THE HOPE SUMMIT
The Hope Summit is where we will cultivate ideas, accelerate solutions, and inspire hope.
THE EXPERIENCE
The Hope Summit is an annual conference and festival held in Charleston at the end of September to highlight the challenges facing our community and celebrate the community-driven solutions possible through the dozens of nonprofits, community organizations, schools, and local agencies working to create agency and hope in coastal South Carolina.
Now in its third year, The Hope Summit has grown into a 4-day gathering including a two-day conference, film festival, community-solutions festival, and ecopreneur market. This is a multidisciplinary and intersectional gathering of knowledge of capacity sharing with core thematic tracks that include water quality and plastic pollution, stewardship and citizen science, governance, ecological restoration, resilience and adaptation, educators as catalysts of change, environmental justice, and traditional knowledge ways in experiencing and managing terrestrial and marine ecosystems.
Our Logo Story
The Hope Summit 2024 logo symbolizes the power of community-driven solutions and of the role each of us plays in our human and wider living communities to be positive agents of change.
The design evokes the humble Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea virginica), a powerful partner of humanity for millenia in shaping and protecting coastlines and coastal ecosystems around the world. It also includes the crescent shape of the moon and the deep indigo of the Atlantic to evoke the role of tides in linking the oyster's local ecological impacts to the wider ocean.
At-A-Glance
The Hope Summit Film Festival
Presented by Enduring Curiosity
The Charleston Museum
Friday, September 29th, 4 - 9:30 PM
360 Meeting Street, Charleston, SC 29403
Enduring Curiosity presents The Hope Summit's debut Film Festival at The Charleston Museum.
Join us for two blocks of inspirational films including a Family Matinee Afternoon Shorts Block Curated by the International Ocean Film Festival, and a Feature Screening of "River" followed by an expert panel.
Hope Summit
Experiences
Charleston
Sunday, September 29th
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Adventures and excursions hosted by partner organizations of The Hope Summit including a morning interpretive creek walk, Casual Crabbing with Tia, and a sunset meditation sail on the harbor.
The Hope Summit
Community Solutions Festival
Downtown Charleston -- 416 King Street Courtyard
Sunday, September 29th -- 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
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The Hope Summit Festival returns for its third year in person. Meet dozens of local nonprofits and organizations serving local communities, browse the sustainable ecopreneurs market, explore breathtaking discoveries from the Blake Plateau, and discover the many ways you can be part of future you want to see in our community.
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This is a family-friendly event that is free and open to the public.
The Hope Summit 2024 Conference
Hosted by the Carolina Ocean Alliance
The Charleston Museum
Monday - Tuesday, September 30th - October 1st
360 Meeting St, Charleston, SC 29403
The Hope Summit Conference returns for its second year in person as a two-day conference "reshaping our relationship with water, waterways, and the ocean through community-driven solutions. Through mainstage panels, inspiring speakers, and an opening program honoring the late Dr. Wallace J. Nichols (founder of The Blue Mind Movement), we will explore intersectional and multi-disciplinary issues like Living with Water, citizen science, youth leadership to protect deep-sea ecosystems from mining, storytelling as a catalyst for stewardship, the blue economy, maritime mobility, plastic pollution, ecosystem restoration, and innovative visions of community-co-management and inter-jurisdictional stewardship of waterways and the ocean.​
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Conference passes go on sale on April 22nd. Applications for sponsored student and early career professional passes open on April 22nd.
Sustainability
All events risk becoming unnecessarily wasteful. The Hope Summit organizers, partners, vendors, and attendees all have a shared responsibility to reduce their waste and emissions. Learn how you can do your part.
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Make your commitment to accomplish the tasks below:
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Carpool, walk, bike, or take public transportation
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Look before you throw and use the correct recycling and compost bins
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Utilize reusable cups or water bottles while at The Hope Summit
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Eat locally sourced options from the food vendors on-site or from our list of sustainable local partners, bring reusable utensils, and purchase beverages contained in recyclable metals.
