Past Events

The first session of the [WGBH 7th annual Innovation IdeaLab](http://forum-network.org/series/future-tense-future-perfect-2017-wgbh-innovation-idea-lab/ "series link") starts with _The Brain Beat: Building Children’s Brains_, moderated by journalist Arun Rath. In this discussion, Harvard’s Jack Shonkoff and Ron Ferguson talk about Early Childhood Development. Innovation IdeaLab explores new ideas from thought leaders, scientists and grassroots activists presenting to WGBH documentary producers from national television programs, children’s programs, digital initiatives, radio/broadband series, independent public media producers and interested foundation representatives. Day One features The Brain Beat: Building Children’s Brains, moderated by journalist Arun Rath. Day Two features sessions on the Future of Nature, Future of Work, Future of Equity: Engaging New Voices, and Future of Cities, moderated by journalists Miles O’Brien and Kara Miller. _Photo: Ronald Ferguson_

A Los Angeles native working in New York City, Sanford Biggers will discuss his art, which integrates film, video, installation, sculpture, drawing, original music and performance. He intentionally complicates issues such as hip hop, Buddhism, politics, identity and art history in order to offer new perspectives and associations for established symbols. Through a multi-disciplinary formal process and a syncretic creative approach he makes works that are as aesthetically pleasing as they are conceptual.

Alexandra Petri is a writer for _The Washington Post’s_ ComPost blog and she brings "a lighter take on the news and political in(s)anity of the day." In this talk with Shorenstein fellows and friends, Petri tackles an hour-long conversation on the importance of humor during the Trump era and the emergence of more women in satire writing.

**Khizr Khan** is a Muslim American and a Gold Star father. He stepped into public view at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, where he gave a speech on the sacrifice of his son and the love for the country he had immigrated to as a young man. Now Khan is out with a memoir, "An American Family: A Memoir of Hope and Sacrifice" which outlines his experiences from arriving in the U.S. as a hopeful student, to his marriage and the family he raised with his wife, to losing his son while he served in the military, to ultimately deciding to publicly support Hillary Clinton's bid for President of the United States in 2016. In this talk presented by the Harvard Book Store, Khan talks with his former Harvard Law School professor **Martha Minow**. This event was co-sponsored by the [Cambridge Community Foundation](http://cambridgecf.org/ "CCF website"). (Image: Voice of America [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)

Gone are the days of traditional versus digital media. It’s all just media now. And it’s becoming 100% digital. In fact, Forrester Research would say we’re now in a “post-digital” era of media and marketing where any digital distinction has dissolved. Digital is now integrated into everything and it’s fundamentally changed how we make and engage content. This discussion will tackle how we think about media across platforms today, what drives impact, and how to reach audiences with content in the post-digital era of mashed-up media. (Image: [Pexels](https://www.pexels.com/photo/apple-computer-cup-desk-597331/ "Pexels"))

Gunpowder & Sky is an award-winning independent global studio, dedicated to creating, marketing and distributing video content unrestricted by form, genre or platform. Janet Brown, EVP of Distribution presents innovative approaches to film distribution and content through case studies and insights on Gunpowder & Sky 2017 releases; including Sundance hit The Little Hours starring Allison Brie, Dave Franco and Aubrey Plaza. Janet also touches on Gunpowder & Sky’s development, production, and marketing capabilities. And how the company collaborates with both emerging and established talent to make content that resonates and impacts pop culture conversation, empowering creators to take risks and experiment relentlessly in the pursuit of novel stories and formats. (Image: [Pexel](https://www.pexels.com/photo/board-cinema-cinematography-clapper-board-274937/ "Pexels"))

The era of high quality scripted series arrives in Massachusetts with [Castle Rock](https://www.hulu.com/castle-rock ""), a new Hulu Original dramatic series from J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions and Warner Bros. Television. An original suspense thriller set in the Stephen King multiverse, Castle Rock explores the themes uniting the entire King canon, while brushing up against some of his most iconic and beloved stories set in the fictional Maine town. Producers Robin Sweet and Colin Walsh, co-executive producer / director Michael Uppendahl, and key personnel from the Castle Rock team discuss trends in prestige series production, and the impact of making an episodic program in Massachusetts.

On November 1, 1859, Henry Thoreau delivered a speech in Boston that sparked the abolitionist newspaper _The Liberator_ to comment that John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia “seems to have awakened the hermit of Concord.” Delivered at Tremont Temple, Thoreau's speech praised Brown’s character in the aftermath of his attempt to incite an armed slave revolt in Harpers Ferry. Thoreau described Brown as “an old-fashioned man in respect for the Constitution,” “a man of great common sense,” even “an angel of light.” Thoreau is portrayed by historian Richard Smith. Photo: [Public Domain](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=260944 "")

Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Farah Stockman hosts a conversation in Roxbury's historic Hibernian Hall to celebrate the culmination of weeks of neighborhood readings on the historic busing crisis that ripped Boston apart in the 1970s. An upcoming film, _The Harvest_, co-produced by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist/historian Douglas Blackmon and award-winning documentary filmmaker Sam Pollard is the impetus for the conversation. Portions of the film inform the conversation. The discussion, moderated by Stockman, includes two former residents of Boston: Michael Patrick MacDonald, who grew up in South Boston’s Old Colony housing project during the 1970s busing crisis, and Cheryl Harris, who grew up in the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston and experienced the social and political upheaval first-hand as a young mother. The film explores the legacy of public school integration in Blackmon’s hometown of Leland, Mississippi. This Roxbury conversation will find the parallels in the Boston busing crisis and Boston's ongoing issues of system racism.

Geert Vermeire offers a snapshot of two elements of his 20-year art and walking practice: _Urban Emptiness_ and _Made of Walking_. _Urban Emptiness_ is a collaboration between artists, dancers, architects, and researchers that engage communities Brussels, Athens, Nicosia, New York, and Tirana and explores the hidden, imaginary, empty, and silent sides of the city, through critical and utopian lenses. _Made of Walking_ is an initiative that brings together walking artists and walking experts in rural environments with deep pilgrimage routes (Delphi, villages on the Way of Santiago, etc.) to explore how perception changes the landscape, revealing qualities and potentials of place. [Photo: Berenice Zambrano/Flickr](https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkolina/15291500018 "urban walking")