ChangeTheFuture

ChangeTheFuture is a democratic collective of volunteers working to create more fun and effective spaces for people to come together to shape their communities (e.g. schools, cities, organisations).
Formed in 2007 the project was initially a documentary exploring different approaches to education and now operates a number of notable initiatives using Open Business principles and seeks to provide the general public (starting with Brighton) with new ways to implement direct democracy at local, national and eventually global levels.
Notable activity
Wall Of Ideas
An ongoing intiative of the collective, the Wall Of Ideas is a 8ft x 40ft pinboard which was first erected in central Brighton with permission from the city council. After collecting numerous proposals from people in this busy street, TedxBrighton invited ChangeTheFuture to set up the wall in their Exhibition space on 31st October 2014. It was erected a third time at Onca Gallery in Brighton, where it enjoyed the attention of several councillors, the leader of the council (Jason Kitcat) and the Green Party's Member of Parliament Caroline Lucas. An interview was recorded with them by ChangeTheFuture about the need to create more spaces for decision makers in communities to share with those affected by these decisions.
The bus also offers a new Pay As You Feel
Wheels Of Change bus
In 2015, the movement passed a proposal to purchase a double decker bus for facilitating a permanent installation of the Wall Of Ideas, to be taken to various areas in the community to gather contributions and proposals from a wider demographic, especially the more isolated people in the community
Web Platform
ChangeTheFuture's longer term goal still in development is to build a web platform to shift society increasingly closer to a direct democracy, in which the public can propose and vote on individual issues, as opposed to a representative democracy.
However, implementing liquid democracy will allow representation to occur through people giving their vote to someone they trust in a certain area of expertise, until they chose to retract it or vote directly on an issue instead.
Recognition
Overall winner at (dubbed by the judges as 'Citizens Agenda') ChangeTheFuture also won a place on WiredSussex's 'FuseBox Amp' incubation scheme for social enterprises the same year.
The project was discussed in the House of Commons and also represented at events held by the Digital Democracy Commission in 2014.
O2 (Think Big) recognized the project as valuable to the community and decided to offer financial support in 2011. UnLtd also became a sponsor in the same year in addition to providing a mentor to support the volunteer team.

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