The Facing Race Conference will be an intentionally multiracial, multi-issue, intergenerational conference that highlights campaigns, projects, research and art that promotes systemic solutions to racial justice challenges in our time. We are looking for breakout sessions that align well with this emphasis. Deadline is January 21, 2016 to submit a proposal.

Breakout sessions are 90 minutes and can have two presenters. Expected attendance ranges from 45-70 people. They can have varied formats—e.g. interactive workshop, film screening, panel discussion, hands-on art project or skill-building session.

We expect to receive hundreds more breakout session proposals than we can actually accommodate. When making selection decisions, we have many considerations to balance, including our desire to bring new organizations and voices into the mix at each conference. Please read the criteria below for what we are—and are not—looking for.

Breakout Sessions We Want (proposals that meet all or most of these criteria will be given the most favorable consideration):

• Participatory: They are interactive, with lots of two-way communication between participants and presenters and hands-on engaging activities.
• Practical: They offer useful tools and ideas that participants can use back home, including innovative strategies, exemplary models, powerful narratives, and accessible artistic and cultural expressions.
• Systemic Solutions: They are solutions-focused emphasizing systems change and cultural change to address structural racism and advance racial justice.
• Action-Oriented: They connect to active issue campaigns, grassroots community organizing, and current struggles and/or movement-building efforts.
• Multiracial: They have a multiracial and intersectional analysis and approach—with attention to building strategic connections across communities—even if there is a mono-racial emphasis. A multiracial team of facilitators is also encouraged.
• Intergenerational: The content is relevant to, and encouraging of, the participation of youth and young people, as well as multi-generational strategies.
• Geographic Diversity: For a national audience, we want the content and facilitators to relate to different geographic areas, especially the South and Georgia, where the conference will be held.

Breakout Sessions We DON’T Want:

• Lectures, presentations of academic papers or mostly theory, or panels that primarily involve people talking at others.
• Sessions focused primarily on the personal and interpersonal dynamics of racism, since this conference emphasizes institutional, cultural and systemic change.
• Workshops that emphasize “diversity” training, cultural competency, cross-racial dialogues and multi-cultural awareness—or focus more on training models than action strategies—since there are other venues for this.
• Sessions by national organizations that do not have a connection to people working in local communities.
• Sessions that focus primarily on the problems of racism, without equal or greater attention to the solutions.
• Sessions by individuals not connected to, or accountable to, social justice organizations or communities.

Note: Selected workshop presenters agree to help with conference publicity on at least two occasions well in advance of the conference. Sample announcements for various media (such as Facebook and Twitter posts) will be available for your use.