Project Context
Human Values are timeless. The universal core values that we share as a human family touch our lives both as individuals and nations. Values are not stagnant. There is an energetic and dynamic flow as they move into our lives and into the creation of our cultures, passing from generation to generation.

Aim:
To honor the United Nations' "International Year of the Older Persons, 1999 - Towards a Society for all Ages" and UNESCO's "A Culture of Peace, Year 2000," this project was initiated by the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University.

Purpose:
The purpose of this project was to build intergenerational connection and appreciation so that the transfer of culture and enriched learning could take place. It also made visible the educational, cultural, spiritual and recreational resources of the society in an inclusive spirit of community building.

Other Supporting Partners
In order to expand participation at the field level, the project invited other supporting partners. Such partners may have included UNESCO, The World Bank, Ministries of Culture or Family, International Year of the Older Persons Secretariat, Civil Society Organizations and Non-governmental Organizations.

Description:
Communities selecteded a representative group of older persons and younger persons to come together in a public venue to engage in an appreciative conversation. The conversation was documented by both an artist and a writer. The artwork and the companion text were subsequently displayed at an exhibition at the The Meditation Center and Gallery in New York City called "Learn from the Past, Learn from the Future" in May 2001 and at The Second World Assembly on Ageing in Madrid, Spain in April 2002.

Processes:

• Generative Conversation Using Appreciative Inquiry. Template for the Appreciative Inquiry Process
  The thesis of Appreciative Inquiry claims that the future belongs to methods that affirm, compel and accelerate anticipatory learning involving larger and larger levels of collectivity. The new methods will be distinguished by the art and science of asking powerful, positive questions. We have reached "the end of problem solving" as a mode of inquiry capable of inspiring, mobilizing, and sustaining human change.

  The pilot for using Appreciative Inquiry for intergenerational learning is documented in a paper by Dr. David Cooperrider of Case Western Reserve University, "The Child as an Agent of Inquiry" (available on request). The paper documents the story of Imagine Chicago, a social action foundation dedicated to civic innovation. The most powerful interviews occurred when children of all races and cultures did interviews with the city's elders - priests, CEO's, school principals, parents, entertainers, artists, mystics, scientists. It was the intergenerational dynamic of the dialogue that made the data collection stage soar.

• Capturing the Connection Using Fine Art. The powerful connections created in these conversations were given expression by selected artists (either student artists or well-known artists from the community). The artists attemptrd to capture the ideas, descriptions, feelings and juxtapositions of values spontaneously as they emerged from the conversations. This was an integral part of the overall experience.

• Written Reflectiont. The conversation that transpired between the generations was distilled into a poem or short essay by a writer who had been listening closely throughout the experience. This written piece was used as a closing reflective piece to the conversation and as a companion to the artistic rendering created for the exhibitions in New York and Madrid.