The Regenerative Media Workshop
Designing for Equity and Justice in Community Projects, Programs, and Partnerships
Santa Fe, New Mexico June 5-8, 2025
This event will take place at Ojo Santa Fe.
Join us for a 4-day immersive workshop focused on regenerative media practices to promote social justice. Together, we will explore sustainable and equitable approaches to leverage community strengths, enhance resources, and build internal capacity for lasting, positive impact.
WHO
Open to nonprofits, community-based organizations, scholars, educators, activists, and practitioners dedicated to fostering sustainable, inclusive, and equitable change.
WHY
Centering equity and justice necessitates transforming mindsets and infrastructures, promoting media practices that actively restore and uplift communities and ecosystems.
HOW
We will explore methods to share power and knowledge with our communities while building internal capacity to create lasting, regenerative impacts.
Join us in Northern New Mexico for our annual convening of the Regenerative Media Project. We will be staying at Ojo Santa Fe. Here, we will have time to slow down, to connect, and build community.
With support from the John Cardinal Foley Program for Media and Civic Engagement and the Communication and Media Studies Department at Saint Joseph’s University.
This workshop was truly transformative. We had space to build deeper relational and intellectual connections leading me to multiple breakthroughs in conceptualizing the community writing project I am developing.
- Rachael Shah, Associate Professor, University of Nebraska
Make it stand out.
The Regenerative Media Project is an ongoing initiative for community engaged writers. By focusing on iterative, inclusive, and community-led approaches, the Regenerative Media Project strives to creates positive and sustainable impact. Each year, it brings together a diverse community of educators, activists, writers, and knowledge keepers to support media projects in all stages of completion.
At its core, regenerative media and design emphasize a framework of collaboration, sustainability, and equity. This initiative seeks to dismantle traditional power imbalances in design research by promoting a regenerative framework where community members play a pivotal role in guiding the process. The project adheres to community-led principles such as holistic impact, transparency and accountability. Through these grassroots design research practices, the Regenerative Media Project empowers communities to generate meaningful, long-term change.
An example: The Beautiful Social Research Collaborative is a prime example of a regenerative media project that has made a significant impact. This community-engaged writing program within the Department of Communication and Media Studies at Saint Joseph’s University involves community stakeholders in every aspect of the design research process. Doing so ensures that community needs and perspectives are prioritized, shifting traditional power dynamics and promoting equity. Over the past fourteen years, the collaborative has partnered undergraduate communications students with community organizations, providing services such as new media consultancy, social media management, web design, and video free of charge.
The Beautiful Social Research Collaborative embodies regenerative media principles by engaging in inclusive participation, where community members co-create media content, and by fostering sustainability and resilience through long-term partnerships. This approach equips community partners with the tools and strategies needed to effect lasting, transformative change, demonstrating how regenerative media can build capacity within communities and address systemic issues of power, privilege, and positionality. Read more