Check out our 2018-19 Annual Report! (as a PDF)
Completed Programs – October 2018 – September 2019
Southern Leadership Jam, October 3-8, 2018, Feliciana, Louisiana, USA – Diverse, intergenerational change-makers from the US South will gather for this 6th annual Jam to co-create a safe space for truth telling, healing, compassion, and understanding. They re-envisioned the New Normal and how to get there from the current context of erosion of voter rights, discrimination, and unjust policies facing the US South today. Core partners: Ekua Adisa and Ashley Cooper, Mycelium; Jovan Julien, Project South; Hannah Sadtler; Rhiana Anthony, Movement for Black Lives; John Paul Taylor, Real Life Poets; Kate Morales.
Egypt Jam, October 19-25, 2018, Fayoum, Egypt – This 5th annual Jam brought together 25 diverse change-makers, ages 20-40, from varying religious, ethnic, economic, geographic, national and professional backgrounds from around Egypt. It was organized and facilitated by a team of alumni of past Egypt Jams.
Invoking the Pause, October 29-31, 2018, Sonoma, CA, USA – YES! and several Jam alumni participated in the annual event hosted by this foundation focused on climate change trailblazers and solutionaries.
Visionary Business Live, November 2, 2018, San Diego, CA, USA – YES! presented its work and offered a small taste of a Jam at this weekend event hosted by co-founder, Ryan Eliason.
Middle East Youth Leadership Jam, November 2-9, 2018, Amman and Wadi Rum, Jordan – The 10th annual event brings together diverse young leaders from around the region, who are committed to hope, possibility, justice and peace for all peoples in the region. It is co-organized and facilitated by a diverse group of Middle East Jam alumni.
India Arts for Social Change Jam, November 11-17, 2018, Pune, Maharashtra, India – This 3rd annual Jam will engage diverse artist-activists from around India — dancers, theater artists, visual artists, poet, musicians, filmmakers, graphic designers, photographers, and more. It is organized and facilitated by a team of alumni of past India Youth Jams and Arts for Social Change Jams.
Mexico Jam, November 13-18, 2018, Malinalco, Mexico – A first-ever Jam for Mexico-based visionaries, artists, social entrepreneurs, innovators, dreamers, creators, activists, organizers and more, for connecting, healing, transforming and visioning the present and future together.
We Need Us, November 27, 2018, Oakland, CA, USA – YES! provided support in this collaborative event with the Oakland Peace Center and host a World Cafe as part of their campaign for Giving Tuesday.
Asian & Pacific Islander Jam, December 2-7, 2018, San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA – The first-ever Asian & Pacific Islander (API) Jam brought together 27 change-makers from the diverse Asian + Pacific Islander community landscape. Together, we created a supportive space to explore our connection to ancestry, our roles in and relationships to social justice movements, and what it takes to heal our relationships with one another as peoples of Asian and/or Pacific Islander descent who have some intersection with North America.
Annual Holiday Party, December 16, 2018, 3-6 pm, Berkeley, CA – Jammers, program partners and community members from across the Bay Area (and beyond) came together for YES!’s annual fun-, friend- and fund-raising event.
Pakistan Youth Leadership Jam, January 11-16, 2019, Karachi, Pakistan – 5th annual event! Diverse change-makers, from all parts of Pakistan and working in fields ranging from women’s empowerment to youth development to human rights and citizenship, will come together to grow in self, heal divisions, create support for each other, and vision a positive future for their families, communities and land.
Global Jam Leaders Gathering, January 22-29, 2019, Sinai, Egypt – The first-ever gathering to bring together Jam organizers and facilitators from around the world for listening, connecting, sharing, growing, and learning together, to strengthen Jams, co-evolve YES!, and grow this transformational work into new dimensions and beyond.
Nova Scotia Gaels Jam, Nova Scotia, Canada – February 18-23, 2019 – This 6th annual Jam brought together intergenerational Gaelic language and culture creatives from around Cape Breton and Nova Scotia to create a welcoming, supportive and INSPIRING community. Core partners: Amber Buchanan, Alison Etter, Heather Sparling, Joyce MacDonald, and Shay MacMullin.
North America Jam Leaders Gathering, March 1-7, 2019, Marin, California – The first-ever gathering to bring together North America-based Jam organizers and facilitators for listening, connecting, sharing, growing, and learning together, to strengthen Jams, co-evolve YES!, and grow this transformational work into new dimensions and beyond.
India Youth Jam, April 21-28, 2019, Himachal Pradesh, India – This 8th annual Jam united 32 social changemakers from around the subcontinent for self-awareness, community-building and systemic visioning. Core partners: Sukhmani Kohli, Shruti Tharayil, Roy Jacob, Suyash Saboo, Ayesha D’Souza, and Kaushiek Pranoo.
HOME (Healing Our Movement Ecosystem) – An Environmental Movement Jam – May 19-24, 2019, San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA – 28 change-makers from the intersecting environmental, ecology and environmental justice movements gathered to heal the movement ecosystem at all levels. Grassroots leaders, conservationists, indigenous peoples, alternative builders, eco-justice warriors, scientists, and policy advocates, and more, explored their stories, learnings, struggles and hopes, and find ways to amplify vision, balance, well-being, connectivity and collective effectiveness within this vital movement. Core partners: Ashoka Finley, Elias Serras, Jodi Lasseter & North Carolina Climate Justice Summit, Rene Henery & Trout Unlimited, Anwen Baumeister & The Well/Cozy Bones Farm.
Arts for Social Change / ARTivist Jam, June 9-14, 2019, Santa Cruz mountains, California, USA – Musicians, visual artists, dramatists, dancers, graphic recorders, spoken word poets, and more, will join together in cross-pollinating and linking up the vital ARTivist movement! This 7th annual Jam will focus on mutual support, interconnection, collaboration, visioning, and lifting up the essential contributions of artists in social transformation.
Law and Social Change Jam, June 25-30, 2019, The Watershed Center, Millerton, New York, USA – This 5th annual Jam will bring together diverse lawyers and justice practitioners, who are vital to co-creating a better world, in environment, human rights, criminal justice, land rights, immigration, alternative economies, and more, and who want to heal and deepen their connections on personal, interpersonal and systemic levels. Core partners: Susan Brooks, Kim Clark, Chris Tittle, Parag Khandhar, Judi Cohen, Jeff Carolin, Demarris Evans.
Education Transformation Jam, July 8-14, 2019, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA – Our 6th annual event gathered 16 intergenerational and dynamic change-makers in the field of education to (re)weave an oft-divided education transformation fabric. This Jam was held in collaboration/conjunction with the semi-annual Free Minds, Free People conference.
Asian & Pacific Islander Jam, August 6-10, 2019, San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA – The 2nd Asian & Pacific Islander (API) Jam brought together 25 change-makers from the diverse Asian + Pacific Islander community landscape. Together, we created a supportive space to explore our connection to ancestry, our roles in and relationships to social justice movements, and what it takes to heal our relationships with one another as peoples of Asian and/or Pacific Islander descent who have some intersection with North America.
Wellness and Healing Justice Jam, August 21-25, 2019, The Watershed Center, Millerton, New York, USA – 2nd annual event which brought together 26 social workers, therapists, counselors, and many other wellness and healing artists, to dive into deeper self-awareness, community collaborations, healing across the fields of work, and moving the dial on what is possible in the field overall. Core partners: Minna Kim, Sky Yardeni, Hanan Al-Bilali, Gert Comfrey, Roan Coughtry, Chetna Mehta, Yoo-Jin Kang.
Jamily Yuba River Weekend, August 29-September 1, 2019 – 12 Jam alumni gathered for this cross-jam pollination at a magical river in northern California!
North America Leadership Jam, September 8-15, 2019, Santa Cruz mountains, California, USA – YES!’s longest-running program, which has helped to birth so many Jams around the country and has been happening for the last 15 years. 27 diverse multigenerational leaders from around North America gathered for co-creating a shared vision, finding common points of collaboration, healing historic divides, and exploring the self.