Faal Festival: why?

Many students and young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 struggle with their mental well-being. Research by RIVM (2021) and others shows that this group is more jaded, unhappy and anxious than ever.

How can this be?

Students have grown up in a time of enormous performance pressure. As long as you work hard and get good grades, you will become successful. When they face setbacks in this rat race, it feels like failure. Social comparison on social media and the idea of always having to be successful and happy add to this engine of performance pressure.

What next?

As an antidote, there is the Faal Festival, organised by Utrecht University, TivoliVredenburg and the Institute for Failure Studies. An event where students and young adults can experience that they are not alone in the struggles of our time. Where doubts, uncertainty and failure are actually allowed to be positively spotlighted.

This creates space for relaxed learning, trial and error, authenticity, innovation and compassion. The FaalFestival is a place to put the rat race into perspective, let go of performance pressure and celebrate being human.