UPCOMING EVENT: “4th Virtual Designing for Empathy Summit: Diversity, Equity, and Collective Action” (October 27 – 29, 2021)

We will explore the ingredients of the alchemy of empathy, and hear from practitioners how these qualities are reflected in our lives and institutions as diversity, equity, and collective action. Join us!

In a forever-changed global environment, it is clear now more than ever that we can no longer take empathy for granted. Empathy lies at the heart of all solutions to the complex problems of our world. We must plan ahead and intentionally invest in the design and promotion of the ecosystems that can nurture empathy across all systems and sectors. It is essential that we explore the evolving meaning of empathy, develop incubators for evidence-based empathy-building, and provide opportunities for individuals to discover and exercise their inherent capacities for empathy.

The inaugural Summit in 2018, was hosted by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, in Dharamshala, India, which brought together thirty creative thought leaders around a unique workshop, which inspired them to turn their ideas into action. The second Summit in 2019 took place in Washington, D.C. at the Phillips Collection, the Smithsonian’s Museum of Native American Art, and the George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum, which convened a cohort of thirty leaders, with an equal amount of actionable ideas that started taking root since then. The third Summit in 2020 was held virtually, keeping its “invitation-only” format as in previous years, and included nearly hundred empathy-builders from around the world. Please find below information on the past three Designing for Empathy Summits for your review:

2020 — http://elifgokcigdem.com/event/designing-for-empathy-a-virtual-summit-shaping-the-future-of-empathy-building/

2019 — http://elifgokcigdem.com/designing-for-empathy-summit/

2018 — http://elifgokcigdem.com/summit-with-dalai-lama/

Finally, the Designing for Empathy Summit is entering its fourth year. In 2021, the Summit will have the virtual capacity to bring together up to three hundred dedicated thought leaders and empathy-builders from around the world for a three-day live event, daily from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. ET. This year the Summit will also include an “Experiential Track” which will offer Summit participants with two weeks of “hands-on” programming; starting a week before and lasting a week after the Summit, that will offer up to ten experiential empathy-building workshops. This will enable our community to stay connected, and exchange ideas and inspiration to innovate in small group settings while actively showcasing, prototyping, and improving our empathy-building offerings. 

Examples of experiential sessions/workshops that will be included in the Designing for Empathy Summit 2021 can be found through the link below, which lists a recent, 11-week long virtual series of “Designing for Empathy Workshops” hosted by the Chautauqua Institution:

https://learn.chq.org/cart-collections/designing-for-empathy-workshop-series

—A very exciting program is shaping up for the Designing for Empathy Summit 2021 (#empathysummit2021) with amazing speakers, workshops and performances!

—Please visit us again, updates on Empathy Summit 2021 will be posted here!

—A dedicated website is under development.

For more information, email Elif at: greatolivetree@gmail.com