Deep dive into the imagination as a force for change.
When do we find time to dream? When do we really get the chance to flex our imagination and practice long term thinking, to look into the future and imagine where we could go? Or to look into the past, to reconnect with what has been lost? When do we make space to reimagine ourselves and ways we could live differently? To move into new relations, with those already around us or those who may think differently from us? When does our imagination run wild, to reimagine our environments, the places we live and the land that holds us?
In this rich, creative discussion we will hear from those who can help us relearn our childlike sense of possibility and ground us in ways we can practice imagination in our everyday lives.
This discussion has been especially curated for CHANGE Festival. Speakers include Tom Ross Williams, Izzy McLeod and Tuula Sharma Vassvik, with Amisha Ghadiali as host.
SPEAKERS:
Tom Ross Williams
A theatre-maker, filmmaker, performer and activist. For the last 3 years they have been developing ‘Love Letters to A Livable Future’ as a performer and deviser with Metis. For 6 years they were the Creative Director of The Advocacy Academy, a social justice organisation for young people from South London, focusing on the intersection of art and activism and the practice of co-creation. They are currently directing and co-creating My Uncle Is Not Pablo Escobar with Latinx activists, which was performed at Paines Plough’s Roundabout this summer.
Lorna Rees
Lorna is an activist and outdoor artist. She is Artistic Director of Gobbledegook Theatre, a multidisciplinary arts practice who make innovative, national and international touring work, usually inspired by Earth Sciences. Her major works include communal cloudgazing (Cloudscapes) and encouraging audiences to listen to geological processes (Geophonic, Ear Trumpet). Lorna also has a long history of socially engaged practice and makes political and social interventions under the title of ‘Disruption and Joy’. Lorna is on the board of Outdoor Arts UK and is Artist in Residence for CHANGE Festival 2021.
Cindy Forde
Cindy is founder of Planetari, an education platform aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals that equips children be the innovators of a better world. As MD of the Blue Marine Foundation she helped form the Great British Oceans Coalition, persuading the UK government to establish the largest marine protected areas in the world. As CEO of Cambridge Science Centre she created hands-on discovery programmes for children to learn key skills needed for national development. Her children’s book ‘Bright New World’ will be published by Welbeck in 2022.
Izzy McLeod
Izzy aka The Quirky Environmentalist is a Renewable energy graduate, activist, and organiser who focuses mainly on sustainable fashion and the climate crisis. A lover of colour, clothes swapping, second hand, and upcycling, as well as paying garment workers living wages and working towards a better future for all.
Hosted by Amisha Ghadiali
Amisha is a gifted facilitator, author, mentor and host of the globally acclaimed podcast The Future Is Beautiful. She is interested in where our inner and outer worlds dance. Her podcast and learning platform weaves together Politics, Spirituality, Creativity and Sustainability - to inspire us each to rise up, move beyond silos and Co-Create a Beautiful Future. She has extensive backgrounds in sustainable fashion, socially conscious entrepreneurship, activism, meditation and yoga. She works one-to-one with her Beautiful Leadership Mentoring program guiding others to live their values from a place of both collective and personal wellbeing. Amisha wrote a book called “INTUITION” during the global lockdown of 2020 which was published by DK Books.
The RISE UP discussion series has been created in partnership with Reboot the Future, a foundation that is helping to build a generation of people who refuse to believe that the future is foreclosed, and Amisha Ghadiali, host of The Future Is Beautiful, a podcast, a space for deep long conversations about things that matter
Time and Date: 14.00-15.30 Saturday 6th November
Cost: £8 (discounts available for multiple event purchases)
Age: 12+