Festival of What Works Banner

The Center has Fallen

Date & Time
Sunday, November 7, 2021, 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Description

The world continues to change around us at a rapid pace. Old paradigms and models of what constitutes success are outdated. The most interesting work, in art, science, business, and conservation no longer happens in the academy or in urban centers. It is coming from communities and individuals on the edges. Hear from a range of individuals working in finance, technology, ecology, art and social justice who are doing great outside of traditional social structures—and why. The center has truly fallen. Where will the next great idea come from?

Session Type
Panel
Session Tags
Social Justice, Climate Justice, Economy & Entrepreneurship, Art, Cultural Transformation, Innovation/Technology, Systems Change
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Featuring:

Christopher Brookfield designs networks that empower people. His focus has been on edge communities. He appreciates what works, including dynamics such as self organization, trust, locality, immersion, openness, emergence, replication and especially interdisciplinary creative collaboration. He’s a founder of Elevar Equity, which within its thesis of human-centered venture capital, has invested exclusively for edge communities world-wide. With Northwest Venture Associates and Eagle River, he was an early participant in the development of many network and Internet companies. He is a co-founder of Woolley Market, investor in Skagit Valley Malting and director of Cairnspring Mills, all companies building community with food in Skagit County. Chris has taught innovation at Western Washington University and lectured at many institutions including UC Berkeley, Northwestern University, University of Washington, the London School of Economics, Tufts University, the Indian School of Business and the US State Department. He is also the author of A Field Guide for Systemic Social Change, Inspired by Culture (2019, forthcoming). He lives with his family in Vancouver, BC where his wife Dr. Michelle Koppes is a tenured professor of climate science at UBC.
Chris Brookfield
Spencer B. Beebe is a founding partner of Salmon Nation and founder and former president of Ecotrust. A lifetime conservationist (The Nature Conservancy, Conservation International), Spencer is a legendary fundraiser and a pioneer in leveraging capital for positive social and environmental impact.
Spencer Beebe
Julia Pope is a technology entrepreneur and communications strategist with a background in political organizing, digital advocacy, and public media. She is the co-founder of Hylo, an open source collaboration app that was recently acquired by Holochain. She currently serves on the governing council of Coventina Foundation (formerly CEPTR, part of the Holochain ecosystem), and on the founding team of the Consilience Project. She lives in the Bay Area and is active as an advisor to startups and projects that support existential hope.
Julia Pope
M. RAKO FABIONAR is an educator, changemaker and mystic who creates transformative learning environments for people to experience deeper connection, insight, and well-being. He is sought after for his healing presence and capacity to support people during times of transition. Rako has over twenty years of experience designing equity and inclusion initiatives and integrative leadership programs for universities, community-based organizations, businesses, and change networks. He believes that systemic change requires engaging individual and collective shadow, and especially those traumas that persist from generation to generation. To support this kind of transformational work, Rako draws from developmental psychology, indigenous and other wisdom traditions, as well as insights from ethnic studies and regenerative design. He is the co-founder of Kinship Blooms, a social enterprise that draws from translineage insights (ancestral, cultural, intellectual and spiritual) to cultivate regenerative and equitable futures.
Rako is a founding Raven of Salmon Nation and a founding member of the Guild of Future Architects. He also stewards healing and transformative initiatives through the Center for Babaylan Studies, How We Deepen and Retreat Center Collaboration networks.
You can learn more about his work at www.kinshipblooms.life and www.rako.life.
M. Rako Fabionar

Moderated By

Patrick Walsh is a theatre director and producer who believes in the power of language, art, and community to change lives. His work has been seen across the United States of America. He currently serves as the Executive Artistic Director of Northwest Classical Theatre Collaborative Inc, touring classic theatrical stories to culturally under-served audiences; bringing art to people who have the least access to it and knitting rooms together throughout the state of Oregon.

Locally, in Oregon, Patrick’s directing work has been seen at Northwest Classical Theatre Collaborative, Defunkt Theatre, Portland Actors Ensemble, Post5 Theatre, Bag&Baggage Productions, the Fertile Ground Festival, and at Two Rivers Correctional Facility where Patrick volunteers through the Arts in Prison program. Work across the country includes credits at Chautauqua Theatre Company, The Guthrie Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Compass Rose Theatre, Theater Workshop of Nantucket, Steppenwolf Theatre, and the Hangar Theater. In addition, Patrick is a proud member of the 2009 Lincoln Center Directors Lab, while also being a recipient of an SDC Foundation Observership, a Chautauqua Theater Company Directing Fellowship, The Leslie O. Fulton Fellowship, and a Drama League Directing Fellowship. Patrick is also a proud founding member of Salmon Nation. https://salmonnation.net/
Patrick Walsh