Step aboard for a one-day summit of inspiration...

Boat sets sail: 3rd October 3pm

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A lifeboat of fresh thinking in a sea of ordinary

3rd October 2014

Seeking inspiration at work or at play this autumn? Then Raft is sure to float your boat. An event designed to stimulate, spark and excite, Raft will see game-changing speakers from a range of industries get together on 3 October to share their experiences, insight and experiments in ‘casting off’ new ideas and business ventures.

From research magicians to innovation strategists, screen writers to challenger brands, each speaker will open audiences’ eyes and minds to a different way of doing things.

Starting aboard a boat as it cuts through the waters around Falmouth, then disembarking, gathering and settling down on dry land for the evening, Raft key speakers will be joined by everyone from entrepreneurs to vinyl hackers, who’ll host a series of workshops, discussion sessions and panels throughout the evening.

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What to Expect

Kyra Maya Phillips

Kyra is a writer and alternative innovation strategist, unearthing the darker side of where creativity comes from.

Her book, The Misfit Economy (written with Alexa Clay, to be published by Simon & Schuster), explores the unlikely undercurrents of productivity, delving into the underworld of pirates, terrorists, black markets, computer hackers and even inner city gangs.

At Raft, she’ll skew our perceptions of ‘deviant entrepreneurs’ and show that far from posing a threat to social and economic stability, these innovators display remarkable ingenuity, pioneering original methods and the lessons we can all learn from, to apply in our own worlds and work.

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Stuart Nolan

Through slick sleight-of-hand and unfathomable illusions, renowned research magician, Stuart Nolan, delivers mind warping performances underpinned by a mastery of science and research.

From cell biology and interactive media to programming and academic research; his field of expertise is as wide as it is varied. Since a NESTA Fellowship in 2002, Stuart has collaborated with others to apply techniques, tools, and insights from the arts of performance magic to a variety of other creative arenas including architecture, installation art, visual design, game design, software design, media and sport. He’s worked with everyone from LEGO to the European Commission, the BBC Innovation Lab to the V&A and many more besides.

For Raft, he’ll be using his research-led wizardry to measure our imaginations. How will yours weigh up?

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Molly Naylor and John Osborne

From paperbacks to performance poetry, theatre to radio waves, collectively Molly Naylor and John Osborne have cast their writerly wiles across a whole host of platforms.

And in 2015 they’re set to fill television screens with their co-written screenplay series, After Hours, which was picked up by Sky last year. The show is being directed by Craig Cash (The Royale Family) who has nothing but high praise for the pair: "John and Molly have created a world which is not only very funny but has genuine warmth at its heart.”

At Raft, we’ll be tracking their journey from the first inklings of an idea to the day Sky 1 came knocking, and ask just what does it take to get the big boys to take notice?

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Bullshit London

Fancy taking a factually inaccurate tour? Bullshit London will be decamping to Falmouth for the day to lead you on a specially written nonsense ramble of sheer silliness through the town’s streets.

The co-creation of comedians Reuben Williams and Rob Smythson, Bullshit London launched their walking tours business in June 2013 and it has since attracted a growing audience. Throughout each tour everything you see is real, but you won’t find the facts on Wikipedia – instead expect astonishingly silly and hilariously entertaining alternate histories, concocted in the fanciful imaginations of two modern day jesters.

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Dave Waller

Fascinated by the way urban subculture managed to seep its way onto Cornish village Stenalees’ bowling green, journalist, comedian and hip hop obsessive Dave Waller will be telling the tale of tracing the genre, taking him from his childhood home in deepest darkest Clay Country all the way back to Brooklyn, ending up in a 25-day stint at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

He’ll also be seeing the evening out in style with a vinyl hack, all set to take rap to new places. So bring along your weird and wonderful vinyl records to experience a Friday night you’ve never heard the likes of before.

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Finisterre

The champions of cold water surf clothing really need no introduction, although they’ll be giving a short one themselves before we screen the newest short film release from the Finisterre stable, Coming Up for Air.

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Speaker Salon

As the night draws in, we’ll be giving Raft goers a chance to delve deeper into the bustling minds of our Raft personalities in the Speaker Salon.

With 20-minute slots, our head-spinning, mind-expanding tête-à-têtes will put the Café de Flores to shame. Sorry Sartre.

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New Dawn Traders

Get a flavour of what fair, clean transport tastes like with the New Dawn Traders’ rum – ethically produced and traded only by sail.

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What’s happening at Raft?

Onboard

15.00 Cast off – Raft sets sail.
15.20 Kyra Maya Philips – scour the underbelly of society with Kyra.
16:00 BREAK
16.15 Molly Naylor and John Osborne –The dynamic writing duo share their poetic ramblings and talk about ‘that’ commission.
17.00 BREAK
17.10 Stuart Nolan – Learn how to mind read with research magician extraordinaire.
17.50 Alternative networking / shooting the breeze – Circulate like you’ve never circulated before.

On dry land

Hand Bar
18.00 Sipsmith o’clock – Dock, disembark and perambulate to the Hand Bar, for a complimentary Sipsmith tipple.
18.15 Cornish Seaweed Company – Quell hunger pangs with some surprisingly tasty seaweed sausages and frittata.
18.35 Bullshit Tour I – Learn absolutely nothing as the first Bullshit Falmouth leaves from Hand Bar.
19.40 Bullshit Tour II – The second group leaves the Hand Bar on its Bullshit tour of lies.
Townhouse
From 19.15: New Dawn Traders – Test a tipple fresh from the hold of a Tall Ship, with the New Dawn Traders Rum Tasting.
From 20.30: Speaker Salon – The evening continues at the Townhouse with the Speaker Salon, a chance to get in close conversation with the Raft speakers.
20.50 Finisterre film screening – watch the cold water surf company’s latest brooding release, Coming Up for Air.
21.00 Hip hop vinyl hack – Dave Waller shares shades of his Edinburgh show, giving you the chance to add your own records to the mix.

Food and Drink

To help keep minds fired up and bellies from rumbling, the Cornish Seaweed Company are joining us on board with some specially made seaweed dishes that everyone can tuck into. As we step foot back on dry land, there’ll be a chance to pause, meet, talk and wash down ideas with complimentary autumnal cocktails from the Sipsmith stable. Then as the night unfolds, tall ship adventurers New Dawn Traders will be giving tastings of Tres Hombres oak-barrelled rum – the first fair trade by sail rum to hit our shores in over 100 years.

Buy Tickets

£36

Tickets for Raft – which include a place on the boat for all the talks (plus nibbles and refreshments), a Raft goody bag in association with The Challenger's Almanac, a Casting Off cocktail, a Bullshit Tour and entry to the evening talks – are on sale now.

A limited amount of tickets will also be available for land activities only (meeting at Prince of Wales Pier for a Casting Off cocktail, a Bullshit Tour and entry to the evening event).

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Meet us at Prince of Wales Pier, Falmouth, TR11 3DF from 2.30pm ready to set sail at 3pm sharp.
Don't miss the boat!

Evening Antics at Raft

£10

See that growing shape on the horizon? That’ll be Raft, our one-day floating summit of inspiration – which is just a week away (Friday 3 October).

With an afternoon of mind soaring speakers all set to keep you sparking out at sea, we've extended Raft into the evening too – with special evening only tickets available. So from disembarkation to perambulation, seaweed snacks to fair sail rum (what’s a salty seadog without rum?!), hip-hop hacks to Sipsmith gin and a Finisterre film screening – we're now bringing even more to your Friday.

Once we've set foot on dry land at 6pm, we'll be kicking off with a complimentary Sipsmith Gin o’clock and some delectable Cornish Seaweed treats at Hand Bar.

Nonsense ensues

From here our comedy Bullshit Tour guide will lead groups on a wild goose chase through cobbled streets to the Townhouse, where our evening continues with the Speaker Salon.

This is your chance to get up close and personal with our speakers from the boat, ask the questions you’ve been dying to ask and find out just how their brains tick.

Out in the cold

There’ll also be a chance to watch cold water surf company Finisterre’s latest film offering Coming Up for Air – dark, brooding and adrenalin-charged. We’d expect nothing less.

What the hack?

Finally, we’ll be introducing you to hip hop obsessive and Stenalees native Dave Waller, who’ll be telling the tale of how he went from the Clay Country to Brooklyn and back again in the search for hip hop enlightenment.

Proceedings will wrap up around 10pm, when Dave will take to the decks on an all out vinyl hack, splicing together whatever we bring with hip hop gold, to make magic happen. Time for the Angela Rippon’s Shape Up and Dance, then.

Tickets for the evening’s activities are just £10 and can be bought from the online shop.

Buy Evening Tickets