“Afrofuturism and Africanfuturism, Black Quantum Futures and other indigenous future visions widen the plurality for democratizing the future that has for too long held a narrow future that has denied Black people real and accessible widespread wealth, health and education.” - Dr. Lonny J. Avi Brooks

Please join our first d.school futures series session with Dr. Lonny J. Avi Brooks and Ahmed Best, writers, researchers, educators, performers, producers, and co-creators of the Afrofuturist Podcast, a show that examines, speculates, and imagines the Black future from a global point of view, and aims to diversify and democratize the building of the future.

Developed by Lonny J. Avi Brooks, Ahmed Best, and game designer Eli Kosminsky, Afro-Rithms from the Future challenges players to set up world scenarios informed by a set of tensions in the meta-sense, which are then populated by artifacts from the future, referencing objects and inspiration in our present. The goal is to challenge players to imagine new worlds and build responsive solutions for a future that not only includes but amplifies the voices of those often overlooked.

We’ll be joined by their collaborators Fathomers and the Equitable Games Group to create a vibrant experience that will allow us to listen, learn, play, and collectively imagine new possibilities!

Dr. Lonny J. Avi Brooks, PhD, is a leading researcher and public voice in Afrofuturism, focused on democratizing the principles, practices and accessibility to futures thinking that include and celebrate diverse voices and worldviews. Lonny is an Associate professor of Strategic Communication in the Communication Department at California State University, East Bay, which is, in turn, part of the newly formed School of Arts & Media. Lonny is the co-organizer of the Black Speculative Arts Movement Oakland symposium/film festival celebrating and exploring the Black Imagination at Cal State University East Bay annually since Spring 2017. Now he is producer and co-creator with Ahmed Best of the podcast Afrofuturism—Democratizing the Future! He is co-launching the Community Futures School for high school & college students with the Museum Of Children’s Arts in Oakland, coaching students as next-generation strategic forecasters with social justice, entrepreneurial visions using Afrofuturism and Indigenous futurism as principal frameworks. As a forecaster, Lonny is a Research Affiliate with the Institute For The Future & Research Fellow with the Long Now Foundation. He is co-editor of the Lexington Books series: Afrofuturism and Speculative Cultures: Studies in Emancipatory Politics and Radical Imaginaries and co-editor of the forthcoming anthology Imagining Queer Afrofutures.

Ahmed Best is a multi-hyphenate artist, educator, host and futurist. A true polymath, Ahmed started his career as a songwriter and producer on Atlantic records and then went on to lead the Broadway show Stomp. He went on to star in STAR WARS EPISODES I, II, and III as Jar Jar Binks the first CGI live action main character in motion picture history. He is the co-creator and Host of the Afrofuturist podcast and the host and producer of the new Disney plus show Jedi Temple Challenge. He is a senior fellow at the USC Annenberg School of Communication and an Adjunct Lecturer at USC’s School for Dramatic Arts. Ahmed is an Annie award winner, Ovation, Stage Raw, LACC award and GLAAD media award winner. As an entrepreneur Ahmed has founded the production company Stop That Bangin’ Productions and the BISN media network. He is a moderator and host for live panel discussions about the future and Afrofuturism.

Fathomers is a creative research institute dedicated to producing sites and encounters that challenge us to live and act differently in the world. We cultivate the ideas of die-hard dreamers, commission projects that seem far-fetched, and enlist expansive thinkers across disciplines to redefine the limits of scale, scope and support for artist-led projects.

We do this because we value discoveries made absent predetermined outcomes, and we believe in the power of the realized dream as a test site and model for visionary change.