SHIFT 2020 starts today – and here are all the thinkers who are participating

SHIFT 2020, a three-day online festival of ideas spearheaded by the Socrates Project, starts today, featuring a range of thinkers, artists, advocates and leaders, including activist Naomi Klein, author Margaret Atwood in conversation with Mark Kingwell, Polaris prize-winning musician Jeremy Dutcher, social entrepreneur Zita Cobb, author and sociologist Gary Younge, and scientist and author Diana Beresford-Kroeger, as well as community members of all ages and from all walks of life.

Community members will be able to engage with invited guests from September 23 to 26 and share their own perspectives and ideas in formats ranging from live chats and Q and As to formal presentations.

“We want to involve everyone – not just the guest speakers – to propose ideas and strategies that reflect their experiences and priorities,” said Socrates Project director Rina Fraticelli. “It’s important for each of us to be reminded that we have valuable insights and the responsibility to act on them.”

The festival’s name reflects that optimism and resolve “to shift attention to the future we want; and the plans and strategies we need to get there,” Fraticelli says.

“We wanted to draw from the widest range of perspectives and expertise, to help recharge our capacity — and responsibility — to the future.”

SHIFT 2020 runs from Sept. 23 through 25. All events are free, but registration is required: https://socrates.mcmaster.ca/shift-2020/

Wednesday, September 23:

• Making the invisible, visible: Black scientists in Canada (Professor Juliet Daniel)
• Land, language and the future: launching transmissions online portal (Multiple award-winning Anishinaabe artist and filmmaker Lisa Jackson)
• The future through ancestral lenses (Dr. Vanessa Watts, Paul D. MacPherson Chair in Indigenous Studies)
• A performance with Jeremy Dutcher

Thursday, September 24:

• The future of caregiving (Dr. Samir Sinha and caregiver Donna Thomson)
• Art and the price of fish: Zita Cobb in conversation with Steve Paikin
• Creating the future: Margaret Atwood and Mark Kingwell in conversation

Friday, September 25:

• Jobs of the future – preparing for artificial intelligence’s impact (Brian Lenahan, Artificial Intelligence Strategy expert)
• Saving our futures: divestment and reinvestment (panel discussion featuring Sustainable Economist Tim Nash)
• Native plants and local action (panelist including Stefan Weber, Erin Mallon, Brandon Doxtator)
• Diana Beresford-Kroeger: Survival Science 2020 to 2021
• Cell phone film festival (Factory Media Centre presents a curated screening of artist-made short films)
• The garden project: four voices and visions for Hamilton (Eli Farinango “Anaco”, Kitoko Mai “Messy”, Radha Menon, “Blackberry”, and Dr. Spy Dénommé-Welch)
• Naomi Klein in conversation with Gary Younge – care and repair: framework for recovery
• Do Well concert