Climate speakers, filmmakers, fashion designers, podcasters, music artists and community supporters gathered last weekend for Project Winterland’s Impact Festival for the greater good.

The purpose of the SXSW-style “conglomeration” conference was to tell stories and share solutions about climate resiliency.  

“The hope is that people learned from these documentaries and engaged with the speakers and sessions to learn that collectively, even small acts of change matter,” said Anderson Rosenthal, founder of Project Winterland, a Whitefish-based nonprofit dedicated to climate solutions and equity. 

The four-day festival featured 44 films, 29 featured speakers, five immersive experiences, seven venues and six bands. 

Chance Thomas, a sustainable events planner currently living in Lakeside who helped organize the event, said that it’s a “new breed of festival that’s a response to the most pressing issues of our time.”  

On Thursday night, screenings of Indigenous films “Bring Them Home” and “Rebirth of the Range” and an opening ceremony by Dustin Walter from Calgary, whose Blackfoot name is Mistukii Ksistukii (Mountain Beaver), kicked off the festival of “changemakers on the stage,” Thomas said.  

Models walked a runway on Saturday night after a screening of Jeff Garner’s documentary “Let Them Be Naked” to showcase sustainable clothing and consumer transparency.  

A personal highlight for Thomas was the last day of the festival, when many got to take a deep breath and honor everyone’s, especially Rosenthal’s, hard work.  

Thomas credited Rosenthal for connecting and curating the vast number of different artists and voices.  

“It’s an honor to be a part of this group. I told Anderson, ‘you did this... we just surrounded you.’ Change starts with an individual,” Thomas said.  

Thomas said that the goal for the Impact Festival next year is to take everything and do it all again with a “larger call to be a part of the movement. “ 

Thomas said that volunteers, including Whitefish high schoolers from the FREEFLOW environmental science club, and venues including the Whitefish Performing Arts Center and the O'Shaughnessy Center, were crucial to the event’s success.  

In the future, they hope to include more voices and to invite more people from the community to take part.

    On the back stage at the Whitefish Performing Arts Center, sustainable clothing is fitted for a runway walk. On stage, Wild wind prepares to play music. (Photo provided by Hope Kaufman/hkcameraface) .