FutureEverything has announced that Nature will be joining the team as a formal member of the board as part of its 30th anniversary celebrations.
This will make it the first cultural institution in the UK to do so, joining only a small handful of organisations globally who have also made this bold move.
With almost 30 years experience as a creative think tank at the cutting edge of art technology and social change, it’s FutureEverything’s business to invent the future; now, it wants Nature to reinvent them.
Inspired to go on this ground-breaking journey by the growing global Rights of Nature movement spearheaded by courageous Indigenous groups, lawyers and activists, FutureEverything will amend its constitution to include Nature as a company director, affording Nature a say in, and voting rights on, all company matters from business development to organisational operations and the artistic programme.
Giving Nature a seat on the board will transform the way the organisation thinks, works, and grows so that, over time, everything it does as an organisation reduces ecological degradation and strives towards restoration.
As part of the change, FutureEverything will be conducting its research relating to Nature on The Board ‘in the open’, developing open source resources to support other businesses and not-for-profit organisations to share in their journey and be inspired to let Nature lead the way.
Lucy Rose Sollitt, creative director, FutureEverything, said: “We are approaching the act of putting nature on the board from a place of robust enquiry. Earlier this year, I had the privilege to spend time with Indigenous Elders and representatives of the Sarayaku, Cofan and Kichwa communities of the Ecuadorian Amazon, along with the MOTH project and alumni.
“My experiences in the rainforest and the classroom, with Elders, scientists, lawyers and activists helped me to galvanise my ongoing research to articulate, challenge and transform how we all show up in the world – including our approach to organisational governance. Now more than ever, at the cusp of the ecological crisis, this is the moment to recognise that we need to radically revise our understanding of the world and our place in it. Inviting Nature onto our boards is a bold step towards this objective, with UK retail brand Faith in Nature having set the precedent for this. Now FutureEverything will take things a step further, exploring not just the practical but also the deep societal implications of putting Nature on the Board.”
Annette Mees, Nature’s new chair at FutureEverything, added: “Over its 30 year existence FutureEverything has always looked over the horizon – exploring what might be next – working across art, technology and social change. This has coincided with a growing realisation and recognition of the role of climate change and nature in our collective futures.”
In practical terms, FutureEverything said that Nature will:
- Impact directly on to the day-to-day running of FutureEverything and will become integral to decision-making on all strategic, financial, practical,and ethical matters.
- FutureEverything will build on the environmental safeguards that it currently utilises to develop a more radical assessment of how they function as a tech-focused organisation with a view to transitioning from energy intensive technologies to low carbon approaches.
- FutureEverything will allow Nature’s presence on the board to influence and inform a review of governance protocols to ensure maximising its impact and bring added value at all opportune junctures.
- FutureEverything will prioritise and protect Nature’s right to be heard, to vote, to influence.
