Love Letters to the Future: An Experiment in Collective Imagination

Future of Us Event Link What does the future of San Francisco look like? Who does it belong to? And how can we move from vision to action to pass our cultural legacy to future generations? You’re invited to this workshop to dream and write a future into existence for San Francisco where all belong.  Through writing and collaging, participants will connect across generations and exchange the gift of imagination.  Drawing from the wisdom of Afrofuturism and Black feminism, participants will nurture creative minds and open hearts to co-vision a liberatory San Francisco future and practice care in the present. Presented by the Future of Us Festival, and based on the Collectively Writing & Dreaming into Futures We Love workshop (2025) by Grace Anderson and Avery Staton. Open to participants 11 years of age and older. Youth and elders encouraged to apply. ―――――――――― About the Future of Us Festival Launching on America's 250th anniversary, the inaugural Future of Us festival is a 10-day celebration of civic imagination and possibility. We're turning community-sourced, expert-crafted visions of the future into art, storytelling, and participatory experiences. With 100+ events spanning every corner of the city (floral labyrinths, speculative future worlds, dance parties with a purpose, and neighborhood meet-ups), it's a living exploration of what a more creative and generative civic culture could feel like. Organized around four themes (Green Futures, Social Futures, Science & Tech Futures, and Media Futures), Future of Us is breaking down the barriers between art, ideas, and each other, and everyone is invited to co-imagine what comes next. ⚡ Learn more: future-of-us.com ⚡ Follow us: instagram.com/futures.us ―――――――――― ⚡ Meet your hosts: Tanisha Hill-Jarrett, PhD, is a neuropsychologist, Afrofuturist, and Assistant Professor at the University of California, San Francisco Fein Memory and Aging Center. Her research examines how cross-cutting racism and sexism shape Black women’s cognitive aging and risk for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. The daughter of Patricia and granddaughter of Alberta, Dr. Hill-Jarrett’s work is grounded in their teachings, Black feminist thought, and a commitment to futures where Black women live well. Through community-based work with Black women, she uses Afrofuturism as a framework for radically imagining futures where Blackness is integral, memory is honored, and aging is shaped by care and possibility. Her objective is to make Afrofuturism accessible as both a brain health resource for community-dwelling elders and a tool for social transformation that centers aging Black women. Avery Staton (they/them), MCP/MPH, is a Relational Designer and artist working to nurture the connective tissue between people, their communities, the institutions meant to serve them, and their internal sense of alignment and purpose.  Avery moves between spaces serving as an equity design strategist and facilitator, helping institutions develop the capacity to design with–not for–communities impacted by oppression, as well as a certified healing-centered coach, supporting individual changemakers and teams navigating the challenges and complexity of values-aligned work. Weaving together their expertise in city planning and public health, they have championed and led community co-creation work across multiple contexts in the San Francisco Bay Area. They stay dreaming and scheming about how to build the relational infrastructure needed to bring radical imagination to life. Avery holds dual masters degrees in city planning and public health from the University of California, Berkeley. ―――――――――― SF Stuff To Do Do not edit this event! changes will be overwritten