How to Unlock The Future Through Imagination at The Conduit—with Phoebe Tickell, Jon Alexander and Joanna Brown
Read about our event at The Conduit to launch our work with local government and celebrate the publishing of our report with Camden Council
Last week on Monday, we hosted a wonderful launch event at The Conduit Club in London, bringing together people from civil society, social innovation, local government and democracy for an event to launch our report on Imagination Activism in local government. Below, you can find the details that were shared for the event, a recording of the full panel and Q&A discussion, and some photos from the event too. The hall was packed and the questions are worth waiting for until the end!
Recording of the event:
Event description: How to Unlock The Future Through Imagination
Imagination is a superpower. Every single change in society started in somebody’s imagination — or in a small group’s collective imagination — from women getting the vote, to the civil rights movement or better services for healthcare. Some say it’s the quality that makes us most uniquely human. But how do you expand the capacity to imagine?
Imagination Activism is an approach and a growing movement that centres around flexing of the muscle of imagination to think differently, shift perspectives and collectively imagine the future. It turns out that imagination is more like a muscle than a talent, and just like any muscle it can be grown. The brain has different neural networks and one is dedicated to imaginative thinking, and it is this network that gets strengthened when engaging in practice.
During 2022, Camden Council became the first local council to train its officers as Imagination Activists. These council officers, from repairs to green spaces to education and childcare, were equipped with practical tools and practices to take imagination into their work, becoming ambassadors for imagination within the organisation. This unleashed a wave of energy, inspirationand changes across the council, with ripples still being seen today. Phase two of the project will train the leadership, embed imagination into the organisation, and take it out to the residents.
Join Phoebe Tickell, the creator of Imagination Activism and the 8 week training, and Jo Brown, the Director of People and Inclusion at Camden and sponsor for this work, in conversation, chaired by Jon Alexander, author of Citizens.
Agenda:
6.00 - 6.45: Jo and Phoebe in conversation (chaired by Jon Alexander)
6.45 - 7.15: Q&A from the audience
7.15 - 8.00: Drinks and networking
About the speakers:
Phoebe Tickell
Phoebe Tickell is a scientist, systems thinker and social activist born in London. She is the creator of Imagination Activism and the Founder of Moral Imaginations, a not-for-profit organisation working with governments, organisations and leaders to drive imagination-powered change across society.
Jo Brown
Jo is the Director of People and Inclusion at Camden Council, and believes in the power of imagination to help create a better future for all.
Jon Alexander
Jon is author of Citizens: Why the Key to Fixing Everything is All of Us - a book that seeks to reframe the moment in time we're living in as one of huge civic opportunity, not just crisis and collapse.
About Imagination Activism:
Imagination Activism describes a new kind of activism focused on building the new over fighting the old. It’s a different form of activism to protest, necessary though it is, and sees people making change by coming together to imagine new, more optimistic futures as a basis for doing the hard work to redesign our economy and public services.
We will talk about this first ever Imagination Activism course and how it has equipped council officers to take the tools and practices of collective imagination back into their teams. We will talk about the six modules of the training and how they work together: Visioning, Fearless Ambition, Psychological Safety, Befriending Failure, Collaborative Leadership and the "Three Pillars" Framework Imagining with Ancestors, Future Generations and Nature.
About Moral Imaginations:
Moral Imaginations is a not for profit organisation to drive a movement of imagination-powered change in society called Imagination Activism. They work with local and national governments, communities and organisations to build imagination capacity and embed imagination into ways of working, decision-making, policy and governance. Their work centres around the Moral Imagining “Three Pillars” Framework of Future Generations, Nature and Ancestors which embeds these three perspectives into decision-making, ways of working and governance. Their work exists to help catalyse life-centric economies, policies and systems of governance.
Photos from the event:
