Remote Alba Fest: Creative Solutions Kit

Second edition of Remote Alba Fest | One-day analog design and systems thinking festival

Six global challenges, one connected system, one day. Join like minded people to build a community "Creative Solutions Kit" by hand, and practise the human skills that flexible and remote work in the AI era depends on.

What: The Provocation

When New York flooded, one designer turned a tote bag into a life jacket in 15 seconds. It was an ordinary object, rethought under pressure by a human who could see the whole situation.

Remote Alba Fest returns for its second edition with Creative Solutions Kit, a one-day, fully analog design and systems thinking festival. No screens, no slides and no AI. It's just motivated people, working in groups of 3, tackling six connected challenges: climate, food sovereignty, poverty, education, peace and democracy, and diversity and inclusion.

So what: Why it matters

None of these challenges happens alone. A flood cuts supply chains, which deepens poverty. Poverty shuts learners out of education, exclusion erodes democratic voice, and democracy only holds when everyone has a seat. Fixing one part without seeing the whole rarely works.

The same is true of work. As AI takes on more routine tasks, the most valuable skills are the ones it can't do. Seeing systems, collaborating with people you've just met, adapting fast, and making sound judgements under pressure are what flexible and remote workers need to stay in demand. This festival is a full day of practising exactly that, hands-on.

Why attend?

AI can write your emails, summarise your meetings and draft your next report. It can't sit across a table from two strangers, read the room, and turn a coat into shelter before the clock runs out. The skills that will define your working life are the human ones: seeing how problems connect, building trust fast, and making a call when nothing is certain. Most of us rarely get to practise them, because we work alone, behind screens, optimising our inboxes.

Creative Solutions Kit hands you one day to change that. You'll get tape, string, everyday objects and a bunch of other people who refuse to outsource their thinking. You'll leave with muddy hands, a sharper mind, a room full of new collaborators, and proof that you can solve hard problems with people rather than a prompt.

The future of work is flexible, remote and increasingly automated, so come and build the part of you that isn't.

Now what: What's involved

You'll take part in one day-long mega-sprint:

Provocation: the tote-bag story and the brief for the day.
Map the system: all motivated people build one giant wall map showing how the six challenges feed each other.
Find your leverage point: each group of 3 is dealt a challenge and everyday objects (E.g. tote bag, trolley, coat, backpack, noticeboard or chair).
Build: turn your object(s) into a working prototype using only what's on the table.
Connect: groups link their prototypes across challenges, so for example a food-share trolley meets a flood tool and a school-in-a-bag meets a civic noticeboard.
Showcase: a live gallery of the whole community Creative Solutions Kit, with 90-second pitches.

You'll leave with hands-on practice in systems thinking, rapid collaboration and creative problem-solving, and new connections with people who care about the same things.

What to bring: nothing. All materials are provided. Wear clothes you don't mind getting a bit messy.

Who it's for: anyone 16+, especially people building flexible or remote work skills. No design experience needed.

Food: TBC. But guaranteed to be delicious!

Accessibility: please flag any access needs at booking. Venue and seating details will be confirmed closer to the date.

Contact the host of Remote Alba Fest Creative Solutions Kit: Human Skills in AI Era