Episode 36: Kamal Sinclair

Hello and welcome to the Baha’i Blogcast with me your host, Rainn Wilson. In this series of podcasts I interview members of the Baha’i Faith and friends from all over the world about their hearts, and minds, and souls, their spiritual journeys, what they’re interested in, and what makes them tick. In this episode, I sit down with the multi-talented Kamal Sinclair, a dancer, percussionist, multi-media producer, and currently the Executive Director of 'Future Architects'. In this conversation we talk about being in 'Stomp', new technology and emerging media, the future of work, meeting Ruhiyyih Khanum, how art generates knowledge and the role beauty plays in the world, the difference between empathy and compassion, and the need to address trauma and abuse in the community. I hope you find this conversation as riveting as I did! To find out more about Kamal Sinclair and some of the things we covered in this podcast, check out the following links: * Learn more about 'Future Architects' here: https://futurearchitects.com/ * Here is Kamal's body of research relating to equality in emerging media: https://makinganewreality.org/ * Here's a link to STOMP, of which Kamal was a performer for six years: https://stomponline.com/ * Here's a Time magazine article about 'Question Bridge': https://time.com/75987/the-question-bridge-project-redefining-black-male-identity/ * Here's the trailer for Question Bridge: Black Males: https://vimeo.com/12010682 * We talk about Virtual Reality and Oculus Rift: https://www.oculus.com/ * We talk about the Sundance Institute: http://www.sundance.org/ * Here's a video interview with Kamal 'Storytellers of Tomorrow - Sundance Institute New Frontier Lab Programs with Kamal Sinclair': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trSieVUB9p0 * Here's a Forbes podcast interview with Kamal: https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinawallace/2018/02/12/podcast-kamal-sinclair-is-charting-new-frontiers-in-digital-storytelling/#7861d5b23b99 * Here's a video of a talk by Kamal Sinclair about emerging media: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64v8yjI-Dw4 * Rainn mentions Oscar DeGruy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_DeGruy * Kamal talks about her meetings with Ruhiyyeh Khanum (https://bit.ly/303laAJ) and Violette Nakhjavani (https://bit.ly/2J12rQu). * We talk about the work of Ruha Benjamin, who was also a guest on this podcast: https://www.bahaiblog.net/2017/09/bahai-blogcast-rainn-wilson-episode-22-ruha-benjamin/ * Kamal talks about the Allied Media Conference: https://www.alliedmedia.org/ * Kamal mentions Bobby Aazami: https://www.bahaiblog.net/2018/05/six-million-dollar-kid-interview-bobby-aazami/ * Kamal shares one of her favourite quotes found in 'The Seven Valleys' by Baha'u'llah: "I say ‘Be,’ and it is, and thou shalt say ‘Be,’ and it shall be." * Learn more about 'The Seven Valleys' here: https://www.bahaiblog.net/2016/09/introduction-seven-valleys/ Be sure to subscribe to the Baha’i Blogcast for more episodes on: *YouTube: http://bit.ly/2JTNmBO * iTunes: http://apple.co/2leHPHL *Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/bahaiblogcast *Spotify: http://spoti.fi/2IXRAnb If you would like to find out more about the Baha'i Faith visit BAHAI.ORG, and for more great Baha'i-inspired content check out BAHAIBLOG.NET: http://bahaiblog.net/ Thanks for listening! -Rainn Wilson