The article discusses the ‘Sing Wild Seeds’ project, a collaboration between the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Earth/Percent, led by Brian Eno. This initiative aims to engage musicians and audiences in co-creating music that envisions preferred futures, blending music-making with experiential futures to enhance public imagination. The project facilitates participatory processes where musicians develop unique performances and songs based on future scenarios, exploring themes like social justice and environmental sustainability. Initial workshops utilized creative exercises to inspire songwriting, resulting in imaginative compositions performed at events like Glastonbury Festival. The project seeks to cultivate a cultural capacity for collective dreaming and shaping of future possibilities through music.
| name | description | change | 10-year | driving-force | relevancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Music as a Tool for Imagination | Utilizing music-making to foster collective imagination and envision preferred futures. | Shift from traditional decision-making strategies to experiential futures through music. | In 10 years, music might play a crucial role in community-driven future planning and social change. | The desire for more participatory and creative approaches to social change and imagination. | 4 |
| Collaborative Worldbuilding | Engaging musicians and audiences in co-creating songs about desired futures. | Transition from individualistic art creation to collaborative future-oriented experiences. | Expect more collaborative art projects that blend creativity with social foresight and community engagement. | The increasing recognition of community involvement in shaping cultural narratives and futures. | 5 |
| Experiential Futures Initiatives | Growing trend of organizations using experiential futures to engage public imagination. | From passive consumption of art to active participation in future imagining. | More organizations may adopt experiential futures to inspire collective action and social change. | The need for innovative methods to engage communities in meaningful dialogue about the future. | 5 |
| Public Imagination as Cultural Capacity | Developing public imagination as a skill for shaping societal change. | Shift from viewing imagination as abstract to recognizing its practical importance in social foresight. | In 10 years, public imagination might be recognized as essential for fostering resilient communities. | The urgency of addressing complex social issues through enhanced collective creativity and foresight. | 4 |
| Imagination Infrastructures | Creating supportive environments for collective imagination to thrive. | From isolated creative practices to structured environments that nurture collective innovation. | Future projects may increasingly focus on building infrastructures that support community imagination. | The realization that collective creativity can lead to meaningful social transformation. | 3 |
| Integration of Senses in Imagination | Using various sensory experiences to enhance futures thinking. | Transition from visual-centric imagination to a more holistic sensory approach. | In 10 years, sensory-rich experiences could be standard in future envisioning practices. | The understanding that multi-sensory engagement enriches the imaginative process. | 4 |
| Prefigurative Politics through Music | Using music as a medium for enacting desired social changes. | From traditional political engagement to artistic expressions of preferred futures. | Music might increasingly be viewed as a legitimate form of political expression and activism. | The desire for alternative methods of political engagement that resonate with diverse communities. | 4 |
| name | description | relevancy |
|---|---|---|
| Cultural Capacity for Change | Concerns about whether society can effectively use collective imagination to enact transformative social change. | 4 |
| Accessibility of Experiential Futures | The risk that not all communities have equal access to experiential futures methodologies, potentially leading to unequal participation in shaping futures. | 4 |
| Musical Co-Creation Complexity | Challenges related to the complexity of integrating diverse musical practices with futures thinking could lead to uneven outcomes in engagement. | 3 |
| Public Engagement in Futures Thinking | If public engagement in futures thinking remains limited, the potential for democratic participation in societal change may be compromised. | 4 |
| Instrumentalization of Art for Change | The potential risk that artistic endeavors may be solely viewed as tools for change, losing the intrinsic value of art in the process. | 4 |
| Sustainability of Initiatives | Concerns about whether initiatives like Sing Wild Seeds can be sustained over time to effect long-term societal change. | 3 |
| Variability in Creative Outcomes | Differences in how musicians interpret futures could lead to inconsistent or unforeseen messages in public discourse. | 3 |
| name | description | relevancy |
|---|---|---|
| Musical Co-Creation for Future Imagining | Engaging musicians and audiences to collaboratively imagine and create songs that embody preferred futures, fostering participatory futures thinking. | 5 |
| Experiential Futures Practices | Utilizing music-making to develop collective imagination and social foresight, moving beyond traditional strategic planning to cultural context. | 5 |
| Imagination Infrastructures | Creating conditions that nurture collective imagination and cultural capacity for social change, likened to gardening for ideas. | 4 |
| Guided Multisensory Imagination Exercises | Incorporating various senses in futures exploration, such as auditory experiences, to enhance creativity and engagement in envisioning futures. | 4 |
| Prefigurative Politics Through Music | Using music not just as entertainment but as a medium for collective imagining and solidarity, promoting desired social futures. | 5 |
| Participatory Process Design | Supporting musicians in designing their own participatory processes to engage audiences, emphasizing localized and context-specific approaches. | 4 |
| Fast and Slow Creative Response Techniques | Employing contrasting tempos in creative exercises to elicit different modes of thinking and engagement in future scenarios. | 4 |
| description | relevancy | src |
|---|---|---|
| Combining music-making with experiential futures to foster collective imagination and social foresight for desired change. | 4 | a765ea1e036c214ca840f3b16a1bc4a3 |
| Creating cultural conditions that support and nurture collective imagination to visualize and enact preferred futures. | 4 | a765ea1e036c214ca840f3b16a1bc4a3 |
| Engaging musicians and audiences in co-creating music that reflects and shapes future possibilities. | 5 | a765ea1e036c214ca840f3b16a1bc4a3 |
| Using guided meditation techniques to explore and imagine alternative futures through auditory experiences. | 3 | a765ea1e036c214ca840f3b16a1bc4a3 |
| Methods for envisioning and designing preferred futures in creative and participatory ways. | 4 | a765ea1e036c214ca840f3b16a1bc4a3 |
| name | description | relevancy |
|---|---|---|
| Cultural Imagination in Music | Using music as a tool to cultivate public imagination and envision preferred futures through creative co-creation. | 4 |
| Experiential Futures | The integration of experiential futures with music to enhance collective foresight and shape societal change. | 5 |
| Participatory Art Practices | Engaging audiences in the creative process of music-making to foster community and shared visions of the future. | 4 |
| Imagination Infrastructures | Developing systems that support the growth of collective imagination and cultural capacity for social change. | 3 |
| Prefigurative Politics through Music | Using music to enact and visualize desired futures as a form of political expression and community building. | 4 |