Bush Connect

From Public Meetings and Community Forums to Creative Citymaking and Placemaking, improving community engagement requires more than just a change in words. We'll discuss the importance of setting a high standard for community engagement that centers the responsibility for equitable community engagement on us, the practitioners and works toward ensuring all voices are heard. This is an interactive workshop, so come ready to share your horror stories of poor community engagement and your best practices on doing it well. We’ll ask tough questions and ask for honest answers with the hope that you’ll go away with some action steps to creating a more equitable engagement process in your work.

Miki is the Co-Founder & CEO of renowned period-underwear brand THINX and pee-proof underwear brand Icon. She is also the founder of modern bidet brand Tushy, and of acclaimed farm-to-table, gluten-free pizza concept WILD, and is the author of bestselling entrepreneurial manifesto Do Cool Sh*t.

Inspiring ideas can come from anywhere – especially the seat right next to yours. Ignite is a speaker event series where the speakers are your colleagues, your neighbors and your friends. The challenge to the speakers is to enlighten the audience, but make it quick! All talks are composed of 20 slides which auto-advance every 15 seconds – so each talk is just 5 minutes. Ignite events pack a ton of information in to a short amount of time.

In this session you’ll see 8 unique and inspiring speakers, and you’ll also learn techniques and best practices for your own presentations.

The Guthrie Theater presents a workshop beginning to explore Theater of the Oppressed, a revolutionary form of theater built around the ideas of community building and conflict resolution by Brazilian theater artist Augusto Boal.

Participants will learn about the history of Boal’s work while experiencing some of his techniques first-hand, including creative ways to build consensus and problem-solve. Speakers will give examples of practical ways to incorporate these techniques in both personal and work environments, while tailoring the workshop to those in attendance. Participants are encouraged to bring ideas about areas of their lives, work or community where they would like to see change.

Sit down for an intimate conversation with Irv Weiser, Bush Foundation Board member. Hear firsthand the story of how he got to where he is today.

Sit down for an intimate conversation with Julie Garreau, the driving force behind the Cheyenne River Youth Project and a 2016 Bush Fellow. Hear firsthand the story of how she got to where she is today.

Sit down for an intimate conversation with Lori Saroya, the National Chapter Development Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's leading Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization. Hear firsthand the story of how she got to where she is today.

Sit down for an intimate conversation with Sun Yung Shin 신 선 영, editor, author, poet. Hear firsthand the story of how she got to where she is today. 

Join Juxtaposition Arts in a hands-on model building workshop that allows participants the opportunity to explore ideas around place, space, dreams and community. Led by youth and adult designers from our Community Design Studio and based on exercises originally created by urban planner James Rojas, explore what is and what is coming for our communities and how communication and collaboration is key for leaders.