Originating in collegial conversations between four friends as the Covid-19 pandemic unfolded, these open conversations have expanded into broader dialogues keen to appreciate whether and how we might transform the way we live in the present and create a collective vision for the future; whether the pandemic could, despite – or perhaps because of – its destructiveness, offer the potential for a seismic shift in our world view.

We wanted to uncover the ordinary things that people rediscovered in the early days of lockdown, what they found soulful, regenerative, sustaining, and explore whether these could grow a ‘new order, a new purpose, new and renewed connections. Small things: growing food, teaching children to cook, mending clothes, telling stories.

We sought to encourage conversations that could capture the sense making that people made and wanted to retain. We wanted to gain insight into the creative approaches and design ideas for new ways of living and working that would build not only their resilience, but also the resilience of those around them.

Rethinking our relationship with each other and with nature means not only rethinking our mindset around the economy and the way we live and work, it requires that we rethink –perhaps even reconstruct – our perspective about life in its totality: how we live it, how we support it, how we share it.

With a commitment to an open, inclusive society, this conversation series strives to engage and reflect a diversity of views, voices and experiences in the hope that they may support, design, create, contest, challenge and regenerate a common future from our collective stories of meaning-making.

We believe that we have a moment to co-create a new, shared narrative that collectively determines what is worth holding on to, and what we can let go.