Checking in on the MozFest 2020 city search
Recapping our progress & setting next steps
Over the past few months, the Mozfest 2020 city search team has been talking with community members about our criteria for picking the festival’s next host city.
Wherever we go, we want to be sure to pick a city that meets the expectations, hopes, and needs of the volunteers, wranglers, facilitators, and attendees who make MozFest work.
Via social media, a survey, and several community calls, we asked for feedback on the following criteria:
1. Digital Rights and Policies
- The city, town or neighborhood that will host MozFest should be a champion of digital rights, human rights and equality
- There are publicly stated principles around data and privacy for citizens and openness around the city’s contracts and agreements with technology companies
- There should be an open line of communication between local government and the civic tech community around decision-making and understanding of risks and opportunities
2. Community Inclusion
- The community of the city, town or neighborhood hosting MozFest should be welcomed and visible as participants of the festival.
- We will have a positive impact on local communities, such as grassroots initiatives, community groups and across disciplines: youth, women, artists, activists, or local businesses who may be eager to collaborate.
- We will approach our host community with a spirit of curiosity and partnership, and an expectation to learn from their experiences, innovations, and challenges.
3. Production Practicality
- The city, town or neighborhood that hosts MozFest must be suitable in terms of hotels and infrastructure to host an event of approximately 4,000 people.
- It should be a place that is reasonably affordable, considering the cost of the event as well as the purchasing power of diverse attendees from abroad.
- Personal safety and ease of movement for attendees of diverse backgrounds and, in some cases, limited travel experience is important.
We wanted to know: are these the right things to search for in a city? What else should be included?
For the most part, respondents have confirmed we are working in the right direction. Many additionally stressed the importance of locally enforced human rights and safety protections for all people, including people of color, LGBTQ+ participants, and anyone else from a potentially underrepresented or marginalized community in whichever city is chosen.
Community members’ responses also aligned with our reasons for moving: They want MozFest to be in an affordable city with affordable transportation options. They also want MozFest to be in a country that makes visas readily available for festival participants from abroad.
We are grateful to everyone who took the time to email us, read the blog post, RT our tweets, complete the survey, and join our community calls. It’s exciting to move ahead towards city selection with a set of community-vetted criteria to guide the decision.
On the city selection team within Mozilla we are already whittling down the shortlist of potential cities and have begun early conversations with potential partners from several different venues and sectors of civil society as well as with local governments with exemplary digital rights principles.
There’s still time to let us know what you want and need from a host city for MozFest 2020. If you’d like to share feedback on the process or what you’re looking for in the next MozFest city, please leave a comment below, email us, or complete this survey. We hope to see you in London for a momentous MozFest 2019 and in our new home in 2020!
You can also keep up with the latest MozFest 2020 news by signing up for the Open Leadership & Events newsletter here.
