Luce Change
Democracy is not just about elections. It's about what happens in between. Where trust in democracy is eroding and access to justice remains deeply unequal, this global perspective on democracy, as something practiced daily, offers timely lessons. Hosted by Sean Buffington, Vice President, Programs, Henry Luce Foundation, Luce Change: How Communities Are Shaping Their Futures explores how Luce grantees are reimagining and reinvigorating democratic culture by partnering with communities, expanding knowledge, and forging new approaches to justice and civic life. This podcast takes an honest look at how democracy, local and global, can build more inclusive and self-determined futures for its citizens.
Episodes
Aaron Tanaka, CEO of One Project and founder of the Center for Economic Democracy, joins Sean Buffington on this episode of Luce Change to make the case that America’s political crisis is, at its root, an economic one. When the majority of people have no real agency over the decisions that shape their lives, democracy becomes a ritual rather than a reality.
Tanaka traces this failure from the founding contradictions o...
On this episode of Luce Change, Sean Buffington sits down with Ash Hanson—theater artist, rural cultural worker, and Creative Executive Officer at the Department of Public Transformation—to explore why bending the arc of history toward justice has to start locally. Ash makes the case that civic culture erodes the way sandstone does: slowly, incrementally, and at enormous cost to the communities least resourced to rebuild.
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On this episode of Luce Change, Sean Buffington speaks with Richard Young, Executive Director of CivicLex in Lexington, Kentucky, about the power of place, and why local democracy is the most underestimated front in the fight to rebuild civic life in America.
At the center of the conversation is CivicLex’s first-ever civic assembly: 36 randomly selected, demographically representative Lexington resi...
In this episode of Luce Change, host Sean Buffington sits down with Paul Brandeis Rauschenbusch, an ordained Baptist minister, CEO of Interfaith Alliance, and co-author of an essay suggesting the US may be entering its next Great Awakening.
Paul makes the case that every major leap forward in American democracy has been powered not just by policy, but by a moral and spiritual awakening. He argues that what looks like a cris...
What does a photograph prove—and who gets to decide? Recorded live at MacDowell, archaeologist Nam Kim, curator and Magnum Foundation executive director Kristen Lubben, and photographer Accra Shepp join Sean Buffington on this episode of Luce Change to wrestle with photography’s contested role as historical evidence.
At a moment when AI is blurring&nb...
We exist in challenging times. Deep, generational problems have surfaced as very real, present pain and terror. Where do we go from here? On this season of Luce Change, we ask: what comes after a crisis? What will it actually take to bend the arc of history? And where do we start? Host Sean Buffington sits down with Eric Liu, co-founder and CEO of Citizen University, to explore ...
Our new president, Jonathan Holloway, joins Sean Buffington on the Luce Change podcast to reflect on the idealistic pursuit of truth, the ruptures in our civic square, and the opportunity—and obligation—for philanthropy and institutions to help rebuild trust, uphold purpose, and meet this moment with clarity and care.
A vibrant and timely panel discussion focused on new currents in Native art and the vital role of Indigenous voices in American arts institutions.
In this episode of Luce Change, we dive deep into the complex landscape of faith in America, exploring how religion can both divide and unite us.
In this episode of Luce Change, we explore what happens when the media neglects the communities they are meant to serve. We also examine what it takes to rebuild journalism from the ground up: with care, trust, and accountability.
Even when it feels like the odds are stacked against us, everyday people around the world are strengthening democracies from the ground up—by knowing, using, and shaping the law. That’s the heart of legal empowerment. And it’s what our grantee partner Namati works on every day.
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