Advisory Group

Learning through listening

Futures in Draft is a collaborative project that ascribes to a process of learning through listening. As such, its formation has been shaped by the ideas and experiences of those already working within, and those curious about, the work of alternative futures.

This has included working with a focus group of 30 individuals, having regular calls with culture workers within the field and bringing together a group of eight cultural practitioners working on alternative futures projects across the UK to form an advisory group.

The advisory group has been integral to the shaping and sensemaking around the project, and their ideas and feedback have guided the content and intention of Futures in Draft so far.

They include:

Our Advisory Group

Nonhlanhla Makuyana

Decolonising Economics, London

Nonhlanhla Makuyana (they/them) is a Zimbabwean-born, UK-based community economist, educator, and community organiser. They are a co-director at Decolonising Economics, where they work to cultivate a Black and People of Colour-led solidarity economy movement.

“We’re living in a time that calls us to engage deeply with the hidden technologies of our liberation—tools, stories, and practices lovingly crafted by communities for their survival. We’re at a tipping point where sharing these strategies is not just important, but urgent. What excites me most about Futures in Draft is how it brings these strategies to the forefront, creating a shared language and helping to popularise the world-building practices we need. In my work in community economics, this aligns closely with my strategy of equipping communities to design and sustain alternative economies rooted in liberation and self-determination.”
Sarah Joynt-Bowe

Healing Justice London, Canada/UK

Sarah is a communications and narrative change strategist focused on developing dynamic, effective strategies for organisers and movement-aligned organisations.

“This is a time for broad, complicated, organised coalitions that help us build power and make meaning across sites of change. Futures in Draft invites us to build critical bridging infrastructure that will support organisations and audiences to connect divergent strategies to a shared vision. My strategy understands communications (both the practice and infrastructures) as sites of intervention — supporting this project is a natural fit.”
André Dallas

People and Planet, Liverpool

André Jahnoi Dallas (he/him) is a Liverpool-based decolonial artist and activist of Afro-Jamaican descent whose work seeks to illuminate and challenge the downpression of the Babylon systems which bound the ways we imagine the world and our place in it.

“At People and Planet our mission is to support and empower the student movement for migrant justice, bringing young people together to envision otherwise. For me, radical imagination isn’t something you possess but rather an everyday action that we all have to be constantly practicing. Hope is the most powerful thing we have, and sharing our stories of what could be keeps that alive. I’m particularly excited by the opportunity to bring people together around the overlaps and intersections between these dreams and to illuminate sites of shared struggle for practical action.”
Asma Kabadeh

Sheffield

Asma Kabadeh is a creative producer, with an extensive background in collaborative arts initiatives, working across arts, heritage and access to nature, community development, and documentary film.

“I am most excited about being involved in early stages of strategy for Futures in Draft and contributing my expertise to working with a range of diverse groups in Sheffield and nationally.”
Evie Muir

Peaks of Colour, Sheffield

Evie Muir (she/they) is a Black, queer, disabled and working class, nature writer and founder of Peaks of Colour – a Peak District based nature-for-healing community group, by and for People of Colour.

“As a writer I believe that storytelling is a tool of resistance that can support us to write into being, new worlds. Yet, under present conditions, being resourced as a writer is immensely difficult. I’m finding myself more and more preoccupied with resourcing and tending to those who of us are at the forefront of movements, and I feel Futures in Draft could be just that: a home in which we can communicate the intricacies of our organising and the expansiveness of our visions.”
Matt Golding

Rubber Republic, Bristol

Matt is founder of BCorp content studio Rubber Republic. With a background in viral campaigns for major international brands the studio now works exclusively for committed changemakers using creative campaigns to engage mass audiences with a better future.

“Futures in Draft is directly relevant to the work I’m doing through ANTIDOTE – the project I’ve created to share positive stories of collective action already underway by ordinary people to create a better future. It’s also relevant to my wider background in viral and shareable storytelling, and campaigning to create more visibility for the positive visionary stories we all need to see more of to create a better future. All stories are rehearsals, as Marshal Gantz says, and all of my work is focussed on making more of those rehearsals for a future we want to live in, not one we don’t. So this work is entirely aligned.”
Tash Johnson

Joseph Rowntree Foundation, London

Tash is a dreamer, mother, and lover of all things spiritual and whimsical. She considers herself a liminal space holder and has spent her 20s busting open the doors of echo chambers and challenging traditional philanthropic models whilst navigating a journey from (very) humble working class roots to holding leadership in spaces of wealth and privilege.

“One of the most important things we can do during these turbulent and difficult times is to bear witness and narrate the moment. Share what is known, what is felt, what is seen and even what’s not yet describable; for that is what’s possible. For me it is the power and beauty of artistry that builds consciousness and forges connection. It is through the sharing of art, ponderings and curiosities that we can begin to dream and rehearse better futures into action, united over a shared desire for a better tomorrow.”
Ruth Taylor

London

Ruth Taylor is an independent strategist, writer and convenor who spends her time supporting organisations to reflect on the strategies they can employ to help create the cultural conditions necessary for transition towards a thriving future for all.

“I believe that hope and momentum for change are contagious, but that, sadly, we live in a world bombarding us with the worst of humanity all the live long day! Futures in Draft, for me, represents a chance to not only champion, celebrate and build community around existing efforts for systemic change, but to mirror back to viewers that there are many, many folks who cherish and live in alignment with a different, truer, set of values. I want more and more people to have projects they can reach for the next time they’re in the pub and someone says the well worn (and untrue!) phrase: “what’s even the point, nobody cares!”. This aligns with my current work supporting the development of a new proposition for the Emerging Futures team focused on fostering cultural conditions and capacities for change.”
Adam Cooper

Threads, Newcastle

Adam is Director of the climate hope organisation Threads in the Ground which makes opportunities for more people to be good ancestors. Their goal is to engage 8 million more people in climate hope by 2030.

“All of my work is about helping more people to meaningfully explore climate change in hopeful ways. It can sometimes feel lonely and always feels challenging! We desperately need better sharing of stories, resources, and connections to grow ambitious transitions work, so I can’t wait to see how Futures in Draft develops!”