Reflections from Allegra Fuller Snyder on The Fuller Challenge Symposium

I am taking the liberty of sharing something of the excitement that we, who were able to attend the extraordinary Fuller Challenge Award Symposium, experienced. This event took a very different perspective and tactic than any that previously had occurred in connection with the Challenge Awards. It brought together some 200 people to discuss and celebrate “how to make the world work” and indeed it seemed to do just that. Participants were both those who had been involved with the 10 years of Challenges either as participants or jurors along with other very stimulating thinkers and doers as exemplified by the panel moderators, including Susan Szenasy, Greg Watson, J.P. Harpignies, Andrew Revkin and Renee Leertzman. It took place from 10 AM to closing around supper time at A/D/O, a very excellent small auditorium/meeting place in Brooklyn and focused on such topics as the Design Revolution, discussed in three sessions on terrestrial, urban and ocean ecosystems–and finally resilience strategies. It awakened the hearts and minds of all who were attending which excitingly included a very significant portion of young people. And we have Elizabeth Thompson, the Fuller Challenge founding director and Megan Ahearn, the Challenge program manager, to thank for making it all happen.

It is our hope, at the BFI, that this can be both a model and vision for some very large part of the actions of the BFI over the next period of time and we hope that we can come up with ways to make that happen. Please send us your thoughts and ideas, your hopes and dreams.

Allegra Fuller Snyder, Buckminster Fuller’s daughter
Professor Emerita of Dance and Dance Ethnology, UCLA
Honorary Member, Board of Directors, Buckminster Fuller Institute