Our Capacities for Belonging
A case study on how to apply futures literacy for long lasting impact
By Raul Correa-Smith and Loes Damhof
This article describes the journey that FORMS, a community of futures driven people, has gone through so far while using futures literacy as a guiding principle, a torch light, and a compass. As reflection of a work in progress it is meant as a way to look back in order to project itself forward, a short pause in an uncharted path where such a compass can be recalibrated to ensure a fertile collective ride going forward.
The why
Do we all want to belong?
An intuitive response might be yes: this is what connects us all, our desire to belong, to be part of something bigger, whether it be a family, a church or a movement. Humans are social and spiritual animals and so we tend to learn and create meaning in relationship with others. This fosters our desire for belonging, when we retreat to our senses and go beyond the routines of day to day life. When we forget our individual needs for a moment, we are able to find a larger connection to all forms of life.
When people come together in a group to create a project, start a movement or a company, they often spend some time articulating the reasons for being there, as if the quest for purpose needs to be made explicit: Why are we here? What is our sense of community ? And what is our mission? The truth might be that we already know the purpose and why we are there, but we still desire to somehow articulate a place of belonging, through a shared language, a statement, a mission that we can rally behind.
But what if our sense of belonging is not something that can be made explicit? What if there is belonging in the formation process and in the liminal space of not yet being articulate?
Over the course of a life-and-world changing year, a group of people related to futures and purpose driven institutions embarked on a quest with an unknown purpose, based purely on a hunch that such a gathering would generate synergies which could otherwise not occur. Instead of placing a destination on the map, they agreed to only use a compass and see where it could take them.
That compass is futures literacy, and this is their story.
Context
FORMS (Futures Oriented Museums Synergies) is a global community of cultural leaders from museums and institutions whose journey is motivated by a collective desire to explore ways in which their roles can enable and trigger cultural transformation within the public they serve. Starting in October 2019, this network has been on an exploratory quest to invent itself, with the intention to trust the process and allow for emergence along the way. Assisted by a futures literacy expert, Loes Damhof, co-author of this article, and by the team at MOTI New Planetary Narratives who envisioned this community, a series of experimental sessions we designed with the primary aim at building trust, a sense of bonding, and by keeping an open attitude among members of FORMS. As such, this group generously committed to exploring unknown futures and synergies by coming together and collectively exercising their imagination.
What is Futures Literacy and how might it serve as a compass?
Futures Literacy is the capability of imagining and diversifying futures, and using those futures as lenses through which we can look at the present anew (Balcolm Raleigh, N. , Lianaka-Dedouli, I.2020). By exploring all kinds of futures, we can identify the underlying assumptions that inform our decision making and desire for planning and preparation. Becoming aware of those anticipatory assumptions, we can open ourselves up for emergence, for novelty in the present (Miller, 2018).
A way to begin to acquire the capability of futures literacy is through participation in a Futures Literacy Laboratory. These learning-by-doing workshops invite and capture a collective intelligence knowledge creation process for multidisciplinary and diverse groups (Miller, 2018). The labs may vary in duration, but all follow the same learning curve: revealing our assumptions by making our probable and desirable futures explicit, reframing our thinking through an often provocative alternative future, and allowing us to rethink the present.
A Futures Literacy Laboratory is never ‘just’ the actual workshop. Like any capability, it takes practice to master it, and participating in one lab will not make someone futures literate either. Depending on the purpose of the Lab (is it to capture input for a new strategy? Is it to explore novelty?), the organisation and the set up differs according to many variables (who, what and why).
To make full use of a Futures Literacy Lab that is solely designed to use the future for exploration and to detect novelty (FLLab-N), it is wise to follow five stages which all require time and careful design. The five stages can be summarised as: 1) initiation, 2) co-design, 3) repetition, 4) the actual FLLab and 5) the follow up (UNESCO, 2018) .
In times of urgency and amidst a growing need for solutions, we tend to see these kinds of processes as opportunities to come up with answers with a minimal time investment, as quick fixes even. But when doing so, we run the risk of overlooking our underlying assumptions, and therefore making the same mistakes of the past. FORMS, as a collective, took a different approach. By using futures literacy as a compass and a way of working, and by carefully navigating between different ways to use the future, FORMS was able to open itself up to emergence. It took advantage of novelty by implementing a FLLab within the process itself.
Over the course of a year and a half, FORMS went through its own version of the five stages of a FLLab. Not by choice per se, but by trusting the compass of futures literacy. Not knowing what this meant when it started, by looking back we can make sense of the complex journey it took to get to where we are:
1) INITIATING COMMUNITY: A TWO DAY IMMERSION IN AMSTERDAM
The first step in the initiation phase took place in October 2019 when all members were invited by initiator MOTI New Planetary Narratives to be part of FORMS, and came together for a full two days of immersion in Amsterdam. Hosted by NEMO Science Museum and by THNK School of Creative Leadership, a wide range of cultural leaders from across the globe, accepted an open ended invitation to “spark a fluid and continuous dialogue between museums as they strive to tackle our planet’s most urgent matters in innovative ways. Despite local and conceptual specificities, particular strategies and narratives, future oriented museums are deeply invested in fostering critical debate and creative means of engagement regarding a variety of issues with the public they serve. Shared interests and an awareness of a need to reframe assumptions point to the ease with which the creation of such a group can yield productive and meaningful connections among these institutions, facilitating new forms of international cultural cooperation and a wider global conversation.”
Over the course of two days this group shared ideas, explored their common interests and got to know each other. Tacit expectations were made explicit, and after this time of familiarization, an overall mission for the long term was formulated:
FORMS MISSION is to promote social experiences and support personal leadership while encouraging international collaborations that ignite action for trust-driven and sustainable futures for all.
An effort was made to hold the space by using sensory ways to explore through cooking, socializing, listening, walking, playing with space and time in order to build trust and acknowledge diversity. For FORMS this meant the start of a community, and one of the questions moving forward was about how to facilitate these gatherings in the future. The decision to meet again in a large gathering was easily agreed upon; Futurium (a founding member of FORMS) and the BMW Foundation (FORMS’ main sponsor) in Berlin would be the next venue set for the following year, 2020. However, not too long after meeting in Amsterdam it became clear that our assumptions would come to a stark halt. With the advent of a global pandemic no physical meeting would be possible. The museums and institutions represented by members of FORMS got temporarily closed to the public, exhibitions and events were cancelled and uncertainties regarding the future became a palpable reality.
Given this unforeseen context, in some ways FORMS became more relevant than ever. Undeterred by the inability to physically come together, FORMS began to assemble through the now ubiquitous Zoom-platform. We tried to collectively make sense and probe ways in which various levels of pain, anxiety and fear could also point to a positive reframe in the role that FORMS could play in this unfolding new reality. Simultaneously, cultural polarization and social injustices were brought to the surface, which prompted further reflections: are cultural institutions in general partially responsible or neglectful? And how can they play a role in advancing empathy, empowerment, activism and community building among the public?
With trust in governments and media at an all time low, the notion that museums hold the highest levels of trust among public opinion added a further level of urgency to explore their potential impact towards more just and sustainable futures.
2) CO-DESIGNING ENGAGEMENT: ONLINE GATHERINGS
Unable to meet in person yet longing for exchanges, FORMS members held a series of online meetings to humbly search for expanded ways in which cultural organis][ations could respond to and advance an agenda resonant with the need for positive action and change. The community had entered the stage of co-design, and in a co-creative effort it used Futures Literacy as a compass to look critically at their own ways of working.
How could the typically slow decision making processes tied to museums be able to respond more quickly to the needs and desires of those whom it serves?
After all, the group’s own assumptions on continuity and discontinuity, space and time were challenged. This probed a larger question: if cultural leaders cannot meet, how can we design meaningful spaces for people to meet?
These questions were openly communicated to the community:
In such times of crisis it might be useful to revisit some questions common to us all, such as: How can we embrace uncertainty? How can we strengthen the bonds of community? How might we promote empathy as a basic condition for the preservation and enhancement of life?
There is so much to talk about and share in this fragile moment for humanity. And yet there might be a desire for silence too. Whatever is emerging, we are in it. This is an opportunity to explore the voids, the fractures, the ghosts, and possible different futures. We believe that such a moment can afford us to discover new ways to see what’s beyond the crisis, and to celebrate the fact that we can count on one other.
In order to fully regroup and connect to an unfolding purpose, the online gatherings were used as a pause and a space to slow down. The meetings were organised around themes and guest speakers, and allowed for the space to fill itself organically. The core team invited writer and thought leader Bayo Akomolafe to engage in a dialogue on decolonizing futures, and the activist and artist Alex Lambie to guide the community through an immersive, meditative fable called ENKI. Although experienced as meaningful and inspiring, the community also felt a need to work on something bigger. And this was made possible through the invitation of Dr. Riel Miller, head of Futures Literacy at UNESCO, for FORMS to participate in the Futures Literacy Summit to take place virtually in December 2020.
Seizing on the opportunity to organise an event for the Summit and to present FORMS to the world, the next step was to decide how we might contribute to this global event. Instead of using this as a global stage to highlight the accomplishments of the museums and institutions represented by the members of FORMS, the group agreed that it would be more meaningful to invite the public, not as a passive audience but as participants to a FORMS session, specially designed for the summit. To design such an event, a core-team decided to use the methodology of a Futures Literacy Lab with the FORMS community. The output, unknown in advance, would become the building blocks for its contribution to the Summit.
3) PREPARING FOR A FUTURES LITERACY LAB
After having decided to design and organise a FLLab as a building block leading up to the Summit, the most pressing question became: what will the topic be?
The collective desire for museums and cultural spaces to do more to instigate community building, diversity, empathy and agency became evident the first time the group met online in 2020. A sense of urgency for cultural spaces to respond with more agility to these prescient issues was deeply felt by all. The fact that these issues were not easy to solve made it all the more desirable to dive deeper into it through a Futures Literacy Lab. Distilling this towards a single theme, that could hold the richness of aspirations by this group, was the subject of one of its online meetings.
FORMS members were randomly assigned to break out groups to discuss which topic to embrace for a Futures Literacy Lab. Starting with three potential themes that were recurrent through the meetings, a collective exercise ensued on The Future of Empowerment, The Future of Activism or The Future of Agency, however a fourth term emerged through a plenary session. The Future of Belonging became the theme that could capture the foundations for the other three themes, according to the members.
With a hunch that belonging would frame a deeper dive into the aspirations of this group, and as an inspiring theme to develop a Lab with the public at the Summit, the next task was for FORMS itself to run its own collective exercise to try and arrive at greater levels of specificity, and on how this could be translated into an open session with the public.
A prominent figure in the fight for social justice in the United States came to our attention and his call for belonging, rather than inclusion, further strengthened FORMS’ choice for an FLLab. John A. Powell has embraced belonging to such an extent to to change the name of the institute he directs from the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society to the more precise Othering and Belonging Institute
But why is such a change important?
To paraphrase him, inclusion implies that one is joining something (an institution, a group, a movement etc) which has already been established, which already has its own profound biases, with the rules, norms and expectations already set. Belonging on the other hand is not about including others within an established group or organisation but that only when we can co-create that which we are joining can we really feel like we belong. The words we use matter and Powell’s deep reflection on belonging as opposed to inclusion show us that even when the intentions behind our words are good we must always challenge our assumptions and dig deeper for ways to articulate ourselves that do not harm that which we stand for.
The lessons learned from John Powell bring to bear on the initial question of this article: Do we all want to belong? And if the answer is yes, can we truly belong if we are joining something which already has a defined mission, values and purpose prior to our joining it? In John’s view only if we can co-create what we are joining, can we really belong to it. Such a seemingly simple argument has profound implications when it comes to creating meaningful relationships. When understanding the importance of trusting a process that starts out tacitly, but that overtime becomes explicit, if what we are joining is open enough to be co-created by those who are part of it. Co-creation then is key to truly fulfilling our aspirations towards empowerment, activism and agency. In this regard the theme that emerged became foundational in terms of framing an attitude of openness. To have the courage to not rush into a precise definition of its mission, but to allow members of this group to arrive at its purpose through a collective intelligence knowledge creation process: it was time for the FLLab.
4) RUNNING A FUTURES LITERACY LAB: THE FUTURE OF BELONGING
Over the course of two days, the community of FORMS engaged in a Futures Literacy Lab and traveled to the The Future of Belonging
Although there was no direct outcome or solution expected, the Lab was designed in a way that its output could serve as the building blocks for a FORMS event at the UNESCO Summit.
The Lab itself characterized the community and its journey. It was open, creative, exploratory, and participants were willing to stretch the boundaries of their imagination. The preparatory work and previous sessions had created an open and safe atmosphere for the participants, which allowed for intellectual risk taking. The first day was dedicated to collecting and sharing probable and desirable futures. The second day was reserved for the reframe, a provocative phase meant to challenge anticipatory assumptions, and allow for new questions to emerge derived from the first two steps.
The fruits of that last step, the new questions, were as wide ranging and eloquent as they come. Without the need to produce any particular outcome, participants felt free to raise fundamental questions regarding belonging from a range of perspectives: humanity, the planet and the role of cultural institutions and museums. These are some examples:
● What is the maximum expression of love?
● How to prevent technology from separating people?
● How many forms of belonging exist? How can technology help instead of hinder this process?
● How to prevent technology from making our communities blind to what really matters?
● How can we role-model spirituality and engage in mind+body+spirit?
● How do we challenge ourselves to value different experiences?
● How to prevent a shrinking diversity of knowledge in our world? How to experience different ways of thinking in order to exercise our creativity?
● How can we link disparate communities which have so much in common but do not necessarily communicate. How can local communities engage in global actions?
● What makes us a community? How can we stay open as a community? What is our common experience?
● How can FORMS diversify futures and facilitate world views?
● What are the symbiotic relationships that should be cultivated and nurtured?
Upon examination of those questions, initially a set of three sub-themes emerged: physical encounters, digital encounters and post-human/planetary encounters.
In any Futures Literacy Lab it is essential not to move too quickly out of the last phase, but to stay in this open space for a bit. After a provocative reframe, when old beliefs and assumptions are questioned, participants might see the present differently. Switching too quickly into action or decision mode, might close that open mindset again. Taking the time to capture new questions, encourages participants to stay open a bit longer, and helps to ultimately increase the impact of a Lab.
But once we have these new questions, what happens next? The next step, although not always made explicit, is often the call for a new sense of agency. What will we do after we see the present differently? What is our next act, decision or idea?
In the case of FORMS, the community decided to build on those questions as a starting point for a whole new session at the UNESCO Summit, which would be open to the public: visitors of the Summit were invited to join and engage with the FORMS community in exploring these new questions further.
5) THE FOLLOW-UP: FORMS AT UNESCO’S FUTURES LITERACY SUMMIT
“As 2020 comes to a close we would like to invite you to our last FORMS session of the year, one in which we are purposely coinciding with UNESCO’s Futures Literacy Summit. We will take this moment as an opportunity to open ourselves to the public as we attempt to search for expanded ways of belonging and what our roles might be in the unfolding futures ahead. We find the theme of belonging to be especially relevant during a year when much of what we took for granted was pulled from under us. The ways in which our institutions can become catalysts for people’s sense of belonging seems to be a key topic to collectively unpack and come to terms with as we look to do our part in promoting more prosperous and just futures.”
This invite was sent to all members of the FORMS community, an open invitation to take up a shared responsibility and to participate in the co-design of the Summit session. Three themes around belonging were identified through the Lab:
1. Belonging and Communication
2. Belonging and the Role of Technology
3. Planetary Belonging
“ These themes, as practiced in our last session, will approach ways of belonging (its challenges, opportunities, and potentials) made possible by how we communicate with one another (the words but also the gestures and our bodily presence), the role of technology (it’s perils in keeping us within our bubbles but also its ability to bring us together in time while far away in space), and finally the ways in which we can expand our sense of belonging with nature so that we can not only know but feel our deep connections with the non-human and the planet that we all belong to.”
A feeling of shared ownership emerged from the collective. Based on particular interests and affinities three groups of FORMS members were created, each taking on one of the themes but with free reign to decide on how to engage those themes with the public. As a prompt a general question was asked of all:
“If we engage the public in these themes what could that look like? How do we create an open and safe space for the community to be itself and for the public to feel they belong?”
This required a two fold approach: planning for a meaningful session and seizing on the opportunity to test out ideas, being open to what could emerge by engaging with the public. The community had to consider the assumptions the public would hold, and it had to challenge its own assumptions on the new questions it had produced during its Futures Literacy Lab. This meant that the new questions, and the themes, could evolve into something new, or could be challenged as well. And it also meant that even after an open process such as a FLLab, the output would not have to reach an ultimate outcome. When we use futures literacy as a compass instead of a tool, it becomes a generative process rather than a destination. The process changes constantly, and any fixed idea that stems from such a process is just the starting point for another journey.
By making it an open space, FORMS was able to experiment with emergence, participatory futures and different spaces. Each group responsible for a sub theme approached the session differently, from open discussions to a fully immersive experience.
This allowed FORMS to present itself in the open, exploratory manner it had come adjusted to and communicate this message to the public: “we do not yet know where we are going as institutions, but we feel a responsibility towards society and the planet, and we understand that the only way we can create futures where everybody belongs, is to co-create them.”
And so they did.
Last thoughts
In this article we attempted to describe a journey in five stages not planned by FORMS beforehand or designed by a core team. The community did not set out with a detailed map, nor a destination in mind. They did not plan nor prepare for Covid-19, not did they intend or pretend to have all the answers.
Without striving for a specific impact, the journey has left its marks on the role and decision making process of FORMS. It became apparent to the group the need to collectively push the role of museums away from stabilizers of culture and tradition. To move from holders of knowledge and authorities on specific subjects, to that of embracing uncertainty as a constructive approach to ignite transformation and change. It shifted from being places that expose images of futures to the public, to a community that aspired to co-create those images of futures where everybody belongs. Taking John Powell’s call as a cue to not emphasize inclusion as something to aspire to but on belonging instead, FORMS is on a continuous journey of being co-created by its own members. Some shared reflections came through in one of its meetings, summarized here:
More than ever our current context has highlighted and amplified issues already present but also has brought up new opportunities and challenges to reframe the role of museums and how they can generate positive impact to the personal growth of individuals and communities.
Museums as places of…
● gathering, to raise new questions, instigators of experimentation
● facilitators of exchange and dialogue, analogy to a campfire
● to create the conditions for the emergence of new narratives
● to emancipate knowledge, break the bars
● to liberate heritage, to emancipate our minds
● as humble cultural platforms where people can be heard, as sanctuaries
● not about forgetting or remembering but to break and to process emotions
● of libation, to invent new rituals which let the ancestors sleep peacefully, neither disappearing nor haunting, neither a desire to immortalize or make permanent but to bring back mortality
● to grieve and to celebrate change in order to move forward
● to reach out beyond our typical audiences
● for perceiving the world differently
● a refuge for new narratives to emerge
● with a post-humanist sensibility
● as shapeshifters
● places of humility where we break open and let things fall apart — to rebuild anew
● to accept our ignorance, our anticipatory systems
● of permeability
● drivers for social change, for a political and ethical role
● not just confined within their physical buildings, to reach outside its walls, in the physical and digital spaces to enhance and co-create community
Perhaps this attitude can also be an inspiration to the museums and institutions represented by these individuals. That the call for inclusivity in their spaces is not enough, the conditions for co-creation must be in place for meaningful ways of belonging to take hold.
With Futures Literacy as a compass for navigation, FORMS managed to use the essential futures literacy building blocks of collective intelligence knowledge creation process in order to enhance perception by using and diversifying futures, appreciate complexity by keeping an open mind without trying to ‘solve’ anything and relocate a sense of agency by exploring the difference between doing, thinking, being and putting that into action. (Miller, 2020, Kazemier et al, 2021). These unplanned results might be the long lasting impact we were hoping to achieve after all.
So what’s next?
FORMS has articulated a desire to enhance its collective intelligence potential so as to expand leadership capacity with outcomes as varied as the roles performed: exhibitions, conversations, global challenges and campaigns. It has slowly set the first footsteps on a new path towards global collaborations within the museums and institutions they represent. Where exactly this journey will take them, stays unknown for now and might be unveiled along the way, as long as they stay open for emergence.
Will FORMS continue to engage in futures for the public and the planet? Sure, but most importantly it will engage with the public and the planet. What that might look like, we do not know yet. But it won’t be because of a lack of imagination, courage and hope.
Special thanks to Alexandre Fernandez for his support and Nicklas Larsen for his invaluable feedback.
