SO: To Speak Festival was proud to partner with two outstanding charitable organisations during the 2017 festival. Both charities share a commitment to improving lives in Southampton and beyond, and the festival was honoured to help raise awareness of their vital work.
Dementia Friendly Southampton
Working to make Southampton a city where people living with dementia feel understood, valued, and able to contribute to their community.
The Alzheimer's Society
The UK's leading dementia support and research charity, campaigning for change and providing services to those affected by dementia.
Through events, collections, and community engagement across the festival's ten-day programme, SO: To Speak helped bring attention to the challenges faced by people living with dementia and their families.
The SO: To Speak Festival has always believed that words belong to everyone, and that principle extends naturally into community partnerships. By collaborating with charitable organisations, the festival uses its platform to amplify causes that matter deeply to Southampton. The spoken and written word can be a bridge between people, fostering connection and understanding where it is needed most. These partnerships are not merely symbolic; they represent a shared commitment to using language and storytelling as tools for social good. When a festival of words aligns itself with charities dedicated to wellbeing and inclusion, it sends a clear message that literature and community care go hand in hand, enriching the city beyond the event itself.
One of the festival's valued partnerships was with Dementia Friendly Southampton, an initiative working to create a city where those living with dementia feel understood and valued. For a festival centred on words and communication, this mission carries special resonance. Dementia can affect how people express themselves and connect with others, making inclusive language and patient listening all the more important. The festival helped raise awareness of this work, demonstrating that literary events can serve a wider purpose. Through readings, conversations, and shared stories, the festival created spaces where everyone could feel welcome, reinforcing the idea that Southampton's cultural life should be accessible to all, regardless of circumstance.
The Alzheimer's Society, the UK's leading dementia support and research charity, was another organisation the festival was proud to support. By highlighting the Society's work, the festival encouraged audiences to think about how memory, identity, and storytelling intersect. After all, much of what we love about literature involves remembering, sharing, and making sense of our experiences. The partnership reminded festival-goers that words can comfort, inform, and unite, even in the face of challenging conditions. It also reflected the festival's broader ethos: that a celebration of writing and reading should look outward, engaging with the real-world issues that shape the lives of the community it serves.