Anurag Jain's Blog on Bangalore Events, Travel, IIM Bangalore, IIM, IIMB, Management

Friday, July 18, 2008

Posted 5:05 PM by Anurag

Jul 25: Meta-Culture presents 'Bengaluru Speaks'

"Dear friend,

Meta-Culture Dialogics, in partnership with Koshy’s, invite you to:

Bengaluru Speaks
An evening of uncommon conversation.

Come be part of the first in a series of monthly community Dialogues where you and other Bangaloreans will have an opportunity to engage in honest and constructive conversations about issues that matter to you and your city. If successful, the series will be continued in Bangalore beyond 2008, and expanded to other cities throughout India.

The first Bengaluru Speaks will take place on:
Friday, July 25th
7-9:30 pm
Koshy’s Chill Out Ice Cream Parlour
No. 39 St. Mark’s Road, Bangalore, next to Koshy’s Restaurant.

Featuring: Local Artist TBA

All are welcome. Snacks are on the house.
Subsequent Bengaluru Speaks will take place on the 4th Friday of each month, 7-9:30pm. The December session will take place on the 3rd Friday, December 19th.

For more information, please read the description, below. Feel free to photocopy and distribute the attached flyer.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Sincerely,

Beth Fascitelli
Program Manager
Meta-Culture Dialogics

Bengaluru Speaks is part of an effort to create a “culture of dialogue” where people can address conflict and talk about important issues in ways that are honest, meaningful and productive. The goal of the community Dialogue series is to introduce to India’s urban public innovative and non-adversarial ways to have conversations about difficult issues. The Dialogues will address topics that, while important, are often contentious, rarely spoken of publicly or typically “owned” by politicians and “experts.”

Open to all Bangaloreans, the monthly community Dialogue sessions will be facilitated by MCD’s trained Conflict Resolution professionals. Participants will have meaningful conversations to deepen their understanding of views and ideas that are different from their own.

To encourage creativity and free expression, talented local artists will open each session with a performance related to the evening’s Dialogue topic.

MCD staff will select the monthly Dialogue topics by researching current local issues and inviting suggestions from Bengaluru Speaks participants. These topics may include:

· urban development and quality of life;
· civic engagement and the urban middle class;
· cultural space in urban Bangalore;
· the urban-rural divide;
· water and environment in Bangalore;
· multi-nationals vs. small business;
· urban poverty;
· caste, class and color in urban India; and
· the urban Indian “family.”

Given the numerous Dialogue forms in the field of Conflict Resolution today, each month we will use and experiment with a different form.

What is Dialogue?
Dialogue is a methodology used to help people with differing views and beliefs to engage in focused and productive conversation so that they deepen their understanding of each other.

Dialogue is not debate. With the help of an impartial “third party” facilitator, participants in a Dialogue process agree to cease rhetoric and argument, and instead strive to communicate respectfully, listen to each other and ask questions to improve their understanding. They talk about their experiences and values, the why behind what they believe.

Today, there are many different Dialogue forms that have been used effectively in numerous different contexts throughout the world.

About Meta-Culture Dialogics
Based in Bangalore, Meta-Culture Dialogics was created in May 2005, as a response to the increasing number of conflicts arising out of rapid economic, social and cultural changes in India.

The organization endeavors to build peaceable and sustainable communities by changing how individuals and groups in conflict talk with each other and helping them address serious problems constructively. MCD’s intervention strategies and education programs are based on proven methodologies in the field of Conflict Resolution. Its team of trained professionals provides training, mediation, facilitation and consulting services to individuals, organizations, communities and special interest groups.

For more information about Bengaluru Speaks or Meta-Culture Dialogics, contact Beth Fascitelli at 080-4152-4785 or beth@meta-culture.org. "

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