The second Untitled festival in September was an experiment on developing an agenda for transformation together. Each session was a building block of this agenda. To bridge the diverse topics covered across the two days, we asked the hosts to contribute insights from their sessions on the ongoing social transformation to our agenda development process.
The ideas from the sessions documented by their hosts and the links between different topics can be seen in our Agenda Landscape, which provides a bird’s eye view of the agenda tracks and discussions that took place in the festival sessions.
All in all, the festival provided an excellent opportunity to discover various radical ideas and perspectives from across the world. We believe we can safely say that it was also successful in making us reflect upon our methods of making a change and interacting with each other.
Generating insights for the agenda would not have been possible without the positive and active engagement of all of our 350 imagineers (as we call the festival participants), from 34 different countries in all inhabited continents. The level of engagement and quality of conversations amazed many of our session hosts. This magic of the Untitled community we’ve experienced at the festival both years. Us at the Untitled team do acknowledge our share in creating the magic: we put a lot of effort in who to invite, in setting the tone before the Festival and creating an intimate, brave and playful (online) space. Still, the participants exceed our expectations.
“I wish I could attend every session. It was an invigorating experience that reminded me that thinking big is not extravagant but necessary. Congratulations and gratitude to every person and organisation who is holding this space and believing in inspiring possibilities for the future. Thank you.” – feedback from a Festival participant
The festival allowed us to make good progress towards compiling the agenda, but the work has only begun.
One aspect of the agenda that did not come through strongly during the festival is the tensions and conflicts that arise when weighing our visions and plans for societal transformation. This was not unexpected, as it is often easier to concentrate on the things that unite us, and work towards consensus.
However, understanding the inevitable tensions that arise with new ideas, and the apprehensions some may have with certain paths of societal transformation allows us to improve our approaches in a safe environment.
Moving onwards from the festival, we continue our long-term agenda process co-developing different aspects within the Untitled Alliance. Different members of our community have a particular expertise or interest in specific elements of the agenda, such as reimagining democracy and governance, technological development, or the premises of economies. How these different ideas and viewpoints will create a shared agenda for transformation is an interesting exercise.
The process of creating our agenda is experimental and mutually shared. There is no individual creator of the agenda, as it is based on the insights, innovations, and viewpoints of the members of our community. Its content will always evolve to reflect the shifts in our thinking and the world around us.
Jointly, we will be taking steps in the coming months to take forward both our agenda for transformation and the method to create it. Following the festival, different Untitled members will form groups to continue exploring and working on different aspects of the agenda.
If you have good (or bad) experiences on collectively creating an agenda, please contact us, we would highly appreciate your insights!
