Luce Change

Aaron Tanaka, CEO of One Project and founder of the Center for Economic Democracy, joins Sean Buffington on this episode of Luce Change to make the case that America’s political crisis is, at its root, an economic one. When the majority of people have no real agency over the decisions that shape their lives, democracy becomes a ritual rather than a reality.  Tanaka traces this failure from the founding contradictions of the country through the bipartisan embrace of neoliberalism, and argues that the antidote isn’t better messaging—it’s restructuring who controls land, labor, and capital. Articles & Organizations Mentioned: One Project: https://www.one.org Center for Economic Democracy: https://www.economicdemocracy.us Boston Ujima Project: https://www.ujimaboston.com Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative: https://www.dsni.org Right to the City Alliance: https://righttothecity.org City Life / Vida Urbana: https://www.clvu.org Climate Justice Alliance: https://climatejusticealliance.org Civic Lex: https://www.civiclex.org Amazon Sacred Headwaters Alliance: https://www.amazonsacredheadwaters.org Participatory Budgeting Project: https://www.participatorybudgeting.org Interested in joining the conversation? Share this episode with a friend, follow Henry Luce Foundation on Instagram & LinkedIn, or subscribe to our newsletter.

On this episode of Luce Change, Sean Buffington sits down with Ash Hanson—theater artist, rural cultural worker, and Creative Executive Officer at the Department of Public Transformation—to explore why bending the arc of history toward justice has to start locally. Ash makes the case that civic culture erodes the way sandstone does: slowly, incrementally, and at enormous cost to the communities least resourced to rebuild. With only 3–7% of philanthropic dollars reaching the 20% of Americans who live in rural places, Ash argues that geographic inequity is foundational to the democratic crisis, and that artists and cultural organizers are doing the essential work of shifting community narratives and building civic imagination before traditional engagement can even begin. Articles & Organizations Mentioned: Department of Public Transformation: dopt.org  Voices for Rural Resilience: voicesforruralresilience.org  The Mellon Foundation: mellon.org     Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson: justmercy.eji.org  SiP Culture: sipculture.org  Blue Sky Center: blueskycenter.org  Cheyenne River Youth Project: cryp.org  No Hate in My Holler: nohateinmyholler.com  Epicenter Utah: epicenterutah.org  Art of the Rural: artoftherural.org  Springboard for the Arts: springboardforthearts.org  Daily Yonder: dailyyonder.com  Center for Rural Strategies: ruralstrategies.org  Rural Assembly: ruralassembly.org  Masumoto Family Farm: masumoto.com  Country Queers: countryqueers.com  Civic Lex: civiclex.org    Interested in joining the conversation? Share this episode with a friend, follow Henry Luce Foundation on Instagram & LinkedIn, or subscribe to our newsletter. 

On this episode of Luce Change, Sean Buffington speaks with Richard Young, Executive Director of CivicLex in Lexington, Kentucky, about the power of place, and why local democracy is the most underestimated front in the fight to rebuild civic life in America. At the center of the conversation is CivicLex’s first-ever civic assembly: 36 randomly selected, demographically representative Lexington residents convening across six sessions to deliberate on proposed changes to the city charter. Like the concentric rings of a public square, the assembly draws people inward toward a shared decision–Young believes that is exactly how civic repair begins. Articles & Organizations Mentioned: CivicLex: civiclex.org American Academy of Arts and Sciences: amacad.org Everyday Democracy (Martha McCoy): everyday-democracy.org Harvard Kennedy School / Archon Fung: hks.harvard.edu Kentucky Rural-Urban Exchange: kyrux.org Oak Ridge Periodic Tables (David Allred, Oak Ridge, TN): oakridgeperiodictables.com Black Yarn (Lexington, KY): blackyarn.com Outlier Media (Detroit, MI): outliermedia.org People’s Budget Office / Mural Arts Philadelphia: muralarts.org North Carolina Local News Lab Fund: nclocalnews.org Panelot (sortition software): panelot.org The Austin Common (Austin, TX): theaustincommon.com The Village Square (Liz Joyner, Tallahassee, FL): tlh.villagesquare.us Good Neighbor Week (San Francisco, CA): sfgoodneighborweek.org Department of Public Transformation: publictransformation.org Knight Foundation: knightfoundation.org Bluegrass Community Foundation: bgcf.org Interested in joining the conversation? Share this episode with a friend, follow Henry Luce Foundation on Instagram & LinkedIn, or subscribe to our newsletter. 

In this episode of Luce Change, host Sean Buffington sits down with Paul Brandeis Rauschenbusch, an ordained Baptist minister, CEO of Interfaith Alliance, and co-author of an essay suggesting the US may be entering its next Great Awakening. Paul makes the case that every major leap forward in American democracy has been powered not just by policy, but by a moral and spiritual awakening. He argues that what looks like a crisis may also be an invitation: a moment when people across lines of faith, race, and class are choosing to become neighbors to one another. Articles & Organizations Mentioned: "We Need a New Great Awakening" by Paul Brandeis Rauschenbusch & Ian Bassen: thebulwark.com Interfaith Alliance: interfaithalliance.org Faith for Libraries (Interfaith Alliance initiative): interfaithalliance.org American Library Association: ala.org No Kings: nokings.org ISAIAH (Minnesota): isaiah-mn.org March Minnesota: marchmn.org Interested in joining the conversation? Share this episode with a friend, follow Henry Luce Foundation on Instagram & LinkedIn, or subscribe to our newsletter. 

What does a photograph prove—and who gets to decide? Recorded live at MacDowell, archaeologist Nam Kim, curator and Magnum Foundation executive director Kristen Lubben, and photographer Accra Shepp join Sean Buffington on this episode of Luce Change to wrestle with photography’s contested role as historical evidence.     At a moment when AI is blurring the line between documentation and fabrication, their discussion cuts to the heart of how we trust images.