Creative Bureaucracy Festival’s Post

‘Proving Kafka wrong…’ a typically quirky session-title at this year’s Creative Bureaucracy Festival in Berlin, which focuses on the role of public officials in changing the world (within their zone of influence). So it resonated to end up in Prague thereafter – where this amazing moving sculpture of Franz Kafka by David Černý could be interpreted as a metaphor for the labyrinthine layers and moving parts of bureaucratic systems….   The festival, however, celebrates how ‘bureaucrats’ can - and often are – supporting enabling systems that strengthen rights, access to services and agency in the communities they serve. There was lots to digest as usual. Some of my favorites: - ‘What if women designed the cities?’ With no less than 33 leverage points for intervening in urban planning, derived from insights from city-walks with women from all walks of life, in several cities. By May East - see her book by the same name. - Insights into the options for bureaucrats wanting to support change processes: o  Make it happen o  Help it to happen o  Let it happen. Sometimes getting out of the way can matter most…. - How not to let a crisis go to waste: A fascinating input by Mickey Dickerson who led the team tasked with fixing Obama’s crashing healthcare.gov site. Remember that? He argued that most of the time, you can’t change institutions. You have to spot the opportunities, and they typically require a crisis, with some of these elements: o  The organisation faces an existential threat o  There is an element of surprise o  There is time pressure so normal decision-making processes are up-ended o  There is a breakdown in ‘sense-making’: in accepted patterns o  The power structure is disrupted. And then you have to be ready with the alternatives.   All of which certainly resonated…..    Robyn Bennett Charles Landry May East #cbf2024 #cbf

https://lnkd.in/etWHqVDK This year, NGCI attends re:publica 24 festival in Berlin! As a platform for new perspectives and points of view, the festival facilitates a colourful and diverse dialogue that puts responsibility before profits and focuses on the potential for human development, with everyone in society committed to or standing up for the common good. As a digitally diverse society, we are threatened by complex issues and worsening crises that require multidimensional solutions. To meet future challenges, we will need a society that promotes solidarity, public advocacy, and civic engagement rather than one geared toward growth and success. Re: publica takes on these challenges with great curiosity and playful joy, leaving space for positive developments and innovation. So whether we are optimistic or worried, the question is clear: WHO CARES? #rp24

My final column for the Standard (more on that 'final' soon) - we've got to fight for our right to cuuuuultuuuuure https://lnkd.in/epCpWWsV

A new nation comprising all Caribbean nations which would become provinces/states of the greater whole. What an idea; a united powerful Caribbean nation that can work for itself, develop and protect itself. There is a distinct and necessary moment in time when a group must unite and facilitate the Confederacy of itself for its own protection, management and policing. For the Caribbean that time is now. A United Caribbean, a New United Nation! https://lnkd.in/eDzN68NX

It's been less than two months and we miss the festival already! Here is our review, to revel in 🥰 ! 💬 „Being a bureaucrat was such a dirty name. And the fact that this festival called itself the creative bureaucracy, gives people who are bureaucrats a home to come in and share their experiences and be around like-minded individuals, and also people who are very vastly different from them."
 This year's festival speaker and participant Terrance Smith captured it perfectly. Again, we aimed to create a place where all of you can share and learn as well as to honor people and projects that might not receive attention in the daily grind of bureaucracy.   🍭 Music, bubbles, art, creativity and bureaucracy – all combined. Enjoy our wonderful throwback! PD - Berater der öffentlichen Hand GmbH Falling Walls Foundation Bundesministerium des Inneren, für Bau und Heimat Goethe-Institut e.V. GPM Deutsche Gesellschaft für Projektmanagement e. V. Politics for Tomorrow Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH Gemeinnützige Hertie-Stiftung BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung CIRI | Creative Impact Research Institute Senatskanzlei Berlin EIT Culture & Creativity #CBF23 #CreativeBureaucracyFestival #publicsectorinnovation #publicsector #bureaucracy #transformation #policy #verwaltung #öffentlicherdienst #government #bürokratie #innovation

What are the European parties' take on #culture? 🤔 👇 Check out an analysis of the parties' positions in an overview by IETM - International network for contemporary performing arts. 🇪🇺 We encourage every eligible voter to #UseYourVote in the #EUelections2024 to be part of shaping the future of #European democracy!

All cities in the world should commit for digital human rights. Cities Coalition for Digital Rights AfroLeadership CSO #humanrights #digitalrights #declaration #CC4DR #transparency #participation --- "Do you work on a local government ? Join this session with the cities of Barcelona and Amsterdam to discuss their mission to foster transparency and participation in cities, as part of the Cities Coalition for Digital Rights mission-oriented approach to digital human rights." Livia Schaeffer Nonose

Hope to see you on 11-12 March at the Fundamental Rights Forum and discuss how to protect and promote 1️⃣ democracy and civic space in Europe 2️⃣ a socially and environmentally sustainable Europe 3️⃣ rights compliant digitalisation More here: fundamentalrightsforum.eu

📢 Join us for an insightful discussion on the contemporary human rights situation in Central and Eastern Europe. 🌍✨ 🗓️ Date: October 5, 2023 🕔 Time: 17:00 – 19:00 CEST Learn more about the event: https://lnkd.in/dPD4cE2S #HumanRights #Europe #Dialogue #4LibertyEu

ARTISTS AND THE POLITICAL AGORA SOTA Foyer at the Beursschouwburg Thursday 30/05 | 18h - 20h, August Ortsstraat 20/28, 1000 Brussel Ahead of the elections, the battle for identity and the discussions about social and societal values are burning brightly. All political parties – from the far left to the far right – identify art and culture as a powerful tool to shape identity, to create social cohesion, to be innovative with the creation of new values or – on the contrary – repair conservative ones. This results in wild speculations on what art and culture is or should be, what it should interfere with or even take responsibility for. Where do we as artists find ourselves in this battle field? How do we raise our voices on the one hand and protect the vulnerable space we work in on the other? Can the existing institutional order, politics and policymaking still be a partner in this? Or is the self-organized space the only answer? What role do subsidized cultural organizations and institutions play in this? With the help from some of the almanac’s wisdom, we’ll look for answers to our questions. Everybody welcome!