Committing to Change.
Sometimes I feel that my teachers lied. When I was in elementary school, we learned about recycling. We were told if we put our tins, paper, and plastic into the blue bin instead of the garbage, we’d save the planet. It turns out, that’s not true. Also sadly, most of what gets put into recycling ends up in the garbage anyway.
There are countless examples all around us that show us how our individual actions aren’t enough to create change. Some of us may have tried and got burned out along the way. In the end, it’s typically the larger systems that need to change, not just individual behaviours. But when change is critical, how is it possible?
In the 1960’s David Gleicher created the change formula. The formula is relatively simple to understand, yet incredibly complex to enact. According to the formula, change happens when there is dissatisfaction with the current state (D), a clear vision of a compelling possible future (V), and the first steps needed to get there (F), and this is greater than the resistance you might experience, or the cost of change (R).
Change = D x V x F > R
We recently completed a project that put this formula into action. Working with a group of performing artists in the prairies, we facilitated a process to articulate a preferred future for prairie theatre in 2040.
Over the course of a year, performing artists came together to share their current challenges, and hopes for the future. Once a shared preferred future was articulated, participants shared the actions needed to advance this future. Some of these actions were for themselves, but many were for larger power structures such as funders and governments.
Lastly, participants were invited to identify one thing, small or large that they could individually do to advance this future. While not pushed to share, many chose to make their commitments public. For some, it was to share the conversation with more people, to ensure the vision resonated for them too. For others, it was organizational policy changes, to support the well-being of artists.
Participants left feeling energized and hopeful for the future. They were clear on what they needed to do to make their future possible, and who else they needed to bring into the conversation. They also had a good understanding of the resistance they may come up against, and ways to tackle this part of the equation.
I also left the sessions incredibly hopeful and reflecting on the importance of individually committing to social change, while acknowledging the larger system that will create resistance. While recycling programs haven’t stopped climate change, they did teach my generation about the importance of changing our behaviour for the benefit of the environment. In this case, the vision was there, but the resistance was too great for the first steps. We now know that it takes more than household recycling to stop the climate crisis. And while it’s too late to stop climate change, it’s certainly not too late to reassess our vision and the steps needed to get there.
About the project
Christine Brubaker as Principal Investigator at the University of Calgary, Dr. Taiwo Afolabi as co-Investigator at the University of Regina, and Yvette Nolan received a SSHRC Insight Development Grant to conduct collective research into the critical uncertainties and possible futures affecting the professional theatre community in the Canadian prairie provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The research project is using participatory action research and strategic foresight to surface and identify signals, trends, critical uncertainties and generate a range of possible futures with an intention to specifically understand the implications and opportunities for prairie-based theatre companies and theatre artists.