In winter 2021 to spring 2022, Christie George advised the Guild of Future Architects (GoFA) during their pilot New/s Incubator. Led by Dot Connector Studio’s Jessica Clark, aimed to support innovation for equity in journalism. Now that the project has ended, George reflected on their “extraordinarily powerful” experience in Reflections on Restorations.
Here are her TL;DR steps for how to run an incubator that is inclusive, joyful and liberatory:
- Give people money to participate.
- Provide time and space.
- Move at the speed of trust.
- Expect no deliverables. Outcomes will emerge down the line.
- Advisors should reflect the lived experience of the community they are serving. If they don’t, they should be what advisor Rob Sinclair calls “culturally competent as fuck.”
- Try to reach people cognitively, emotionally, somatically and spiritually.
- Make it intergenerational. Like, really intergenerational. As in bringing in ancestors. As in thinking about legacy.
- Authentically integrate various forms of expression — poetry, meditation, objects, visual imagery. These elements force people to think differently and to feel and speak from the heart and gut.
- Honor feelings as much as facts, experience over jargon.
- Value process alongside product.
Learn more about the initiative’s goals and the genesis of the project here, and read about the New/s Incubator’s participants here.
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