About Programs Fellowship News Calendar
The robust digital realities of global society today have placed great pressure on public and private institutions to envision more inclusive and equitable futures. This pressure is particularly acute in media institutions, where local media outlets struggle for survival, and larger media and technology organizations struggle with credibility and public opinion. This climate demands not simply reform efforts but a robust imagination of future media practices that prioritize equity, care, and more inclusive futures.
In 2023, the Salzburg Academy on Media & Global Change asked how we can imagine more inclusive futures through visioning media practices and pedagogies that work to advance meaningful and robust human connections and interdependency in digital culture. Using imagination allows aspiring storytellers and practitioners to move beyond the current constraints of existing media structures to advance creative and experimental ideas for media initiatives of the future. Imagination is needed to reform current structures for media that are rooted in norms driven by market realities, extractive and opaque algorithms, and oversight of content wrought with insufficiency.
Innovations in media industries rely on the ability of people to imagine alternatives to present media environments that nurture meaningful human engagement, inclusion, and respect for others. The 2023 Media Academy focussed specifically on how we can use immersive pedagogies to nurture transformational futures, where media practioners, and educators can help communities imagine more robust and care-driven realities. These are futures where media can also cultivate greater abilities for communities to participate meaningfully in media and daily life.
At this program, in addition to faculty from our partner schools, we were also delighted to welcome faculty from Michigan State University, Northwestern University Qatar, Universidad Iberoamericana de Mexico, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Universidade Nova, and University of Southern California.
The program ran for 15 days and included a mix of lectures, seminars, workshops, a film club, interactive activities, cultural excursions, a musical performance, and other social activities. It took place in person at Schloss Leopoldskron.