Throughout her career as a nonprofit executive, award-winning executive producer and producer/director, broadcast programmer, curator, teacher, and writer, Cara has championed the leadership role of artists in society, and worked to harness the power of cultural...
Stay in the loop
Subscribe to our posts
Sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Latest Post
Funding Narrative Ecosystems: The Highlights
Among the narratives that govern philanthropy, the most paradoxical is that a sector with so much abundance chooses to operate with a scarcity mindset. Discover how funders can counter this narrative in how we do our work. In Philea’s “How philanthropy can fund the...
Digging out from Narrative Collapse
“The collapse of narrative is as much about a crisis of connection as anything else - we don’t know who or what to believe because we don’t know where we belong.” In a widely viewed TedX talk back in 2009, Tyler Cowen urged his audience to be suspicious of stories. Cowen’s advice came in the...
A Safe Space to Share Everything: Redefining Success and Celebrating Interdependence
By GIPA Co-coordinator Michelle Plascencia Edited by Mia Deschamps, IRIS In May 2023, Global Impact Producers Alliance (GIPA) hosted a two-day, two-timezone Virtual Assembly for the community of impact practitioners to connect, learn, grow and more than anything: create a Safe Space to Share...
Fiction for Social Change
Leia em portugués | Lea en español September's Tertulia was an inspiring display of ideas, traditional blended with new. Our discussion explored how storytelling—a profoundly human activity—can have powerful social and cultural consequences. Our conversation was guided by...
Let’s talk about measuring impact (even if it’s hard)
Lea en español | Leia em portugués If measuring impact and evaluating success is already complex in any project, in the world of narrative change, there’s an extra layer. The idea of measuring what changes because of the work of a specific organization or group is as fascinating...
How We Think About Thinking
It’s time to be more intentional about using machine metaphors for machines and telling better stories about humans. All the recent attention on AI and its implications for so many aspects of our lives has me thinking about how we think about thinking—and what this means for how we communicate...
The Tertulia on May 30 was extraordinary!
We talk about AI and ChatGPT with Joana Varón, Founder of Coding Rights and Cristina Vélez, Co-Founder of Linterna Verde. “There are numerous questions we must ask artificial intelligence in relation to security, surveillance and the reproduction of sexist, racist and...
May 2023 Update from IRIS
May 2023 Update It has been a busy spring for IRIS! With big events for the first time since 2021, we have enjoyed an exhilarating and intense season of reconnections and new introductions. Moving through our second year, IRIS is remaining virtual-first, with flexible hours that are defined by...
Virtual Postcard: Storytellers’ Community Breakfast at the Skoll World Forum
In April 2023, the Skoll World Forum reconvened for its 20th anniversary and the largest forum to date: nearly 2,000 people from every region participated. Founding Director Cara Mertes, Latin America Lead Graciela Selaimen and Narrative Lead Brett Davidson represented IRIS. I am interested in...
Journalism, public interest & democracy
Leia em portugués | Lea en español As in many countries around the world, misinformation has played an extremely relevant role in shaping the Brazilian political debate. The 2022 presidential elections—the most important electoral race in Brazil’s recent democratic history—were no different. New...
Virtual Postcard: IRIS Tertúlias
Throughout 2022, IRIS and OSF Latin America program partnered to create a space for organizations and storytellers to share experiences and exchange narrative knowledge. We call this space Tertúlia. Following the Ibero-American tradition, for us the Tertúlias are a space for storytelling and...