THROUGH CULTURAL & INNOVATIVE PRACTICES , WE WORK WITH ORGANIZATIONS AND COMMUNITIES TO
close the imagination gap and expand possibilities,
build understanding, shared experiences and pathways to action,
Enhance public good & resiliency.
HERE IS SOME OF WHAT WE HAVE BEEN UP TO…..
We embed practices and tools in existing initiatives, develop iterative and scalable programmes, design events, build networks, and provide advisory services.
Building on History – learning from and preserving cultural heritage
Public Art & History — Worked with youth to create new historical markers on the early Black population in Rhinebeck and to contextualize their representation in postal art murals. Used augmented reality to create and place student historical markers. Learn More EMBED :: CULTURE :: TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION
(Re)Making the Present – thinking, practices, connections
Biomimicry for Youth Piloted the Biomimicry Youth Design Challenge for late-elementary-school children to promote sustainable design practices and strengthen connections between youth and nature. The team created a nature-inspired solution for a community challenge – regular flooding from climate change - and won the national competition in the middle school age group. Feedback informed biomimicry youth strategy. ADVISE :: INNOVATION
Extended Reality Challenge – Youth design challenge which tasked participants to use extended reality platforms for the improvement of local communities. Solutions ranged from immersive learning, to a geofenced wolf/elk “tag” running game, to community mapping. This informed augmented reality projects. BUILD :: TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION
Imagining Futures – audacious, possible, and getting to the desired.
Youth Voices — Engaging youth in futures thinking as part of community planning and development, through exercises and conversations, real-world observation and mapping, and speculative design. This informed the nationally award winning Rhinebeck Comprehensive Plan. Project site · Highlight from Teach the Future EMBED :: CULTURE :: INNOVATION
Minecraft Worlds – Youth challenge under the Architecture, Engineering and Construction Hackathon. In the Minecraft platform, participants were tasked with creating resilient villages that used green energy and managed scarce water supplies, foreseen under climate change. Teams presented to premier industry organizations, the NYC CTO, and were gifted the main Hackathon prize money. EMBED :: TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION
Summit of the Future — A youth based public art project for the UN Summit of the Future with artist Norm Magnusson and in collaboration with the UN Youth Office, ITU, and Teach the Future. Young people around the world reflected on the role of public art in civic engagement, undertook the practice of futures thinking, and submitted texts for “historical markers from the future” which celebrated future deeds – on issues like food systems, responsible technology, creativity, ecology, human rights - that led to better futures. Augmented reality Markers were placed around the UN complex. Tactical Public ARt BUILD :: CULTURE :: TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION
Model Mars — Invited youth from around the world to simulate living in a future society on Mars, working collaboratively to solve story-based, interdisciplinary problems that tested futures, systems, and design thinking skills. Teams engaged in speculative design for a Museum of the Future, helped build a planetary-wide Mars Commons, then translated their insights to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals on Earth. Presented at the UN and Mars Society. Piloted in five countries. Learn more BUILD :: CULTURE :: INNOVATION
