Visualising Desertification: Collaborative Storytelling Across European Festivals is a follow-up to an earlier initiative that brought together 50 professional investigative and photojournalists.
The project comprises five participatory workshops at major journalism festivals in 2025, engaging a further 50 participants – 25 investigative journalists and 25 photojournalists.
Each three-hour workshop will include skill-building, story development and networking, with the aim of producing 25 collaborative story drafts on desertification. Following the workshops, mentorship will refine these drafts into ten multimedia stories, which will be published on platforms such as LAT-E. A digital toolkit co-created by participants will provide resources for environmental journalism and will be disseminated via IJNET.
A Signal group will facilitate long-term networking. The project will enhance visual and investigative skills, raise awareness of desertification and promote cross-border collaboration.
Timeline:
- June-October 2025: Workshops at European festivals:
- LASAL Festival Barcelona, Spain: Friday 06 June 2025;
- PhotoEspaña, Madrid, Spain: September 2025 (final date to be confirmed);
- DIG Festival Modena, Italy: Friday, 26 September 2025
- Internazionale Festival Ferrara, Italy: Friday, 03 October 2025
- Climate Arena Conference, Budapest, Hungary: 10-11 October 2025 (to be confirmed)
- October-November 2025: Mentorship, finalisation of the toolkit, publishing stories.
Trainers/Facilitators:
- Bruna Casas (photojournalist, workshop facilitator)
- Cush Munger (journalist, workshop facilitator)
