About
WE THE FUTURE: YOUNG LEADERS OF SOCIAL CHANGE
Welcome to the world of young changemakers.
The We the Future exhibition is inspired by the Education Amplifier campaign, designed to bring art, stories of young leaders, and social and environmental justice teaching materials to 20,000 classrooms across the U.S.
We the Future confronts our society’s greatest challenges and celebrates our capacity to create change.
The young leaders featured in this exhibition are shaping a new era of human and environmental rights. They are building organizations, passing legislation, creating media, and speaking out about climate justice, criminal justice reform, voting rights, queer rights, immigration justice, disability justice, and gun reform.
Each young leader has taken their community’s experience of inequality and foregrounded it as a call for action by empowering those around them—and those who come after them. As Black, Indigenous, Latinx, queer, disabled, immigrant, and refugee youth disproportionately bear the effects of injustice, they hold lessons for how we can collectively build a more equitable world.
Art inspires action.
The exhibition centers young leaders. In them we discover possibility, courage, and resilience. In the artwork, we discover community: we see ourselves reflected together with others. We the Future looks to bridge countries, languages, religions, genders, and races. The exhibition unites many voices—with each one representing social and cultural work that extends far beyond these walls.
We the Future is a call to action: to join with others in unity and difference to build a more equitable world. It is through small acts and big ideas, individual conversations and collective action, that we move together toward justice.
The future is already here.
CO-CURATED AND CO-CREATED BY
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center
Discovery Center Youth Ambassador Program
About Amplifier
Amplifier is an art machine for social change.
Grounded in the power of public art—and the urgency to make unheard voices heard—the non-profit design lab Amplifier was born in Seattle, WA in 2015 to be a megaphone for social movements.
Amplifier operates on the belief that art not only inspires us; it also provides us with a powerful tool for grassroots movements and a platform to communicate messages in public spaces in impactful, memorable ways.
All Amplifier projects are created in collaboration with communities and artists, and all artwork is available as free downloads, an open source for public use in social movements.
For more information on We the Future and other Amplifier campaigns, visit https://amplifier.org/.
About Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. More information at gatesfoundation.org.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation supports young changemakers, locally and globally. In 2015, world leaders from more than 150 countries agreed to 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development to achieve a better world by 2030. These goals have the power to end poverty, fight inequality, and stop climate change at a global scale—as countries around the world work together to uphold them. It is now up to all of us – governments, businesses, and communities – to take responsibility in building a better future for everyone.
People everywhere need to raise their voices, help build awareness, and hold their government leaders accountable for progress. As communities, we need to amplify the voices of changemakers who are leading the way.
Learn more at gatesfoundation.org/goalkeepers/.
About the Youth Ambassador Program (YAP)
YAP is a yearlong program for high school-aged youth who care deeply about fostering inclusion and belonging. Participants raise awareness about local and global issues and create youth-focused programs and exhibits to inspire positive social change.
Youth Ambassadors co-created We the Future by brainstorming, planning, and implementing ideas in four teams: exhibit design, communications, visitor experience, and public programs.
Learn more about Youth Programs at the Discovery Center at https://www.discovergates.org/program-type/youth-programs/
