The New Economies Gathering is an annual global event hosted by the funder collaborative Partners for a New Economy.
In October, the P4NE team brought New Economies to Bonn’s Bundeskunsthalle museum, a unique venue that acts as an international showcase for the open and inclusive concept of culture.
The theme for this year’s Gathering was: ‘turning together, to build what comes next’. This year’s theme reflects that in a time of conflict, polarisation, and separation, togetherness must be at the heart of the work to build fairer, resilient, regenerative economies.
The conference aimed to:
- Turn attention to new economic ideas that can counter rising authoritarianism, inequality, and ecological breakdown.
- Turn toward the fractures in our established systems and stories, to find and act on the openings for change they reveal.
- Turn fragmented efforts into collective power – exploring the shared structures, resources, relationships, and mindsets that will sustain us.
Read on for reports and reflections from the Gathering:
Conference report
New Economies x Bonn, hosted by Partners for a New Economy
Shafi Musaddique, Alliance magazine
We’re all at a fork in the road moment. Fitting, perhaps, that the Bundeskunsthalle, the cultural heart of Bonn, Germany, was the scene of this year’s New Economies convening. Back in October 1989, it felt impossible that the Berlin Wall would come down. But come down it did, ushering a new era of reimagining the world. The question is, can we get there again? This year’s P4NE gathering continued in vain from previous gatherings; mixing academia, research, policymakers, funders, activists and media, among many others. A reminder that pluralism is the foundation for reimagining the world. Read more
Interview
A conversation on why the new economy mustn’t ignore migration and people mobility
Shafi Musaddique, Alliance magazine
Alliance magazine news editor Shafi Musaddique caught up with Hrishabh Sandilya, co-director of the European Philanthropic Initiative for Migration (EPIM) and co-founder of Reimagined Futures at the New Economies gathering in Bonn, discussing how the new economy should intersect with migration much more than it currently is, why understanding labour movement is essential for systems change and why institutions will need reworking, involving the Global South. Read more
Delegate reports
Two runners, one baton: The new economy in the handoff zone
Carol Tan, philanthropy consultant.
For one season in middle school, I ran relay and spent a lot of time in the handoff zone, where one runner lets go of the baton as the other is already moving. That image came back to me at Bonn’s New Economies: Turning Together. The two runners now are the people fixing the economy we have, and the people creating the one we want. My listening role in Bonn meant two days with my notebook open, and my opinions closed. ‘New economy’ was often discussed as a future to design, yet session after session described something already in motion, that is evidenced, in practice, just not counted in the economy our institutions are built around. Read more
Nurturing the new economy in the fissures of the old: Reflections from Bonn
Jon Mowll, Thirty Percy Foundation
In October, our friends at Partners for a New Economy (P4NE) convened several hundred ‘new economy’ practitioners and representatives of philanthropic organisations in Bonn for the annual P4NE Gathering – this year’s named ‘Turning Together’. A week on, we’re sharing some reflections from the days together: what resonated, and what questions might we want to hold onto as we move forward. As ever, P4NE’s gathering offered an excellent opportunity to catch up with ‘new economy’ folk from across Europe and beyond. Read more
Turning together: Learning to see one another
Thobile Chittenden, Wellbeing Economy Alliance
‘Sanibonani’. I see you. This is how we kicked off our time together at the New Economies Gathering at the Bundeskunsthalle Museum in Bonn, Germany this October. This is a greeting in isiZulu, my native tongue, and was an appropriate opening for our time together as over 200 people from approximately 40 countries came together under the theme of ‘Turning Together’. Moving beyond the pleasantries, our intention was to see and acknowledge one another’s presence and being. To create space for us to share ideas, to question assumptions, and to re-imagine different economies. Read more
News and announcements
Why are funders investing in trust? The New Economy Leaders Academy is now open
Mai Colamorea, Partners for a New Economy
At the New Economies Gathering in Bonn this October, around 250 people came together from across the world. Some had been part of the new economy movement for over a decade. For more than half, it was their first time in the room. Many of the ideas they carried with them had once been dismissed. Measuring success beyond GDP. Central banks taking climate seriously. Economies designed around wellbeing of people and nature. A decade ago, these were experiments, often considered fringe. Today, despite geopolitical turmoil and democratic backsliding, they have grown into influential movements working to change the mainstream economy. Read more