Centre and the Sydney Opera House in 2009. It was presented at Sydney Opera House for eight years and in its ninth year inhabited Cockatoo Island with a festival presented by The Ethics Centre with UNSW Sydney Centre for Ideas.
Across 11 festivals and counting, FODI has had local and international experts from a diverse range of disciplines take to the stage to bring to light different perspectives on the most divisive issues we face.
The FODI 2020 program was to be the 10th Festival of Dangerous Ideas. Due to take place at Sydney Town Hall – a nod to the traditional meeting and rallying place for communities – it was to feature sessions and performances that explored climate change, meritocracy, giving, tech, politics, capitalism and more. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Festival had to be officially cancelled on 16 March 2020.
In May 2020, FODI launched a series of digital video conversations. The series of online conversations takes inspiration from the original FODI 2020 theme of ‘Dangerous Realities’, with online sessions streamed via the festival website. The series interrogated the reality of the current pandemic and its wider implications for our world and society. Watch now
In February 2022, FODI released a bold new podcast FODI: The In-Between, an audio time capsule recording a moment in-between two eras. Eight conversations between 16 of the world’s biggest thinkers that capture the dangerous ideas of this moment in time. With guest speakers including Stephen Fry, Roxane Gay, Waleed Aly, Sam Mostyn, Slavoj Žižek, Naomi Klein and more, The In-between tackles the big issues of our world and future, from climate change and global politics to artificial intelligence, truth and social media. Listen now
In 2022, FODI returned to being presented live in Sydney with selected streamed sessions. 72 speakers and artists from across Australia and around the globe gathered at Carriageworks to present an ‘All Consuming’ program across two days in September.
The 2022 program featured Senator Jacqui Lambie, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, crisis historian Adam Tooze, tech writer Kevin Roose, Harvard historian Stephen Pinker, performer and poet Alok Vaid-Menon, period preacher Lucy Peach, Jess Hill, Jane Caro, Saxon Mullions, Nick Byrant alongside A Rational Fear and The Minefield Live with experiences including Scott Campbell’s Whole Glory, Counterpilot’s Truthmachine, newly commissioned work by Brook Andrew, and performances by Legs on the Wall, Gleebooks, Kitchen by Mike and more.
FODI will return in-person on 23-25 August 2024. Subscribe for program updates as they are released.
Festival of Dangerous Ideas is a curated festival. The Festival Director is Danielle Harvey (2011–present) and co-curators are Simon Longstaff (2009–present) and Ann Mossop (2010–present).