JAMESTOWN, R.I., Oct. 1, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- A radical professional membership program launching through Kickstarter today aims to sidestep conventional postgraduate learning by empowering and connecting the people, communities, and businesses best placed to help redesign the social systems that shape our lives.
The School for Radical Futures (SRF) radicalfutures.school, a new learning and networking platform from Epic Decade, a design // business // cultural innovation studio based in Jamestown, Rhode Island, will seek to leverage the power of its community to empower new leaders as they work together to bring social impact models to life - building upon the studio's proven track record of leading major change in international organizations.
Anchored by a part-time, 90% remote, graduate-level professional experience, SRF will offer an open enrollment network for 1,000 individuals to follow a new kind of "gap year", underpinned by a four-part curriculum: 1) Asking Essential Questions through an Ideas Salon, 2) Understanding Complex Change through a Field Trip, 3) Proposing New Models through Audacity Labs, and 4) Catalyzing Cultural Impact through the Story Studio.
The interdisciplinary experience, running from April 9, 2021 to April 9th, 2022, will enable graduates to imagine and construct radical futures by fusing the fields of design thinking, systems strategy, cultural activism, philosophy, business model development, and storytelling communications. The teaching philosophy of SRF is guided by "Radical Curiosity", a method for questioning commonly held beliefs to imagine better futures.
SRF emerges from Epic Decade's celebrated Ideas Salons, a forum that has convened more than 3,000 leaders from companies ranging from Apple Stores, GE, and American Express, to the Oprah Winfrey Network to Disney Imagineering, as well as educators from Harvard and Yale Universities, the Nobel Prize-winning Doctors Without Borders, a US Senator, and numerous NY Times best-selling authors.
As a research and development social innovation lab, SRF will act as a launchpad for social entrepreneurs and activists to take on some of the most complex issues of our time, organized within six thematic "Audacity Labs": Public Health, Alternative Economies, Holistic Ecosystems, Regenerative Trust, Future of Travel, and the Rural Identity.
This bold initiative, the brainchild of Epic Decade founder, Seth Goldenberg, comes at a time when the value proposition and purpose of higher education is under intense scrutiny. While MBA programs can exceed $100,000 and with often questionable relevance to a rapidly changing world, The School for Radical Futures' year-long program will cost less than $8,000 as a means to establish an accessible and disruptive curriculum suitable for this transformational era.
The Network
Thought leaders who have presented at past Epic Decade forums have included:
Bruce Mau, The Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum Lifetime Awardee
Andrew Yang, 2020 Presidential Candidate and universal basic income champion
Denise Young, Former SVP of Human Resources and Diversity at Apple
Alejandro (Alex) Jadad, Member of the Council of the Wise for the President of Colombia
Lera Boroditsky, Cognitive scientist with nearly 6M views of her TED Talk
Dawn Danby, Fast Company 100 Most Creative People in Business and sustainability designer from Autodesk
Morgan Rimel, Former CEO of the emotional intelligence network School of Life
Trung Le, Vietnamese architect of schools
Seth Goldenberg, Founder + CEO said: "The School for Radical Futures is a natural evolution for Epic Decade, where we spent over ten years leading the transformation of international organizations and their leaders. With the COVID-19 pandemic bringing about fundamental challenges to the higher education landscape, we are inspired about the potential of this unique interdisciplinary experience to bring together 1,000 brilliant minds and imagine radical solutions to the 21st century's biggest challenges."
About Epic Decade and its Founder
Epic Decade and The School for Radical Futures was founded by Seth Goldenberg, a social entrepreneur who uses design to catalyze cultural change. His work has traversed the sectors of retail, finance, energy, health, and education and he has served as interim CO-CEO of Now What the research and insights group, interim CMO of the State of Rhode Island for the Governor of Rhode Island, and Chief Design Officer for the biotech chronic disease company Intarcia, as well as the VP of Bruce Mau Design and Executive Director of Massive Change. Goldenberg launched Epic Decade after creating and curating Dialog:City an arts and civic media festival at the 2008 President Obama Democratic National Convention with 12 neighborhood sites featuring MacArthur Genius Fellow Ann Hamilton, MIT Media Lab artist Krzysztof Wodiczko, artificial intelligence media artist Lynn Hershman Leeson, South Korean architect Minsuk Cho, and musical technologist DJ Spooky. Goldenberg was in Denver serving as the Deputy Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver playing a senior leadership role in launching the $32M capital campaign for the David Adjaye LEED certified museum.
To see the Kickstarter campaign click here
SOURCE School for Radical Futures
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