The Imagination Desk

In this episode of The Imagination Desk, we sit down with cultural producer, performer, and inclusion expert Claudia Alick. In this conversation, Claudia speaks about Black imagination and futures, and shares her perspectives on ways to create safer and more inclusive spaces for marginalized groups and communities. 

Claudia Alick is a multimodal artist and changemaker who has written, directed, and produced a number of theatrical productions, facilitated artist workshops, and created podcasts and video series. She has served on the City of Ashland, Oregon's Climate Action Committee and is co-president of the board of the Network of Ensemble Theater. She served on Oregon Arts Leaders in Inclusion and steering committees for The Ghostlight Project and Black Theater Commons. She is the recipient of the NYC Fresh Fruit directing award, the Lilla Jewel Award for Women Artists, was featured on HBO's Def Poetry Jam, and was formerly the Community Producer for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. To learn more about Claudia's work, including their podcast Hold on Wait for it, visit claudiaalick.com.

This episode of The Imagination Desk features Fabrice Guerrier, who sits down with us to explore topics including the relationship between imagination and the physical world, how imagination can be used to to come up with better solutions to current issues, and the significance of collaboration in imagination and creativity. 

Fabrice Guerrier is a science fiction and fantasy author and founder of Syllble Studios, a production space that brings creatives of many kinds together to collectively imagine worlds with world building for artists' own work.

Website: https://fabriceguerrier.com/

The research reported in these conversations was made possible by a grant from the Spencer Foundation, (#20210085). The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Spencer Foundation.

This episode of The Imagination Desk features Laura Tohe. In this conversation, Laura dives into the role imagination plays in communities, specifically Navajo communities. We also discuss the importance of language in her community, and the impact of leadership on caring for the planet.

Laura Tohe is a Diné and Tsénahabiłnii poet, writer, and librettist, and much of her work revolves around the Native American and Navajo community. Laura is also a Professor in the English Department at Arizona State University with Exemplar Distinction.

Website: https://www.lauratohe.com/

The research reported in these conversations was made possible by a grant from the Spencer Foundation, (#20210085). The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Spencer Foundation.

This episode of The Imagination Desk features Corey Pressman. In this conversation, Corey discusses inquisitive topics including the effects of imagination on mental health and culture, the link between imagination and materialism, and how he uses imagination in his work.

Corey Pressman is an artist, author, and teacher at the school of integrative health and wellness at the University of Portland. His work at the university focuses on finding ways, through imagination, to manage stress and compassion fatigue for caregivers. You can find his art and writing here: https://coreypressman.com/

The research reported in these conversations was made possible by a grant from the Spencer Foundation, (#20210085). The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Spencer Foundation.

This episode of The Imagination Desk features Lisa K. Solomon. In this conversation, Lisa talks about practicing imagination in the classroom, listening to and learning from our peers, and collaboratively building inclusive futures.

Lisa Kay Solomon is an author of the books "Moments of Impact: How to Design Strategic Conversations that Accelerate Change" and "Design a Better Business: New Tools, Skill and Mindset for Strategy and Innovation." She teaches and designs programs at Stanford's Hasso Plattner Institute of Design. She works to incorporate futures thinking and applied design thinking into problem solving for not only students at the school, but also for K-12 educators, in order to build and develop leadership and companionship. 

Website: https://www.lisakaysolomon.com/

The research reported in these conversations was made possible by a grant from the Spencer Foundation, (#20210085). The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Spencer Foundation.

In this episode of the Imagination Desk, we sat down with ASU futurist in residence Brian David Johnson. In this chat, we talk with Brian about his work on artificial intelligence and introduce his new podcast called Sci-Fi House Presents Imagining Intelligence which premieres next week.

Katie Bouman is an assistant professor of computing and mathematical sciences, electrical engineering, and astronomy at Caltech in Pasadena, California. In this episode, we talk about scientific collaboration, imagination, and Katie's work on the Event Horizon Telescope, which produced the first image of a black hole by combining insights and methods from signal processing, computer vision, machine learning, and physics. 

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This work was supported in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities grant AKA-265705-19

Moya Bailey is a Black queer feminist scholar, writer, and activist. She is the co-author of #HashtagActivism: Networks of Race and Gender Justice and has a new book, Misogynoir Transformed: Black Women's Digital Resistance, coming out May 2021. In this conversation, we talk about online communities of support and activism, racial inequalities in medicine, the healthcare system, artificial intelligence, and Moya's term misogynoir, which describes a specific form of discrimination experienced by Black women.

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This work was supported in part by the National Endowment of the Humanities grant AKA-265705-19.

Troy L. Wiggins is a writer and editor with a focus on Black speculative fiction and social justice. 

In this episode of The Imagination Desk, we chat with Troy about power of speculative art as a tool for Black people around the world to reckon with their realities, share their histories and imagine new worlds.