A Conversation Series Offering Alternatives After Insurrection. Register here.

About this Event

January 6, 2021 is, indeed, a day that must not be forgotten or minimized in the history of democracy. The Capitol Insurrection was an eruption to the surface of so many structural and systemic crises of which many Americans may have still been in denial. Yet for others, themselves impacted by these systems, and for observers outside the US, it was a day long expected. While Congress, the courts, and the media struggle for accountability for the uprising and ask ‘How did we get to such a point,’ we wanted to convene futurists and visionaries to look the other way from January 6 – forward. Where do we go from here, who is already there, and what can we all do to embody a future free from the antidemocratic, systemic inequities laid bare on January 6th?

Sparked by the January 6th capitol riots, the Centre for Social Innovation (based in NYC and Toronto) is partnering with the Artists’ Literacies Institute hosting speakers from the US and Canada for a facilitated, cross border conversation to illuminate the emerging future an equitable democracy. Who is actually working on community based policing? Who is doing the work to disentangle our systems from white supremacy? What does the future of media look like? What municipalities are moving to end gerrymandering?

“Future Facing” will be a series of conversations with thought leaders/artists/futurists about the following topics:

(1) Racial/Social Justice – Friday, March 12th

(2) Voter Suppression – Friday, March 19th

(3) Media- Friday, March 26th

(4) Masculinity – Friday, April 2nd

Each discussion will begin by clearly facing some aspect of the January 6 insurrection, and from there we’ll explore questions like: How does systemic inequity manifest itself in these images and videos? What alternative models to those systems are emerging? ‘Another world is possible,’ and in many cases, it is already being lived. What does it look like, and how can we encourage its expansion?

Goal

To recognize progress when we see it. Attendees will understand the essentials about some of the systems that led to January 6th, as well as the alternative models that will make our old systems obsolete. The outcome of this series is a report of recommendations, guides, models for equitable human rights organizing.