Our theme ‘Playing It Forward’ is a Playback-infused pun on the phrase, ‘paying it forward.’ To ‘pay it forward’ means that we appreciate the gifts we’ve been given by those who came before us, by sharing them with those who will come after us. It is an act of generosity, equity, and gratitude.
In 2025, it will be fifty years since Playback was created, and it has existed in Australia for nearly as long. It’s both time to look back in appreciation, and forwards with inspiration.
Come explore how Playback can engage with our changing world; how to bring values of justice and compassion to the stage; and how to nourish ourselves and our Playback practice into the future. Come away enlivened and ready to ‘play it forward’ in your companies and communities!
Registrations due by 8 November
We are gathering at The Tops Conference Centre (1.5 hours south of Sydney) on Dharawal land.
The gathering will start at 4pm on Friday 21 March 2025 and conclude at 2pm on Monday 24 March. Further details and costs on the gathering page.
Please register on the Humanitix site with a deposit by 8 November.
Information about scholarships including the application form for a scholarship is here. Scholarship applications are also due 8 November.
Call out for home group facilitators
While much of the program will be ‘open space’ the organisers have scheduled Home Group sessions on each morning of the event.
Home Groups are a closed group of up to 15 people that provide an opportunity for participants to develop closer connections, explore aspects of the Gathering theme (above) and Values Statement and to process their experience of the Gathering.
Each Home Group will be facilitated by one or two experienced playbackers, and the organisers are now seeking expressions of interest from practitioners who want to offer a group at the Gathering.
Our draft values statement
Our theme has a focus on our changing world and the challenges Playback faces to thrive in that change.
The organising group has developed an aspirational statement that captures the values that will underpin the gathering and that we offer for consideration to the broader community