The Big Brue festival in Somerset is set to conduct a unique experiment: measuring whether its talks and debates actually change the beliefs and attitudes of attendees and speakers. Taking place on 19 and 20 September at Hauser & Wirth Somerset in Bruton, the event will ask participants to complete tests before and after sessions to assess if they have become more open, optimistic, empathetic, and tolerant of people with views they disagree with.
Festival as a scientific experiment
Beau Lotto, a neuroscientist and educator involved in the festival, explained that the initiative aims to turn the event into a controlled experiment. "We have set up a number of panels with strongly opposing views. We want to examine if the festival can change perception of conflict. Can conflict be generative rather than degenerative?" he said.
Lotto emphasized the importance of understanding differing perspectives in today's polarized climate. "Because of the polarisation in the world, there’s so much pessimism and negativity, partly because views are incredibly non-nuanced. Which means it feels very fragile. It’s very extreme," he added.
Measuring change through simple tasks
Festivalgoers will be asked to fill in questionnaires and perform simple tasks, such as finding the midpoint of a line. Lotto noted that this task can indicate which side of the brain the respondent is using, and results might differ between the start and end of the festival, suggesting a shift in cognitive processing. Panellists will also be invited to participate in the experiment.
This approach builds on Lotto's previous work with Cirque du Soleil, where he tested whether feelings of wonder and awe changed people's social behavior. In one experiment, an interviewer dropped pens to see if people would help pick them up before and after a performance. The results showed that people were "much more pro-social than they were before. Much more willing to help than they were before."
Deliberate clashes of opinion
The Big Brue's ethos is that conflicting views can be constructive when aired in an environment fostering curiosity, compassion, creativity, and learning. Rather than curating panels of like-minded speakers, the festival has deliberately paired individuals with contrasting opinions.
One anticipated session on artificial intelligence will feature former UK chancellor George Osborne, who now works for OpenAI, and Misha Glenny, who has written about the global race for technological dominance. Lotto expects this discussion to be lively.
Two sessions involving Reform UK MP Danny Kruger may also be contentious. In one, he will discuss migration; in another, titled "Family Matters," he will be in conversation with his mother, cookery writer and broadcaster Prue Leith. The pair disagree on subjects such as assisted dying and abortion. Even a literature session is billed as a "poetry battle," with actor Dominic West and singer and activist Bob Geldof going "head-to-head to champion the poems they believe everyone else should love."
Founders' vision and practical details
Mariella Frostrup, journalist, broadcaster, and one of the festival's founders, who will host the Kruger/Leith discussion, stated: "The idea is not just to hold another talks festival. We’re creating a space where ideas are presented and tested, where disagreement is welcome so long as its agreeable, and audiences are participants as well as spectators."
The festival's rural setting, away from the "fray of the city," is seen as an ideal backdrop for exploring how to "disagree agreeably," which is the theme of the talks programme. Human rights lawyer Jason McCue, another founder, added: "We firmly believe that progress comes from difference and disagreement, so we are here to stir things up and help make sense of the world."
The Big Brue will take place at Hauser & Wirth Somerset, with further details available on the festival's website.
