Locked down but not out, the Dukakis Center does its home work
It has been a trying month and a half for everyone in the larger ACT-Anatolia family, and the Dukakis Center is no exception. However, the Center has managed to remain active and even productive during the weeks in which staff worked from home while Greece was under government-mandated lockdown.
On April 7 the Center's Director, David Wisner attended a global webinar hosted by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program at the University of Pennsylvania, on the role of think tanks in responding to the coronavirus public health emergency. A follow-up webinar has been scheduled on May 13, when the Dukakis Center will begin work with other partners in a committee dedicated to "New Operating Models for Think Tanks--Research, Communications, and Funding"
"When there is no script to follow people improvise and innovate."
-- Ravi Gurumurthy, Nesta
Closer to home, although the Dukakis Center was obliged by the circumstances to cancel its spring symposium, to have taken place on April 28-29, it has already begun work to reschedule segments of the original program in the fall, using various conferencing platforms to expand reach. To test the technology and lay down a marker. the Center will host a series of webinars in May and June 2020, entitled "This Year Everything will be Different." Organizers of local and national events will be invited to appear in live or pre-recorded sessions in Greek and in English, with a focus on festivals and other cultural activities, and on academic conferences and symposia on the other hand. The first webinar will take place on Wednesday, May 20 at 6 PM.
Finally, Dukakis Center director David Wisner launched a new video podcast in March entitled "This Day and Age." Dr. Wisner notes that the purpose of the podcast series " is to talk informally, remotely, about what to expect after Covid-19 subsides... Invited guests will be welcome to reflect on how their training may have equipped them to think in post-virus terms, share what they are reading on the subject, and draw attention to some of the inspiring efforts Hellenes are making to help their fellow citizens cope with the lockdown."
The first cycle of podcast episodes is available for public consumption on "Politis," the YouTube channel of the Dukakis Center (https://www.youtube.com/
