CreateNow Robert Ransick

Robert spoke with John at the first Regenerative Futures Summitin Boulder Colorado about his work at the Capital Institute. John founded the organization in 2010 to explore and affect the economic transition to a more just, regenerative, and thus sustainable way of living on this earth through the transformation of finance. He is the author of “Regenerative Capitalism: How Universal Principles and Patterns Will Shape the New Economy.” 
Previously, John was a managing director of JPMorgan where he worked for 18 years overseeing various capital markets and derivatives business around the globe. After the merger with Chase Manhattan and witnessing 9/11 first hand, John retired from the bank in 2001.
Producer: Anna Saldinger
Engineer: Rohan Edwards

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Donna Morton, CEO of Change Finance
This past May, Robert spoke with Donna Morton at the first Regenerative Futures Summit in Boulder Colorado about her background in the performing arts and how this foundation informs all of her work.
After many years working as an activist in the environmental movement, Donna decided to shift her approach from one centered on resistance to one that is generative and focused on creating the conditions that give rise to a more equitable, fair, and just future.
Most recently, Donna has turned her attention to the world of finance as a place to confront the status quo and work towards creating an economy in service to life through financial activism. At Change Finance, her team is building accessible products that promote ethical investing. Their first product, an entirely fossil fuel free exchange-traded fund, has recently become available on the New York Stock exchange.
Donna and the Change Finance team will be ringing the stock exchange bell this Tuesday, November 7th, 2017 in New York.
Producer: Dylan O’Hara
Engineer: Anna Saldinger

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ruby Lerner, Founding Executive Director, Creative Capital
Robert spoke with Ruby Lerner at Bennington’s Center for the Advancement of Public Action this fall about the trailblazing organization she founded in 1999, Creative Capital. Bringing a venture capital model of support to artists, Creative Capital provides long-term financial support and training for artists in order to help them realize their visions and build sustainable practices.
Ruby stepped down from her role at Creative Capital in 2016, and has since been working in consultation with many art schools and organizations, along with serving on a variety of advisory groups and boards of directors.
Producer: Anna Saldinger
Audio Engineer: Rohan Edwards

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, Robert spoke with Ben Hall, a Bennington College alum who received the 2017 Elizabeth Coleman Visionary Leadership Award this past fall for his work as co-owner of Russell Street Deli in Detroit, Michigan. Ben and his business partner Jason Murphey started as dishwashers there in the 1990s, and bought the deli in the early two thousands. They’ve recently expanded their business to include making organic soups with no preservatives which are currently available in select Whole Foods stores and on the menus of detroit’s public schools.
Their commitment to integrity, high wages, good employee benefits, and sustainability have put them on the map as exemplars of how ethical and responsible businesses practices can positively impact local communities.
Ben Hall is also a sculptor and composer who creates installations incorporating durational performances, existing objects and indeterminacy. His practice includes curating Baptizum.com, the world’s largest online Black American spiritual collection. Hall also produces new American improvisation on his LP label brokenresearch, including the last small group recordings of visionary trumpeter and composer Bill Dixon. Hall has written for The Wire and BOMB and has performed at INSTAL in Glasgow, Scotland; the Museum of Modern Art in New York City; and kunstenentrum BELGIE in Belgium.

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Robert spoke with Kate Raworth at the first Regenerative Futures Summit in Boulder Colorado about her book Doughnut Economic: 7 Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist. 
They also discussed the power of images, her upbringing in a home with a photographer father, jazz singing and how she collaborated with animators to communicate her economic ideas.
Kate trained at Oxford University as an economist, before leaving the discipline in the 1990’s to work supporting small business owners in Zanzibar, co-authoring the Human Development Report for the UN and researching for Oxfam. Most recently, Kate returned to economics to explore the mindset needed to address some of the most challenging social and ecological problems of the 21st century.
Producer: Chloe Shelford
Engineer: Rohan Edwards

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Robert spoke with artist Stephanie Dinkins this fall about her work creating platforms for ongoing dialog about artificial intelligence as it intersects race, gender, aging and our future histories. She is particularly driven to work with communities of color to develop deep-rooted AI literacy and co-create a more culturally inclusive and equitable artificial intelligence.
Recently, Stephanie has been talking to Bina48, a sophisticated social robot. We talked about Bina and Stephanie’s other projects when she visited campus in October as part of the Bennington College Visual Arts Lecture Series.
Learn more about Stephanie's work at her website.
Producer: Chloe Shelford
Audio Engineer: Rohan Edwards (with additional support from Dylan O’Hara)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.