Compassion is one of US Values Alliance Top 6 Values we want to see more of in 2025

To that end, we want to share our ally Global Compassion Coalition’s event:

Festival of Compassion Launches in Cape Town: A Global Call to Come Home

What happens when a world in crisis remembers to care?

This is the question at the heart of the first-ever Festival of Compassion, taking place from
10–12 September 2025 in Cape Town, South Africa.

Hosted by the Global Compassion Coalition (GCC), this flagship gathering is unique: a lived journey inviting people to explore
compassion not as a soft sentiment, but as a radical, embodied force for public good.

Held under the theme “Come Home”, the festival invites participants into a collective
homecoming, returning to self, community, and planet. Moving beyond a conventional
conference, the Festival will co-create a space for shared grief, joy, and action through rituals,
teachings, and workshops.

“Compassion reflects the wisdom that everything is related to everything else, and it naturally
draws you into feeling more connected with all things. It draws us into relationships of care,”
says Rick Hanson, Founder and President of the Global Compassion Coalition. “It belongs in
our schools, in government, in business, in how we care for each other and for the planet we
share. This festival is about remembering that, and inspiring action.”

Curating the festival programme is Fadia Williams, who draws on a wellspring of knowledge
and experience in designing meaningful engagements: “We don’t need more information – we
need transformation. And transformation happens when we slow down enough to feel, to
witness, and to act with heart. That’s the invitation of this festival.”

Designed to resonate with a wide community of thinkers and doers, the Festival will appeal to
academics, activists, artists, and practitioners across justice, wellbeing, trauma healing,
reconciliation, and community leadership spaces. It brings together a diverse circle of global
and local voices committed to building more compassionate systems, communities, and
personal practices.

While the Festival convenes participants in Cape Town, an online component will extend the
experience worldwide, for those unable to travel and for those wishing to join from afar, making
the circle of compassion and community bigger, more accessible, and truly global.

Date: 10-12 September 2025
Time: 09:00-16:30
Venue: UCT GSB Academic Conference Centre, 9 Portswood Rd, Victoria & Alfred Waterfront,
Cape Town

www.festivalofcompassion.com