Forethought Wellington: Intention

Overview

Forethought is a Wellington talk series success story. It shows how a simple concept can really engage drastically different people: the event brings two engaged people from very different backgrounds together with an audience to korero on a shared "concept word". The two speakers are given space to talk about what's on their mind for half an hour, one after the other. The audience then come into the conversation, for an engaging Q&A-style session. It results in a night of communal thinking, shared opinions and new outlooks.

After beginning life in Wellington in 2015, the series expanded to Auckland in 2016. Forethought is an important exercise in going with the flow and opening up one's thoughts to think together. The juxtaposition of these two mindsets often brings out the nuances that lie within the spectrum of your own personal perspective. What an awesome conversation to have.

Forethought: Intention has two female speakers this week: Siân Torrington and Marianne Elliot.

Siân is a community arts worker, curator and writer with interests in the expression of gender diversity, sexuality and social history, and what happens when you express these through multiple mediums of poetry, writing, drawing, installation, performance and sculpture. Her work has been commissioned for public art institutions, festivals and by the Public Art Fund of Wellington. She has also exhibited her work nationally as well as internationally.

Marianne Elliot has a background as a human rights strategist in Afghanistan working with the United Nations, and has also served as a policy advisor for Oxfam. She is now a human rights advocate, yoga teacher and writer. She is also the author of Under Fire: A Story of Love and Work in Afghanistan. Marianne will be discussing Action Station's new initiative Kai and Kōrero.