HUBweek 2018 is here!
Our first day of programming kicked off with a flurry of activity and enthusiasm that belied the cold Boston weather.
One of today’s biggest events is the first annual Change Maker Conference, an event that offers a multidisciplinary experience to build community, inspire, plan and problem-solve for our future. In his welcome address to the crowd, Brendan Ryan, HUBweek’s executive director, noted that there is a strong community in Boston of people who want to change the world and the crowd strongly agreed. Our hope is that the Change Makers conversations set the tone for the week, encouraging discussions on how we can inspire change in our communities and around the world and help shape a better, more equitable future for all.
By examining the intersections of art, science and technology and bringing together experts in these and other disciplines, HUBweek offers attendees a unique opportunity to discuss how they can work together to effect the change we want to see.
Case in point, when event emcees David Sun Kong and Sandra Richter asked the crowd who identified as an entrepreneur,an academic, an artist or a community organizer, many kept their hands up for multiple categories.
Joi Ito, director of the MIT Media Lab, began the day with a keynote on the practice of change. Examining topics like the relationship between nature and society, what modern society can learn from indigenous groups, and the change wrought by the AI—or “After Internet” age—Joi underscored a critical theme: change makers should not focus on changing society’s rules but on changing society’s values.
Joi pointed to HUBweek speaker David Hogg and the other Parkland students as examples of this change. The March for Our Lives movement is focused on harnessing social media and uniting a community to enact permanent revision in existing gun legislation.
These students, part of the Generation Z demographic, will become society’s largest age bracket next year. Joi urged attendees to “get out of the way and let them take over,” and learn from the way they are doggedly chasing change.
Throughout today and tomorrow, our Change Maker speakers and attendees will examine this idea and other concepts further. We’ll be sharing more updates from the Change Maker Conference and other HUBweek events on the blog and you can also follow along on social channels via the #HUBweek hashtag.
