Embolden2026 seeks a blueprint for respect

In 2026, Celebrate Ageing’s annual Embolden Festival will focus on what respect for older people is, using inquiry to map what’s possible while exploring the culture around ageing. Embolden2026 will be unlike previous festivals in that it will be in action over many months.

The festival theme, A BluePrint on Respect for Older People, acknowledges that respect is one of the World Health Organization’s Eight Domains for an age-friendly world. Dr Catherine Barrett, festival curator and CEO of Celebrate Ageing, says that it’s ‘arguably the foundation of all the domains, and the most difficult to achieve … promoting respect for older people is complex, requiring change at every level of society’.

To explore the issue of respect, Embolden2026 will take an ‘appreciative inquiry’ approach, which seeks improvements by identifying and strengthening what is working. The festival will consist of 2 webinars that will look at cross-cultural understandings of respect, a current respect project and research into social linguistics.

Webinar 1: BluePrint on Respect for Older Women

The festival will kick off on at 2 pm on Wednesday 2 December 2026 with a free webinar on an inquiry-based research project that explores the development of a BluePrint on Respect for Older Women in Victoria.

Presenters will first discuss respect for Elders in Aboriginal culture before outlining the findings from the Victorian project to highlight the power of the BluePrint approach. They will then invite participants to provide suggestions on what a wider BluePrint on Respect could include.

The BluePrint on Respect for Older Women project, running over 8 months, is a collaboration between Elder Rights Australia and Celebrate Ageing, supported by the Victorian Women’s Trust.

Register for the BluePrint webinar here

Webinar 2: B is for Boomer

This free webinar, on World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, 15 June 2027, will examine the use of the term ‘boomer’ and older people’s strategies for protecting themselves from this kind of ageism.

Linguistics Professor Kate Burridge will outline how 'boomer' is used in real-life written and spoken language, exploring how words make worlds, generate insights and lead change. Dr Barrett will then present findings from citizen research with older people on their responses to ‘boomer blaming and shaming’, a cultural and social phenomenon where younger generations blame the Baby Boomers for systemic economic, environmental and political crises.

Register for B is for Boomer here

About Embolden

The Embolden Festival is an annual, national congress focused on combating ageism and building respect for older people. Its goal is to build the capacity and confidence of service providers, policy makers, community leaders and older people to accelerate the rate of change. Each year, key stakeholders in the ageing sector come together to learn from each other and develop resources to support change.

Embolden first launched in 2018 with a live event at St Kilda, Melbourne, and has been held online since 2024 to increase its accessibility.