Penny Hay, Andy Middleton, and Joanna Choukeir: Imagination to respond to the Crisis

What would it take for us to respond to the planetary Crisis with our collective imagination(s)?

This is a special episode: a conversation between three thinker-doers around this question. Their complementary backgrounds augment the importance of the message.

Penny Hay is an artist and educator, Research Fellow in the Centre for Cultural and Creative Industries, Reader in Creative Teaching and Learning, Senior Lecturer in Arts Education at Bath Spa University and Director of Research for House of Imagination, an arts research charity.

Andy Middleton brings over 30 years of experience as Managing Director and Chief Exploration Officer at the TYF Group, which creates experiences that help people connect deeply to nature and purpose to trigger transformative shifts in life and at work. He is also a Partner at NOW Partners and one of the most versatile people I know.

Joanna Choukeir is the Director of Design and Innovation at the RSA. She is a life-centric designer with serveal hats: practitioner, entrepreneur, thought leader, and educator. Previously, Joanna was Health Director at FutureGov and had spent 10 years leading Uscreates – a service design agency for health and wellbeing.

We discuss:

🥥 The connectedness and interdependence of all things, including the crises we face as a civilization and alongside all other life forms—there is but one Crisis;

🥥 The importance of creating safe spaces for imagination if we are to respond to the Crisis as connected to ourselves and all life;

🥥 How values underpin learning rather than curriculum and thus should be cared for ecologically.

Check out the Coconut Thinking website https://coconut-thinking.design, where you'll find our articles, podcasts, conference presentations, resources, and more.