Programming Themes
Themes 2
Fertile Soils, Abundant Worlds
As we confront the myriad conditions for catastrophe that surround us, we can also rely on imagination, collaboration, and creativity to chart different courses. Building on the works of Octavia Butler, Ross Gay, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Beronda Montgomery, Kathleen Fitzpatrick, and more, we open spaces for emergence of new ideas and considerations. Beyond binary frameworks of freedom and oppression or those perpetuated by scarcity mindsets, these invocations envision liberation and abundance beyond familiar domains. We consider abundance and growth, not as quantifiable, but as vehicles for connection, awareness, consideration, and capacity, acknowledging that unknowable and many possibilities can take root in collective wisdom.
The Future University
Higher Education looks different today. Disciplines are in constant flux. Technology is revolutionizing intellectual inquiry, research, and production. Teaching styles and classroom structures are accommodating an exponential growth in knowledge and increased societal complexity, with the mission of advancing human well-being. Yet, much of the “modern” university is still rooted in its centuries-old traditions, structures, and practices.
Humans in a More-Than-Human World
Through these events and initiatives, The Commons presents creative, scholarly, exploratory, and investigative ideas that highlight reciprocal ways of knowing. Through a nontraditional worldview, this series aims to combine forms of knowledge (traditional, scientific, technical, creative, visual, narrative, etc.) In this series, The Commons and collaborative partners will explore known and possible ways to understand the role humans play as individuals and as a species, challenge us to consider new and more perspectives, and listen for voices we are less attuned to hearing.
Themes 3
Our Shared Planet: Climate, Story, Relationship, and Responsibility
Through programs in this series, programs charge us to consider our individual and collective responsibilities to the planet. Programs in this series feature artists, storytellers, climate scientists, and many others who have thought deeply about reciprocity and identifying individual gifts for service.
Repair, Healing, and Reconciliation
Confronted by multiple crises, including but not limited to COVID-19, the threat of misinformation and disinformation, climate injustice, and health disparities, humans face a global reckoning. Through programming in this series, we consider our roles in the current moment--from the most local to the global--by drawing upon collective wisdom, individual experience, and current research.