For Creatives Seeking Emergent and Regenerative Future Foresight
Thought this week
Relationships are the very oxygen of human development.
Dr. Karen Treisman
Revolve Evolve
The work of a futurist often feels akin to the work of an educator or coach, teaching and/or giving people and organisations the confidence to take a leap. A few years ago I wrote about the Forecaster as tomorrow's griot. Griots have their roots in West Africa. They were artists, advisors often tasked with future telling. They played a fundamental and unique role in their societies, as historians, storytellers, singers, poets, or musicians who communicated oral traditions, served as a leader in their community and often advised royals.
When and if future foresight is democratised and automated, what will make our role as humans working in the Futures field unique? It is more than ever crucial to integrator our role as educators and storytellers (even if this is not in our job title) and approach our work as an intentional learning practice. As I shared in my piece:
Could it be that, in the future, the Forecaster would act as the Griot, as a living repository of the past, future and present [...] bringing together the knowledge of everyone into told stories of the future, propagating them in our communities, on whichever platforms exists at that given time.
Where will we land? Conduits for myth making and world building?
As always thank you for being here. Your time means the world.
What you missed
Things happened, before and after I had my baby. I stayed quiet, because I was busy nurturing this little life, now nine months old. Here's an update on the foresight writing and projects that continued (as growth doesn't need to be visible). Cross-disciplinary pollination links are as usual at the end of this dispatch.
Tomorrow with Spur
Multispecies Connection Workshop with Furtherfield
In March 2026, longtime London-based, now Felixstowe-residing art/tech/eco organisation Furtherfield invited me to help shape Reimagine This Coastal Town, a co-creation workshop for their 18-month programme of arts-driven eco-social change, running April 2025 to September 2026.
Through Live Action Role Plays (LARPs), interactive exhibitions and community-led events, Furtherfield has been gathering the dreams and hopes of the local community of Felixstowe for a future that considers the lives and wellbeing of more-than-human species alongside the humans who reside t/here. The programme is co-produced with young adults (18-30) and creative practitioners from the region, leading to new community-led visions and practices for a more nature-connected town.
The aim: to exchange artistic practices and approaches to listening, perceiving and connecting with the needs and experiences of other life-forms. My role was to help shape a public co-creation day where Furtherfield develops multispecies connection devices, garments and tools, inviting participants to see, feel and witness the world from other species' perspectives.
Read more here: https://reimaginethis.life/
Shaping the future of fashion with University of the Arts London
In the Fall of 2025 just before giving birth, I contributed to the design of one of the new units in UAL Online’s Master’s courses: Product Design and Management. As part of this, I was interviewed by Course Leader Kirsty Nevett and shared my thoughts on:
- Macro trends and future foresight
- New metrics of growth and navigating industry tensions
- Practical advice for emerging fashion leaders
An overview of the courses
Created in collaboration with London College of Fashion, Fashion Business School and UAL Online, MA Fashion Business (Online) and MA Fashion Marketing (Online) are 100% online, part-time courses designed in response to the realities of the fashion industry today. Students can study from anywhere in the world while building solid business and marketing foundations around their career or other commitments. Each course combines creative insight with commercial expertise, offering tailored pathways to align with individual career ambitions and empowering students to lead with purpose to make a positive impact on the industry.
Read more here: https://ualonline.arts.ac.uk/courses
Strategic Advisory: the future of work in 2030
I recently advised a world leading brand to discuss the future of work in 2030 and its impact on why and how humans will dress and the utility of fashion. I've been doing these types of calls for many years, and not just for the style industries. I work with tech, gaming and more, providing leading brands and agencies with adjacent and regenerative insights, divergent perspectives that take them out of their comfort zones and fill the gap in their thinking. It's the connective tissue they need to take the leap into a new chapter.
To book a call with me email hello@geraldinewharry.com.
Cross Pollination
