PM BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Rural and urban communities feel worlds apart, yet are profoundly interdependent. From the farms to the corner store, the policing to the prisons, the water source to the tap, the systems we rely on cross the boundaries between rural and urban, especially our man-made boundaries of race, politics, and citizenship. But fear and misinformation have turned these boundaries into barriers, and divided we fall. Embracing our interdependence is crucial for the path towards equitable and sustainable systems of food, water, public safety, energy, public health, and much more. What can we learn from...

Youth Vs. Apocalypse is a frontline youth-driven climate justice organization. Their collective action aims to lift the voices of youth, in particular youth of color and working class youth, in the fight for a livable climate and an equitable, sustainable, and just world. YVA brings together young people and adult allies by being clear that Climate change comes from the same system that has exploited people based on race, class, gender and more for generations. Join us to discuss building community, meeting people where they are, and how we decide where to put our attention.

Alphabet Rockers (2020 OBI Artist-in-Residence) reveal how their songwriting process relies on inquiry into the human experience to effect cultural change. This anti-racist work centers children and families, listening to the questions they hold and developing musical responses. The process and products are intergenerational spaces for envisioning, finding joy and building cultural infrastructures of care and understanding. In this session they’ll focus on three projects that demonstrate how they embrace human experiences (LISTENING), embody community practices (EXPANDING), and use their art...

Corporations have solved problems and created bigger problems, sometimes resulting in changing our lives for the better and sometimes exacting harm. Their scale of influence on people and the planet is unprecedented. Consequently, there is a divide that exists between corporations and those working in the NGO sector. Yet to face a world in crisis, we need each other. There are indicators of change in the business world, from the rise in Environmental Social Governance (ESG) to collective activism. A new kind of leadership and partnership is emerging, bridging sectors and movements to advance...

Israel-Palestine has long been referred to as the center of the world's most intractable conflict, but is it? The case study of Palestine-Israel human rights organizing allows us to consider real world challenges of bridging: How do you bridge for the greater good when there are serious power imbalances between groups or individuals, or when you're up against overwhelming narratives that promote endless conflict? In the work for structures that include all people, what can you gain and what can you lose by bridging? How do people navigate the messiness of long-bridging, and how do group...

The passage of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990 ensured disabled people equal opportunity under the law, but, as disability advocates Judith Heumann and John Wodatch have written, “[L]aws can only do so much.” Indeed, although disabled people make up 20 percent of the US population—constituting the largest minority group in the country—they remain severely underrepresented in spaces of power and influence. In spite of increasing public awareness around disability issues, disabled people continue to remain largely locked outside our halls of power, with real...

The appropriate scope of the government's role in society is a point of great debate and division. Government agencies carry the legacy of violence against and dispossession of Black, Indigenous and People of Color communities, and are often gatekeepers instead of allies, limiting the ways communities most impacted by injustice can shape consequential decisions about their neighborhoods, cities, and homelands. This can pose significant challenges to community self-determination, sovereignty, and collective vision. This session will explore the complexities of bridge building between the planet...

Black leaders have lived at the intersection of protecting Black lives for longer than the hashtag’s lifecycle. The epidemic of police violence and community violence have long been lasting effects of structural racism and systemic inequity facing Black families. The question becomes, “How do we provide safety and security for Black people from the state and the conditions that fuel intercommunal violence?” Some leaders have led the call for public safety transformation, police abolition and a radical reimagining of security since the killing of Mike Brown in Ferguson, MO. While the emergence...

Studio Pathways hosts a second arts-based interactive workshop, addressing the heirlooms and accessories that we carry and display, often unconsciously, and how to let go of the ones we no longer need and allow for healing in their place. This workshop dives into ancestral listening and activation. Come ready to engage with the past as we bridge to the future. Please bring an heirloom (doesn't have to be something from a family line), something to write on and something to write with. This workshop builds from the morning session Breaking Patterns (attendance at both sessions is not required).