This type of thinking has recently been given significant impetus by the work of the Long Now Foundation. WMDF has no affiliation with the Long Now Foundation, but we share the goal of wanting to spread "Long Now" and "Big Here" thinking. For us, the mix of tradition, education, and global exchange represented by an international festival is beautifully suited for this. 

A large number of WMDF events are free. The responsibility of funding the Festival is taken on by normal Hakodate townspeople, who buy a "Sponsor Pass". This is symbolic of the support of the whole town. The Sponsor Pass expands the time and the space of the Festival: sponsors are encouraged to wear the pass as an advertisement in the run-up to the event, and a large number of shops and restaurants around town offer discounts to pass holders.  

        

Although stage performances may appear to be the focus of the festival, WMDF is all about the changing of world-views. Visiting groups will take away with them a whole new vision of Asia, Japan and Hakodate. Festival-goers will have their horizons expanded. And the people who have the ultimate experience from the Festival? The staff. The WMDF Committee naturally takes the training of staff seriously, so that our meetings typically have some element of study (often with out-of-the-box workshops). This is the most obvious way that peoples' own lives are changed. But our staff meetings bring together people from an extraordinary cross-section of local life, and we are able to realise something of the effects that we can have on the lives of others. Especially once artists start to arrive, we have the rare opportunity to genuinely feel what it means to be a working part of an event that can stay in the hearts and minds of people across the globe for years to come. WMDF is far longer and far bigger inside than out. Care to join us?