The 13th annual Whistleblower Summit & Film Festival will make its historic return to Arkansas this summer, offering a powerful retreat for truth-tellers amid today's challenging political landscape. Live events will be hosted at prestigious venues including the Clinton Presidential Library Center, Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, and the Martha Mitchell House & Museum from July 30 to August 1, 2025, with extended hybrid programming running from July 27 to August 3.

This year's compelling theme, "Whistleblowers—Now More Than Ever," underscores the critical role whistleblowers play in ensuring transparency and accountability in our democracy. The festival will feature groundbreaking films, renowned speakers, and thought-provoking panel discussions celebrating those who risk everything to expose corruption and wrongdoing."

Democracies rely on whistleblowers," emphasizes Marcel Reid, Co-Founder and Festival Director. "While we typically hold the summit on Capitol Hill, this year we're creating a whistleblower retreat in Arkansas, away from Washington's drama, offering our community a unique opportunity to reenergize and reorganize at the historic Clinton Library."

This prestigious event will take place from July 30 to August 1, 2025, featuring the timely theme "Whistleblowers—Now More Than Ever." For the first time in the summit's distinguished history, we will conduct a groundbreaking simulcast between Capitol Hill in Washington, DC and the Clinton Presidential Library, creating an unprecedented platform for dialogue between whistleblowers, advocates, and policymakers across both locations.

Arkansas holds a unique and distinguished place in American whistleblower history. Our state is the proud home of Martha Mitchell of Pine Bluff, whose courageous decision to expose the Watergate scandal earned her recognition as one of America's most consequential whistleblowers. President Nixon himself acknowledged her pivotal role in his administration's downfall. We will honor her legacy by commemorating Martha Mitchell Day on July 30—National Whistleblower Appreciation Day—making Arkansas's participation in this event particularly meaningful.

This year's return to Arkansas represents a pilgrimage to the home state of Martha Mitchell, one of America's most consequential whistleblowers. As the wife of Attorney General John Mitchell during the Nixon administration, she became an unlikely hero when she began making late-night calls to reporters about the administration's involvement in the Watergate break-in. Her decision to speak truth to power resulted in her being drugged, kidnapped, and subjected to a smear campaign so severe that the psychological tactic of discrediting whistleblowers is now known as "the Martha Mitchell effect."

By retreating from Washington's political intensity to the home state of Martha Mitchell, the festival creates space for reflection on what motivates truth-tellers to come forward. It offers a chance to consider what kind of society we want—one where truth is sacrificed at the altar of power, or one where ethical courage is recognized as the backbone of democratic governance.