A collective of artists, designers, urban planners, and policy wonks building a more democratic technological future.
Ben Gansky translates complex concepts into imaginative, accessible, and emotionally-rich experiences. Drawing on his background in community organizing, game design, theatre, critical theory, and media production, Gansky conceives, designs, and operates projects and programs that vivify the intersection of emerging technologies, progressive politics, and culture. He holds an MFA in Directing from Carnegie Mellon University.
Drawing on her formal background in theatre, Colleen devises immersive, participatory experiences and wields these forms to promote civic engagement and progressive politics within communities. By synthesizing her storytelling acumen with work in the civic sphere, Colleen is dedicated to strengthening ties between artists, communities, and policymakers to further agendas of equity by shaping public policy through public conversation. Colleen received her BFA in acting from Carnegie Mellon University, and is presently an MPP candidate at UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy.
Blessing Yen is a designer, producer and director. Along with her partner, James Kaelan, she has co-directed and produced, amongst other works, the VR narrative "The Visitor" (Slamdance '16, SFIFF '16, AFI FEST '16) and the feature film, EEL (AFF Wroclaw '14, Sarasota '15). She currently teaches Design for User Experience at USC, and serves as Chief Design Officer for the crowdfunding and streaming platform, Seed&Spark.
Michael Martin, a city planner by trade, is currently the Head of Communities at SignalFire, an AI-driven, early-stage venture capital fund. Previously, he managed the AI XPRIZE and led Global Community Relations at the XPRIZE Foundation. He holds a Masters in Urban Planning from the University of New Orleans and a B.A. in Political Science from Pace University.