# data[].attributes.body
GoFA member Karim Ahmad wrote and published "Restoring the Future" in collaboration with fellow GoFA member Tony Patrick, 17 national arts organizations and other luminaries in the media arts field. The report utilizes a worldbuilding practice to design a radically aspirational and abundant media arts system of the future, and detail a series provocations upon which that system is founded, centered in restorative values. Following the publication of the report, Karim & Tony collaborated with Sundance Institute, the NEA, and over 70 other arts organizations to design prototypes toward that future that the participants will now seek to build through 2022.

# data[].attributes.headline
Altered Worlds: Black Utopia and the Age of Acceleration

# data[].attributes.subject
Altered Worlds: Black Utopia and the Age of Acceleration

# data[].attributes.body
GoFA member Janet Wong worked on the 2021 edition of the Live Ideas Festival at New York Live Arts exploring Afrofuturism 2.0.  The Festival which took place May 11-15 was co-curated by Reynaldo Anderson in partnership with the Black Speculative Arts Movement and included an incredible roster of artists, scholars, writers and activists. It culminated with a performance of The Motherboard Suite at Times Square featuring Saul Williams and six choreographers/performers.

# data[].attributes.body
From founding GoFA Member Amelia Winger-Bearskin:
SKY WORLD/CLOUD WORLD, the layer of sky which protects our world, maintains our atmosphere, and has given us the ability to communicate through invisible signals through satellites, tubes, and more importantly through dreams and imagination. Part of the Excavations Governance Archeology for the Future of the Internet cohort 2021 [Click link for full text and video of project]

# data[].attributes.body
GoFA member and Los Angeles Artist Census founder, Tatiana Vahan, along with Cobi Krieger and Sara Constantino, published their first series of reports about the quality of life and creative practices of LA County visual artists. The reports focus on local artists' Art Earnings and Art Expenses, Basic Necessities, Studio Status, and Health Care while examining disparities experienced according to Gender, Race, Queerness, and Ability, within each topic.

The LAAC also received its first grant— thanks to the California Arts Council, and will be seeking matching funds over the next year.

The LAAC is an artist driven research initiative. By inviting fellow local fellow artists into the research process, we gather and publish data that is often overlooked or misinterpreted by the institutions that ordinarily conduct this type of research.

# data[].attributes.body
Christopher Hibma & Lauren Ruffin, emboldened by GoFA, conceived, curated, and produced a 3-day global film+story festival centered on the future of food that was held consecutively with the World Food Forum and the United Nations Food Systems Summit. The content of the inaugural FoodxFilm Festival highlighted, in part, films from around the world showcasing local stories about the impact of climate change on agri-food systems, food supply chains, food environments, food security and urban agriculture.

The FoodxFilm Festival elevated our collective consciousness for radically transformed food ecosystems that center a shared prosperity and well-being for all. The Festival was designed and presented to embrace future architecture and narrative change with XR environments that lifted under-represented voices, including, but not limited to, a global Festival team from Lebanon, Sweden, New Zealand, Ukraine, Italy, Kenya, Australia, Canada, Uganda, and the United States.

Through films as well as through panels and experiences, the 2021 FoodxFilm Festival shared visions for the future of food through story; celebrated the people and global food cultures working to make food systems change; designed a platform that shared voices of the food systems stewards centering voices that have been traditionally muted; facilitated intergenerational and cross-cultural dialogue; offered transcendent experiences that opened the mind and heart; and motivated audiences to take action to create more just and equitable food systems.

Recorded Content (Panels+Events)

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
An excerpt from a visualization of our Socratic Dialogues - Art by: Corrina Keeling (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

# data[].attributes.body
Founding GoFA Member Kaz Brecher continued her role in guiding complex collaboration between 100+ history institutions around the nation and driving strategic innovation and co-creation with Made By Us, shaping the launch of a new tradition this past year, the Civic Season, inviting anyone and everyone to rewind, reflect and reimagine how we understand our collective journey.

"As arguments are made about whether our nation is defined by 1619 or 1776, those of us committed to sharing a more complete picture of our history know it’s both — and historical thinking is anything but a binary exercise. The truth is that we are defined by everything honored during Juneteenth and celebrated on July 4th — AND what is commemorated on Memorial Day and Flag Day and the signing of the 26th Amendment — and even more which is not yet formalized as part of our national celebrations.

So, when the Civics Unplugged and Made By Us teams joined forces to launch a new tradition, one that widens the lens on how we might observe a Civic Season, we rolled our sleeves up with delight. In the spirit of a more inclusive telling of the American story, we hosted three conversations to uncover themes around this season with a mix of Civics Unplugged fellows, civic change makers from our #MBUMonday series, and historians from across our coalition of more than 100 institutions."

We'd love to hear your experience if you hold a Socratic Dialogue of your own this season or heading into Civic Season 2022.

# data[].attributes.body
GoFA members Jessica Clark, Sarah Wolozin and Katerina Cizek are all part of the editorial collective that produces Immerse.news in collaboration with MIT's Open Documentary Lab. We're excited to celebrate our fifth anniversary this fall with a special issue dedicated to the theme "Making the Metaverse." Visit immerse.news to see our latest stories!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Creative discussion of emerging nonfiction storytelling.

# data[].attributes.body
Completing a Fulbright in Pakistan to support scholars there and improve co-creation of knowledge of religion and politics in South Asia.

https://go.fiu.edu/coil_rel

# data[].attributes.body
GoFA member Romain Vakilitabar's project, PopShift, curated 926 one-on-one meetings and 242 small group workshops between Hollywood's leading showrunners/producers and experts from different communities to imagine how scripted entertainment might nudge our world towards a more equitable and pluralistic future... as well as how storytelling power can be more equitably distributed.

# data[].attributes.body
Member Tony Patrick launched Hereborn Park: a theme park infused with black joy and creativity built to inspire liberation. Hereborn Park is designated for all inhabitants underneath the Black diaspora centered around Black fulfillment and wholeness. Debuting across the globe in 2022, Hereborn Park is a collective expression of a cohort of Black dreamers dedicated to cultivating art, experiences, and spaces for those seeking out Black joy. Whether skating through the cosmos, exploring Black meccas, creating music, or experiencing one-of-a-kind themed rides, Hereborn guests are offered a consistent opportunity to celebrate Black culture, embrace personal/collective genius, and express themselves fully.

# data[].attributes.body
Artist and Member Ryat Yezbick collaborated alongside vocalist Anna Pangalou, natural sciences educator Georgina Spyres and Ngallery (Athens) throughout the pandemic to bring you Empirical Reality. This exhibition featured a series of documented performances engaging water as both a vital life source and potential contaminant. The title of the 5-channel installation, Spillover, references the transfer of pathogens from animal to humans while playfully engaging growing anxieties around global pandemics. Juxtaposing the reality of the climate crisis against the incomprehensible and absurd gesture of speaking through water, the audience is invited to sit in the interval between truth, clarity and incoherence.

# data[].attributes.body
Member Jane Saks launched Monuments to Movements (M2M), a new initiative which asks: What is possible when we create, imagine, work, fight, recognize and thrive together? Who, why, and how do we monumentalize in our public spaces? M2M proposes a re-envisioning of monuments, elevating collective action over "hero worship."

# data[].attributes.body
GoFA Member Caroline Woolard organized Art.coop, a 5-part weekly study session for artists and culture workers. The series acknowledged the importance of mutual support, learning, and relationship-building to cultivate creativity.

# data[].attributes.body
UF College of the Arts welcomed ‘AI and the Arts’ faculty cohort to lead research, curriculum, creative practice and interdisciplinary exploration. GoFA Members Heidi Boisvert and Amelia Winger-Bearskin lead the cohort, which represents a variety of artistic and creative disciplines, with each member appointed to a different school or institute within the college.

# data[].attributes.body
GoFA Member Yance Ford joined the writers' room for HBO’s adaptation of The Vanishing Half, the book of 2020 which explores themes of race, family, and identity.  Aziza Barnes and Jeremy O. Harris will write and executive produce the adaptation of Brit Bennett's bestselling novel with Issa Rae and her Hoorae production company joining Bennett as executive producer.

# data[].attributes.body
What are the potentials and perils of deep fake technology for documentary, art, and journalism, within the context of dis- and misinformation? From Member Kat Cizek, in partnership with Witness Media Lab comes a weekly web series that examines critical conversations about deep fakes, satire, human rights, documentary, and journalism.

# data[].attributes.body
This year, GoFA Members Sean Ansett and Paloma Lopez officially launched Suppas! From Future Fit Foods–a woman-and-minority-owned food startup out of Boulder, Colorado–Suppas are handcrafted fully-cooked soups using an ancient Incan preservation technique for maximum nutrient retention and instant freshness. These delicious soups are made with organic and non-GMO ingredients and packaged in pouches made from industrial compostable materials. This is a huge step towards high-quality, affordable, and eco-friendly quick food that is nourishing for the mind, body, and environment. Visit the brand new Suppas store online and read more about how Paloma and Sean are creating new sustainable solutions with the food we love.

# data[].attributes.body
As an international strategist and facilitator, GoFA Member Madelynn Martiniere is working with innovators, entrepreneurs, and executives to build, activate, and scale open innovation ecosystems for a more equitable and sustainable future. She is currently the Managing Partner at Armillaria, a systems design lab working to co-create critical digital infrastructure for a more thriving world. Armillaria was created from the merging of Uncompromise (where Madelynn was the international strategist and facilitator) and Sphaera, an organization founded by Zebra’s Unite (a GoFA Partner Organization) cofounder Dr. Astrid Scholz. Through the mergings and partnerships of these organizations, the group is able to tackle large, seemingly intractable issues

# data[].attributes.body
Scatter, an Emmy award-winning technology studio co-founded by GoFA Members, Yasmin Elayat and Alexander Porter, was featured this month in the prestigious National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) report on technology and the arts. The report includes a case study on Scatter’s approach to building the volumetric filmmaking discipline through tool-building, Depthkit (a creative software tool developed by Scatter), story-making, collaboration, and fostering community. The report found that ”tech-centered artists are admirably poised to grapple with larger societal and sectoral challenges—whether engaging with audiences during the COVID-19 pandemic or responding to calls for greater equity and inclusion in the arts and technology.” Ten essays were authored to act as a companion to the report–some of which came from GoFA staff and Members.

# data[].attributes.body
In May of this year, GoFA Member Kaz Brecher of History Made by Us introduced us to the emergence of a new tradition that encourages us to intentionally reflect on the Civic Season. The initiative was crafted and curated through a partnership with Civics Unplugged and realized through an expansive collaboration of more than 200 organizations across the nation. Between Juneteenth and July Fourth of this year, the initiative generated more than 450 activities across the nation to mobilize us all to Rewind: engage with our past; Reflect: take action in the present, and Reimagine: shape the future, through activations in our neighborhoods, cities, towns and social spaces. Head over to the History Made by Us Instagram page to learn more about the ways they are continuing to engage with the past, present, and future narratives of our nation.

# data[].attributes.body
There is a mounting need for solutions to our national housing crises. Can theater help solve these challenges? A new project called The Most Beautiful Home… Maybe—brought to you by GoFA member, Ashley Sparks—blossomed in four cities: St. Paul, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and Syracuse. Ashley and her collaborators see a greater role for art to play in civic matters. Through photography and performance, the project invited radical imagination into policy spaces, taking the necessary steps to remediate past practices and build a beautiful future where everyone is housed.

# data[].attributes.body
This Juneteenth, Guild of Future Architects and Currents.fm embarked on a deep-space journey of discovery through the COMMON Multiverse. Within the COMMON Multiverse—think of the Multiverse as a festival and planets as concert stages—we discovered planets and portals where Black excellence was celebrated through music, presentations, productions, and more. This special alignment within the Multiverse was called “A Moment In Between.” Hosted by GoFA Member, Kadallah Burrowes, the event featured a lineup of visionary Black women—many of which were GoFA Members—creating new futures in real-time through artistic expression and authentic conversation

# data[].attributes.body
Creative Juneteenth was a virtual celebration of Black excellence created by GoFA Member, Dedren Snead. The fully interactive digital creative space of Creative Juneteenth began by creating an individual avatar which you would then use to navigate virtual space. The event was created to celebrate the incredible works of some of the most innovative minds coming out of the Black diaspora. Be sure to check out SUBSUME, where Dedren continues to create amazing Black collaborations bringing cultural creativity to the sci-fi and fantasy realms.

# data[].attributes.body
This summer, we celebrated alongside the ‘Dazzle Dulas’ as Member Jennifer Brandel and the Zebras Unite Co-op announced the official launch of Inclusive Capital Collective (ICC). ICC is a growing network of community fund managers and entrepreneur support organizations who have been designing and developing shared technical and financial infrastructure for aggregating and deploying financial capital and other resources to entrepreneurs and communities of color in the US. Made known through a series of purpose statements, the goal of ICC is to challenge and overcome white supremacy through equitable access to capital. Through the first in a series of Black Papers, ICC reveals the true scope of wealth inequality in the realm of real estate.

# data[].attributes.body
GoFA Member Tao Goffe had the amazing opportunity to co-lead a summer institute with Cornell University that is all about engaging in critical race theory, global migration studies, and speculative design to map the terrain of the future of global racial justice. With a focus on borders as geopolitical constructs, the initiative considered the long history of planetary human migration, the timeline of racial capitalism, and the requisite geographies of dispossession.

# data[].attributes.body
Stephanie Lepp's video project, Deep Reckonings, was nominated for a Webby award in the category of ‘Weird Video’. The project, Deep Reckonings, is a series of explicitly-marked deepfake videos that imagine the most morally courageous versions of our most controversial public figures. On May 18, Stephanie and Deep Reckonings were announced the winners of two prestigious Awards: the 2021 ‘Weird Video’ category and the people’s voice award

# data[].attributes.body
Deep within Mexico City’s historic city-center is a new “for-us-by-us” artists’ gallery that prioritizes QDTBIPoC folks in areas of representation & support. Co-directed by GoFA Member, Cedric Tai, the art gallery brought together work that spoke to the complicated aspects of representation, but also contrasts of beauty, beliefs, and who gets the ‘benefit of the doubt’.

# data[].attributes.body
Cindy Hue of NYC Women Filmmakers, announced the launch of the NYCWF Network, a private social media platform for filmmakers to crew up, find jobs, and build their network. NYCWF, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, formed in 2015 out of need. Seeing a lack of women on set and at work, Cidney sent out an informal invite to her network. That first meetup of 15 women grew as more women reached out to friends, colleagues, and now, 5 years, 6,000+ Members, and 100+ free events later, comes the official launch of the NYCWF Network.

# data[].attributes.body
STATELESS, a film directed and produced by GoFA Member, Michèle Stephenson was nominated for Best Feature-Length Documentary at the 9th Annual Canadian Screen Awards and was chosen to premiere at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival. STATELESS explores the complex history and present-day politics of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, something Stephenson–who is of Panamanian and Haitian descent–is intimately familiar with. Here, you can watch the trailer.

# data[].attributes.body
GoFA member, Idris Brewster, and the team over at Movers and Shakers NYC unveiled their new app, Kinfolk. The Kinfolk app allows anyone with a smartphone to be able to project digital monuments of historically underrepresented icons wherever they go, through the use of augmented reality. “Black and Brown narratives are being systematically erased within our public spaces and our classrooms—”, Idris remarked in a Netflix interview with Trevor Noah, “—with our app, Kinfolk, we can present a lot of historical information in a way that is digestible for [our] children.”

# data[].attributes.body
A historic achievement from GoFA member, Janice Duncan, and frequent GoFA collaborator, Sophia Nahli Allison— A Love Song for Latasha (produced by Janice and directed by Sophia) has received an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Short Subject. The short film, streaming on Netflix, is a tragedy, not of the death of Latasha Harlins, but of the life that could have been.

# data[].attributes.body
Ari Melenciano was featured in an interview with Forbes magazine called Dispatch from a Black Future, where she discusses her work in community design and adopting radical imagination.

# data[].attributes.body
Sarah Ellis premiered her new production, Dream, online on Saturday, March 13. Dream is inspired by Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and provided a unique opportunity for audiences to directly influence the live performance from wherever they're located worldwide. Audiences experienced a new performance environment easily accessible on their mobile, desktop, or via the website. Listen here for more.

# data[].attributes.body
In celebration of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science (11 Feb), Redefining Space from a Feminist Lens, featured astrophysicist, GoFA member, Dr. Natalie Gosnell in an interview by Bahji Steele.

# data[].attributes.body
In this mesmerizing interactive WebXR experience, the interstitium is the liminal space where reality shifts, challenging us to harness the power of our radical imagination. Featuring work from Members Terence Nance, Stephanie Dinkins, Ari Melenciano, and idris brewster.

# data[].attributes.body
Esther Maloney launched Another World, a short film funded by the Canada Council for the Arts based on a poem she wrote for her son at the beginning of the pandemic. The short was released with a digital book that includes discussion questions for educators and families.

# data[].attributes.body
In January, Eli Pariser and his team at Civic Signals launched the  New_ Public Festival, an online event envisioning the future of digital public space. New_ Public is a place for thinkers, builders, designers, and technologists to meet, share inspiration, and make better digital public spaces.

Read more about the New_Public Festival here.