New Constellations

Gemma marks the winter solstice, and the tilt from darkness towards light, tucked up at home after a dawn foray into the Dartmoor squall. Reflecting on the year passing out and the one to come, she finds solace and encouragement in Six Ethical Maxims for a Marginally Livable Planet – the work of David Schenck and Larry R Churchill – one of the many wonderful things shared with New Constellations during our journeys (thank you Peter Macfadyen for this one). Made by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen, with Iris Andrews and Lily Piachaud. Music made for New Constellations by Art School Girlfriend. Discover more at newconstellations.co, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells Transcription

‘Bold Dreams: A journey for courageous leaders’ brought together 15 people from 4 countries of the UK, all working in the service of communities. Spanning different generations, public and private sectors and different walks of life, the group explored their visions for flourishing futures and the transformation they want to contribute and commit to. From the bright spring frosts of Sussex to the first breaths of winter in the Peak District, the Bold Dreams crew followed the New Constellations’ journey in four stages, tracking and taking inspiration from the seasons of the year. With thanks to the National Lottery Community Fund for making this possible. Made by Jo Barratt with Gemma Mortensen, Iris Andrews, Lily Piachaud and Hadeel Elshak. https://newconstellations.co/listen/ Discover more at newconstellations.co, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells Transcript

Every year, Yale’s International Leadership Center brings together the World Fellows, a group of extraordinary leaders from every continent to explore how to address the most acute and complex challenges facing the world today. In October 2022, New Constellations partnered with creative innovator, cultural entrepreneur and filmmaker Hrund Gunnsteinsdóttir to design a bespoke journey for the 2022 World Fellows. During a residential retreat surrounded by the magical autumn colours of Sheffield Massachusetts, we explored how to connect with our InnSæi, what it means to be a transformational leader in times of radical uncertainty, and what stars or principles we can navigate by to build systems of human and planetary flourishing. We are grateful to Emma Sky and the team at Yale, and the amazing group of 2022 World Fellows who joined us for this journey: Andrei Kureichik (Belarus), Babatunde Omilola (Nigeria), Belva Devara (Indonesia), Fakhar Durrani (Pakistan), Huong Dang (Vietnam), Jad Maalouf (Lebanon), Kirsten Rulf (Germany), Kyriacos Koupparis (Cyprus), Manasi Subramaniam (India), Martin Inthamoussú (Uruguay), Minami Tsubouchi (Japan), Rufaro Mudimu (South Africa), Sahar Albazar (Egypt), Solangel Fernández (Peru), Vera D. Kwakofi (UK), Zhao Zhong (China). Made by Jo Barratt with Gemma Mortensen, Iris Andrews, Lily Piachaud and Hadeel Elshak. Discover more at newconstellations.co, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells Transcript

Casper is a creator of spiritual infrastructure for the future, something he builds to contain love, belonging, beauty, solidarity, joy … and lots of singing. He sees our disconnection from our spirituality as one of the great challenges of the 21st Century. And has found over and over again that the people who he wants to be like are often people of deep faith, people willing to bet the whole board on a set of values that do not centre status, money, power and fame. He has recently co-founded The Nearness to help people connect more deeply with themselves, the world around them and people who they love. Made by Jo Barratt with Gemma Mortensen, Iris Andrews, Lily Piachaud and Hadeel Elshak. Music made for New Constellations by Art School Girlfriend. Discover more at newconstellations.co, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells Transcript

Surrounded by Samhain’s autumn leaves, Gemma recorded some reflections on the unseasonable warmth of this autumn, her recent conversations with leading thinkers, makers and doers across different sectors and what we can do to restore our lost connections. Made by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen, with Iris Andrews, Lily Piachaud and Hadeel Elshak. Music made for New Constellations by Art School Girlfriend. Discover more at newconstellations.co, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells

What would a new economy that serves the future be, look and feel like? Who must be part of this new economy, and of making it happen? In September 2022, the funder collaborative Partners For A New Economy brought together 90 thinkers, funders and change-makers working in myriad ways across different places and systems to transform our economies. In this encounter you’ll hear dreams and reflections from some of those participants, painting a collective picture from an expanding field of a new economy that allows all people and nature to flourish, and how we might start building it. Made by Jo Barratt with Gemma Mortensen, Iris Andrews, Lily Piachaud, Hadeel Elshak and Sophie McKechnie and featuring the voices of, amongst others, Alexander Barkawi, Fran Boait, Kelly Clark, Leslie Harroun, Indy Johar, Immy Kaur, Till Kellerhoff, Lynda Mannson, Melissa Mean, Johannes Nuutinen, Alastair Parvin, James Vaccaro. Episode transcript Discover more at newconstellations.co, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells Find out more about Partners for a New Economy at www.p4ne.org

Gabriella sees the city as a travelling surface for new ideas, projects and public debates; alive on the surface with many worlds hidden in its folds. She says that we create our cities and then our cities in turn create us. As Chief Creative Officer for Mexico City, she led a team as varied as the city – bringing together urban geographers, data experts, political scientists, lawyers, artists, historians, philosophers, writers, architects, futurists, and everything in between. Together, her team engages people in urban imagination, travelling back to first principles to ask: how do we want to live together? How will we move together? How will we be healthy together? How will we play together? So that, working together, people can come up with better answers for our times and for our futures. Made by Jo Barratt with Gemma Mortensen, Iris Andrews, Lily Piachaud and Hadeel Elshak. Music made for New Constellations by Art School Girlfriend. Transcription Discover more at newconstellations.co, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells

Rachel is a technology strategist, specialising in the social impact of new and emerging technologies. She has been working on the web since the nineties, when you had to make up your own job because it had never existed before. Today she runs Careful Industries; helping people understand the impact of the technologies they are creating and to deploy them in ways that can nurture us all. Made by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen with Iris Andrews, Lily Piachaud and Hadeel Elshak. Music made for New Constellations by Art School Girlfriend. Transcription Discover more at newconstellations.co, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells

Robin believes that our blueprint as human beings is to be born in deep connection to nature, at ease with being a keystone species. The question he asks is not only how we can rebuild this connection, but how we lost it in the first place. He traces UK history to times during which our earth and land based cultures were destroyed, and asks what it would take to rediscover and learn from these deep roots in our soil. Robin is co-founder of The Old Way, which we featured in a previous encounter. Made by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen with Iris Andrews, Lily Piachaud and Hadeel Elshak. Music made for New Constellations by Art School Girlfriend. Transcription Discover more at newconstellations.co, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells

Gemma joins The Old Way, a year-long course tracing the migratory route of hunter-gatherers through the seasons - searching for food in the woods, along the coast to the seashore and over the moors. The experience invites us to learn from our ancient past to help shape better futures by exploring our own rewilding and how we can reconstitute the webs of connection that we have lost with each other and the natural world. Made by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen, with Iris Andrews, Lily Piachaud and Hadeel Elshak. Recorded music by Emily Fawcett Discover more at http://newconstellations.co/, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells

Andri Snær Magnason grew up with the wild Icelandic Highlands in his heart and soul. As a student of Nordic mythology he perceives that we are living through ‘mythic times’ such is the extent of the climatic and ecological change that we will see in a lifetime. As a writer, poet and director, and a father of four children, he finds words to help us understand the era we are living through, to question the flawed logic of economic and political systems that plunder our home, the earth, and shows us how a new generation has what it takes to enact the changes we need. Made by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen, with Iris Andrews, Lily Piachaud and Hadeel Elshak. Music by Kai Engel under a CC BY-NC 4.0 licence Discover more at http://newconstellations.co/, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells

Goddur Magnússon has the gift of being able to spot and channel the zeitgeist, the spirit of the times. He does this by connecting to beauty, which he sees as his closest contact to the future. As a renowned Icelandic designer, teacher and grandfather-type, he says the best way to pass on his knowledge is to befriend his students and learn with them. So he explores where we are heading, what is new in the air and how we can map it, starting with the answers in our gut. Made by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen, with Iris Andrews, Lily Piachaud and Hadeel Elshak. Music by Kai Engel under a CC BY-NC 4.0 licence Discover more at http://newconstellations.co/, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells

Hrund is a creative innovator, cultural entrepreneur, filmmaker and dreamer. She believes fostering creative mindsets, original thought and diversity is the key to unlocking the infinite possibilities of human beings in today’s world. Author and co-director of the documentary INNSÆI – The Sea Within, Hrund is a passionate advocate for intuition and creativity in a world of distraction and stress. She shares how she reacquainted herself with her own innsæi, insight into the pioneering interdisciplinary program she set up in the wake of the financial collapse in her native Iceland, and inspiration from ancient Polynesian navigators. Made by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen, with Iris Andrews, Lily Piachaud and Hadeel Elshak. Music by Kai Engel under a CC BY-NC 4.0 licence

Guy Singh-Watson is an organic farmer, entrepreneur and self-professed veg nerd, passionate about reinventing the food system. Founder of Riverford, Guy vowed not to allow the company to become driven purely by the bottom line, so in 2018 sold 74% of Riverford to its employees at about a third of the market value. Passionate about sharing his decades of organic farming and business knowledge with others, Guy wants to prove that business can be a force for good and has always believed organic food should not be elitist, but accessible for everyone. Made by Jo Barratt. Conceived by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen, with Iris Andrews, Lily Piachaud and Hadeel Elshak. Discover more at http://newconstellations.co/, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells Music made for New Constellations by Art School Girlfriend.

Derek Bardowell is an author, award-winning charity leader, park runner, reimaginer and devoted dad. Once a music journalist and for many years a disruptive funder, Derek works at the intersections of race, culture and philanthropy and believes everyone has the right to feel at ease in themselves, in their bodies and in the places that they live. His first book, No Win Race explores race and racism in modern Britain through the prism of sport and was a Sunday Times and FT Book of the Year. His new book, Giving Back, reimagines philanthropy through a reparative lens and will be released in August 2022. Made by Jo Barratt. Conceived by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen, with Iris Andrews and Lily Piachaud and Hadeel Elshak Discover more at http://newconstellations.co/, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells

Farzana creates the capacity for transformation. Through the lens of her experience as a youth and community worker, a writer, a director and a leader of Healing Justice, she asks what it would take to envision abolition in our lifetime and to truly practise freedom. She works with communities to imagine and organise around visions that reimagine public health and to build eco structures of health and healing from them. She explores how we can live in integrity - in congruence with our reality, holding our emotional, spiritual and energetic experiences intact like landscapes. Made by Jo Barratt. Conceived by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen, with Iris Andrews and Lily Piachaud. Music made for New Constellations by Art School Girlfriend. Discover more at http://newconstellations.co/, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells

Sophy is a weaver of wisdom, traditions and the twin forces of will and love. An engineer and therapist by training, Sophy has spent a lifetime exploring how things work within us and around us. She believes that western culture has lost the rituals that help us come to terms with the fact that everything we love we will lose. As a founder of the transition movement, a grief tender and in her work restoring healthy human cultures, Sophy helps people see how they are part of systems of trauma and how to create return pathways to states of health. Made by Jo Barratt. Conceived by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen, with Iris Andrews and Lily Piachaud. Music made for New Constellations by Art School Girlfriend. Find out more about Sophy's work: Healthy Human Cuture, Grief Tending Learn more about the people influencing this work, many of whom are mentioned in this episode, here. Full transcript Discover more at http://newconstellations.co/, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells

Chagford is a small town on the north-eastern fringe of Dartmoor, in South West England. In 2019 the Parish Council declared a Climate and Ecological Emergency, following similar declarations by Government and councils all over the UK. Jo and Gemma helped Chagford Parish Council gather the views of residents for a community conversation about climate and the natural environment. Made by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen. Music by Dhevdhas Nair. Additional live music performed by Lisa Rowe, Rupert E Smith and Amye Farrell. With thanks to Chris Chapman and the Chagford Parish Council Climate and Ecological Emergency Working Group.

This encounter takes a new form, a slow conversation between Dan Hill - Director of Strategic Design at Vinnova, the Swedish government's innovation agency and author of the Slowdown Papers - and New Constellation’s Gemma Mortensen. Their exchange - from the urban landscape of Stockholm to the wilds of Dartmoor - explores how to create the hybrid conditions for human and non-human life to thrive and what design principles and approaches we’ll need to create the future we yearn for. Made by Jo Barratt. Conceived by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen, with Iris Andrews and Lily Piachaud. Music is made for New Constellations by Art School Girlfriend. Discover more at http://newconstellations.co/, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells

Gemma and Jo take a walk to reflect on the themes and patterns that have emerged from the first series of audio encounters and look ahead to the next series. The themes from this first series are explored in more detail in our blogs. Made by Jo Barratt. Conceived by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen, with Iris Andrews and Lily Piachaud. Music is made for New Constellations by Art School Girlfriend. Discover more at http://newconstellations.co/, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells

Gemma and Jo take a walk to reflect on the themes and patterns that have emerged from the first series of audio encounters and look ahead to the next series. The themes from this first series are explored in more detail in our blogs. Made by Jo Barratt. Conceived by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen, with Iris Andrews and Lily Piachaud. Music is made for New Constellations by Art School Girlfriend. Discover more at http://newconstellations.co/, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells

Candy Chang is an artist who creates public spaces through which people can connect with and share what it means to be human today. She explores how we can create more infrastructure for the soul - to reflect, to forgive, to atone and to see ourselves in each other. Having spent time bearing witness to the confessions of thousands of people around the world, she has seen just how much we want the same things for our future and how important it is to create new spaces for emotional communion. Made by Jo Barratt. Conceived by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen, with Iris Andrews and Lily Piachaud. Music made for New Constellations by Art School Girlfriend. Discover more at http://newconstellations.co/, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells

Panthea’s work bridges perspectives, disciplines and divides. Without looking at the past and without healing from it, she believes we can never truly move forward. So, as a strategist, organizer and facilitator, Panthea helps people explore what type of solidarity can heal, nourish and liberate us and keep us alive to one another’s beauty and humanity as well as each other’s suffering. She asks how we can begin to dream again and dream bigger from a place of curiosity and expansiveness and abundance and joy and delicious, juicy, open imagination. Made by Jo Barratt. Conceived by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen, with Iris Andrews and Lily Piachaud. Music made for New Constellations by Art School Girlfriend. Discover more at http://newconstellations.co/, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells

Yo-Yo Ma is an internationally renowned cellist and champion of culture’s power to transform lives. In moments of blissful musical flow, he experiences perfect equilibrium when his body becomes part of his mind. Fingers are like tiny brains, Yo-Yo says, they find their way into the sounds they want to hear. He calls for a second enlightenment in which we combine the power of the mind and body, the head and the heart to find and build a better future. Made by Jo Barratt. Conceived by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen, with Iris Andrews and Lily Piachaud. Music is made for New Constellations by Art School Girlfriend. Additional music played by Yo-Yo Ma. Discover more at http://newconstellations.co/, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells

Hilary is a gifted maker and a thinker, blessed with a formidable mind, deep heart and fierce passion. She thinks to make, and makes to think, and her craft is helping communities design their own solutions to the challenges they face. When Hilary works with people for the first time, she asks them to draw maps of their lives. Every map is a zig-zag. Our lives, she says, are ones of constant transition but all our systems see us climbing up long straight ladders. Hilary birthed the concept of ‘Radical Help’ to build a future in which people can live and work as a whole human being - loving, caring, playing, learning and working. Made by Jo Barratt. Conceived by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen, with Iris Andrews and Lily Piachaud. Discover more at http://newconstellations.co/, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells Music is made for New Constellations by Art School Girlfriend.

Angel has a voice like medicine. It heals. He is a pioneer of the emerging field of healing-centred education - helping children and adults experience and channel the wisdom, pain and potential that resides in our bodies as well as our minds. In exploring his own heritage, he illuminates what is possible when we discover and act from a place of deep connectedness. We have to act from the future we dream of, he says, or we will find ourselves living in one dreamt up by others. Made by Jo Barratt. Conceived by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen, with Iris Andrews and Lily Piachaud. Music is made for New Constellations by Art School Girlfriend. Audio uses a soundscape recording of Playa Bonita in the Dominican Republic By Michael Tarrant by, licensed under a creative commons attribution licence. Discover more at http://newconstellations.co/, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells

Audrey is a poetician and Taiwan’s first Digital Minister. She sees herself as a digital migrant, having moved into the internet when she was 12 years old. The early makers of digital democracy in the 21st century, she says, are like the makers of reflecting telescopes in the 17th century. They are building digital spaces that are transparent like glass and reflective like mirrors, helping us blend our individual feelings into shared reflections - the practice of democracy. Audio is licensed under Creative Commons CC0 licence. Made by Jo Barratt. Conceived by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen, with Iris Andrews and Lily Piachaud. Discover more at http://newconstellations.co/, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells Music is made for New Constellations by Art School Girlfriend. The Audio uses a recording made by sonnyestufa in Yuanlin City, Taiwan, a recording made by LG beach in Taitung, Taiwan and a recording of a Market in Taipei, Taiwan made by xserra. All are licensed under a creative commons attribution licence.

Anna sees and thinks in patterns. As a child, she carried around a notebook and recorded things that changed and how things were related to each other. She explores what it is like to live guided by patterns - of the moon, of day and night, of the seasons. How to open ourselves up to the flow of the never-ending spirals we find in nature; in seeds, on the down-like hair of a baby’s head and in galactic formations. Having created PATTERNITY, she tries to live and work according to her own cycles, as a woman, a night-owl and someone who finds grounding and meaning in the annual cycles of the earth. Made by Jo Barratt. Conceived by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen, with Iris Andrews and Lily Piachaud. Music is made for New Constellations by Art School Girlfriend. Discover more at http://newconstellations.co/, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells

Charles writes to help us rediscover our relationship with the earth – the relationship which has made us the shape that we are. There is, he says, no seam between us and the wild. His writing and teaching draws on biology, anthropology, theology, archaeology, philosophy, law and travel to probe the questions ‘who or what are we?’ and ‘what on earth are we doing here?’. Made by Jo Barratt. Conceived by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen, with Iris Andrews and Lily Piachaud. Original score by Art School Girlfriend. Discover more at http://newconstellations.co/, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells

Aaron helps creative entrepreneurs break free from their past and set out on the journey of life before them. A celebrated social entrepreneur and arts educator, Aaron founded Sphinx to open up the world of classical music to young people of colour and was President Obama’s first nominee to the National Council on the Arts. The world is full of unfulfilled dreams, he says, so you have to put systems in place to achieve your goals. His secret is Star Trek. Made by Jo Barratt. Conceived by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen, with Iris Andrews and Lily Piachaud. Music is made for New Constellations by Art School Girlfriend. Additional music is “The American Rhapsody, Symphonic Variations on an African Air, S. Coleridge-Taylor” by Aaron Dworkin and performed with the Sphinx Symphony. Discover more at http://newconstellations.co/, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells

Jane is a beautiful woman, light of voice and soul and steely of will and intention. Rod, her partner in love and work, has the magical ability to help young people return to themselves. As educators and storytellers, they work with cycles of nature to enable people to see and experience a deeper sense of self. They encourage people to return to a time there was no time, 14 billion years ago. The cosmic beginning. They work together in Global Generation, the organisation that Jane founded to explore our inner, outer and collective responsibilities to each other and the planet. Among many other things, Global Generation built the extraordinary Story Garden in Kings Cross, giving us a glimmer and a scent of a green urban utopia in the heart of London. Made by Jo Barratt. Conceived by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen, with Iris Andrews and Lily Piachaud. Music is made for New Constellations by Art School Girlfriend. Additional music by Rod Sugden. Discover more at http://newconstellations.co/, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells

adrienne communicates the power of vision. What would it take, she asks, to create a positive vision of the future that becomes our muscle memory; something so powerful that we act on it even when we are under pressure or when we are scared? She works with whatever is necessary to do that - words, pleasure, sci-fi, singing, birthing … to pose the question: “how do we relinquish power so that we can share it?” Made by Jo Barratt. Conceived by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen, with Iris Andrews and Lily Piachaud. Music is made for New Constellations by Art School Girlfriend. Discover more at http://newconstellations.co/, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells

On a dark night in December 2020, 15 people from across Barrow joined a voyage to discover Barrow’s new stars – Barrow’s New Constellation. This is their story, of the place they love and how the people of Barrow can build a brighter future. Made by Jo Barratt with Gemma Mortensen, Iris Andrews and Lily Piachaud. Music is made for Barrow’s New Constellations by Art School Girlfriend and Tom James Scott. Sound recordings of Barrow are by Tom James Scott, and students of Furness College. The wonderful crew who journeyed with us are Andrew Naylor, Beth Kirkby, Dean McSkimmings, Gemma McKell, Jay Zaccarini, John Murphy, Karen Mahaffy, Maddi Nicholson, Martin McLeavy, Natalie Chappels, Sam Plum, Sarah Arun, Sarah Jackson, Sharon Mullen and Tom Lowes. Discover more at http://newconstellations.co/, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells

Geoff wonders what makes societies and institutions wise. Everything in our lives, he says, depends on systems beyond us. We depend on them for absolutely everything, our feelings and our thoughts. So what would a political philosophy look like that recognised our dependency on the world around us rather than asserting our sovereignty over it? Having studied as a Buddhist monk, worked in government and led NESTA, Geoff is now a Professor at UCL teaching and writing about the nature of collective intelligence. Made by Jo Barratt. Conceived by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen, with Iris Andrews and Lily Piachaud. Music is made for New Constellations by Art School Girlfriend. Additional music played by Geoff Mulgan. Discover more at http://newconstellations.co/, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells

Rob is a story-harvester, imagineer and sewer of inspiration, who collects and shares the chronicles of communities who have dared to ask ‘What If?’ and dared to do things differently. He lives with a ‘make your own’ spirit, spending time with people who are cracking on and building the future they dream of. A future that will fast be upon us. Things will change very fast, he says; we need to be planning for it. Made by Jo Barratt. Conceived by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen, with Iris Andrews and Lily Piachaud. Music is made for New Constellations by Art School Girlfriend. Discover more at http://newconstellations.co/, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells

Poppy first saw a dead body at 27 when she decided to set up a funeral directors, one that helps us think differently about loss, grief and death. Death lurks in the shadows, haunting us. She works to bring death into clearer view; bearing witness to lives that have ended and the emotions of those who are saying goodbye. This is heart work, she says. Made by Jo Barratt. Conceived by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen, with Iris Andrews and Lily Piachaud. Music is made for New Constellations by Art School Girlfriend. Discover more at http://newconstellations.co/, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells

Lonnie carries the deep well of history in his sparkling eyes and the deep resonance of his voice. He uses history as a tool to give us a fuller picture of who we are so that we can grapple with our past. As founder of the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture, Lonnie curated the story of the USA's – and many other countries’ – tortured racial past. He is now the first person of colour to act as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. We have to let this time of change seize us, he says, and be comfortable building on the unknown. Made by Jo Barratt. Conceived by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen, with Iris Andrews and Lily Piachaud. Music is made for New Constellations by Art School Girlfriend. Discover more at http://newconstellations.co/, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells

Margaret twinkles, the sparkle of a full life exploring her two passions: political science, for which she is famed, and Aboriginal art. Growing up in Baltimore in the 1960s, Margaret was taken on civil rights marches as a young girl and she is still marching now. Margaret shows us how we are living through the declining years of neoliberalism. It is time to bring a new political and economic system into being, she says, as she explores what it would take to build one that ensures wellbeing for all. Made by Jo Barratt. Conceived by Jo Barratt and Gemma Mortensen, with Iris Andrews and Lily Piachaud. Music is made for New Constellations by Art School Girlfriend. Discover more at http://newconstellations.co/, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells

Bill is a futures thinker who had a career as a research manager in the computer industry before he and his colleagues came up with the Three Horizons framework (one of the most useful models to consider how to move from an ailing system to an emerging one). He lives in Wales where the glacial valleys and cragged tops are his laboratory for exploring how we connect our inner and outer knowledge for the benefit of humanity and our planet. We make a truth in how we live a life, he says. He shows us how to pattern hope through the simple means of awakening our awareness to the qualities of being and of being together in life. Made by Jo Barratt with Gemma Mortensen, Iris Andrews and Lily Piachaud. Music is made for New Constellations by Art School Girlfriend. Discover more at http://newconstellations.co/, and join us on Instagram and Twitter @newconstells