Petaluma, CA — The Lexicon, a North America-based NGO that creates collective impact campaigns to address food system challenges, announces “Reawakened Foods” an international storytelling initiative, in partnership with the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT.
Over 30,000+ edible plants can support global diets, yet over half the world’s plant-based nutrition comes from just three crops. This threat to global biodiversity in our fields and on our tables has put our food systems at risk by endangering our health, impoverishing our soils and weakening our response to climate change.
“This amazing diversity of crops and varieties is the result of thousands of years of cultural and natural selection, making it the best bet for making our production systems more resilient and nature positive. Knowledge around those crops and varieties are in the hands of farmers as they have been neglected by research”, said Carlo Fadda, Director of Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT.
New initiatives are critical to feed and regenerate the planet; in response, farmers across the globe are reawakening by leading a return to traditional and once forgotten crops. Their commitment to enhancing biodiversity offers a better path, one that will create communities with greater economic self-reliance, enhanced food security, lower health costs, and increased resilience in the face of climate change.
THE REAWAKENED FOODS INITIATIVE is a unique cross-sector partnership that invites storytellers, photographers, filmmakers, designers and journalists from across the globe—from Asia to Africa and across South America — to join this movement through a global impact storytelling initiative.
25 Storytellers will be advanced to the The Lexicon Total Storytelling Masterclass and learn how to produce location based stories of agrobiodiversity for the campaign.
“Increasing biodiversity in our food systems provides so many vital benefits, for farmers and their communities, and also for customers all around the world who want to support a food system aligned with their values by purchasing more diverse ingredients,” add Douglas Gayeton, Laura Howard-Gayeton and Alberto Miti of The Lexicon, which created the Reawakened Initiative.
Stories from Reawakened will be featured at The 2nd International Agrobiodiversity Congress, to be held in November, 2021. The gathering will convene experts, practitioners, and policymakers to share and advance scientific research, solutions, policies, and practices to transform food systems and deliver on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through the use and conservation of agrobiodiversity.
“There is no better place to present Reawakened Foods than the 2nd International Congress on Agrobiodiversity. Besides promoting scientific research, nature-based solutions, policies, and practices, the Congress aims to raise awareness around agrobiodiversity as an essential component of sustainable food systems. And the Reawakened will certainly help to share the story of agrobiodiversity around the globe,” said Romano De Vivo, Coordinator of the 2nd International Agrobiodiversity Congress.
To join, storytellers can apply through the Reawakened Call to Action page, while organizations and food companies that would like to participate can learn more at www.reawakenedfoods.com.
About The Lexicon
By illuminating the meaning behind powerful words, the Lexicon educates, engages and activates people to pay closer attention to how they eat, what they buy, and where their responsibility begins for creating a healthier, safer food system.
About the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT
The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT delivers research-based solutions that address the global crises of malnutrition, climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation. The Alliance focuses on the nexus of agriculture, nutrition and environment and works with local, national, and multinational partners across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and with the public and private sectors and civil society.
About the 2nd International Agrobiodiversity Congress
The Congress will convene experts, practitioners, and policymakers to share and advance scientific research, nature-positive solutions, policies, and practices to transform food systems and deliver on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through the use and conservation of agrobiodiversity.
FAQs
❓ What’s it all about?
THE REAWAKENED FOODS INITIATIVE is a unique cross-sector partnership that invites storytellers, photographers, filmmakers, designers and journalists from across the globe—from Asia to Africa and across South America — to participate in a global impact storytelling challenge.
25 Storytellers will be selected to receive placements in The Lexicon Total Storytelling Masterclass and learn how to produce location based stories of agrobiodiversity for the campaign, working side by side with scientists and experts from all over the world.
👥 Who is it for?
Storytellers. This means: photographers, filmmakers, writers, designers, illustrators and artists and digital makers, of any level of expertise, from all over the world. All that is required is a passion for food, climate action and change.
🤷♂️ What’s in it for me?
This selected group of storytellers will be offered a placement in The Lexicon’s virtual Reawakened Total Storytelling Masterclass. This specialized online masterclass is led by Douglas Gayeton, The Lexicon’s co-founder and chief lexicographer and visiting professor at UNISG, University of Gastronomic Sciences. This course will provide participants with world-class tools for telling and sharing inspiring stories of food system transformation.
Reawakened 2021 participants will learn a variety of storytelling skills, including short films, podcasts, and content expressly for social media. For photographers and illustrators, this may include learning the techniques of making information artworksTM. Storytellers will be mentored by The Lexicon’s team through the course.
Upon completing the course storytellers will receive an official digital certificate of completion and will become formal partners along with farmers, chefs, agronomists, scientists, and food system experts from around the globe in the Reawakened Global Storytelling Initiative.
Stories from Reawakened will be featured at The 2nd International Agrobiodiversity Congress, where they will feed the discussion among policymakers, scientists and business for the future of agrobiodiversity around the world.
👨👩👧👦 Who’s involved?
A North America-based NGO that creates collective impact campaigns to address food system challenges. By illuminating the meaning behind powerful words, the Lexicon educates, engages and activates people to pay closer attention to how they eat, what they buy, and where their responsibility begins for creating a healthier, safer food system.
The Alliance of Bioversity International CIAT
The Alliance of Bioversity International CIAT delivers research-based solutions that address the global crises of malnutrition, climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation. The Alliance focuses on the nexus of agriculture, nutrition and environment and works with local, national, and multinational partners across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and with the public and private sectors and civil society.
The 2nd International Agrobiodiversity Congress
The Congress will convene experts, practitioners, and policymakers to share and advance scientific research, nature-positive solutions, policies, and practices to transform food systems and deliver on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through the use and conservation of agrobiodiversity.
The initiative also involves many NGOs, non profit organizations and research centers from around the globe, working at the forefront of the fight in defense of agrobiodiversity.
🖨️ The fine print
Here is more information about eligibility and submissions requirements.
All submissions must be the entrant’s original work. Submissions must not infringe upon the trademark, copyright, moral rights, intellectual rights, or rights of privacy of any entity or person.
Fellows selected to join Reawakened will retain the copyrights to the work produced during the initiative while also granting access to The Lexicon and the partners of the Reawakened Foods Initiative to share their contributions as part of Reawakened’s Global Storytelling Initiative.
To receive the certificate participants need to complete the whole course, which will end when storytellers will upload their stories on the collaborative digital platform specifically designed for the initiative.
⏱ When is it happening?
KICKOFF – APPLICATION OPEN
June 24th, 2021
APPLICATION CLOSE
July 25th, 2021
MASTERCLASS
August 23rd – August 27th, 2021
PRODUCTION PERIOD
August 30th – September 20th, 2021
ALL DELIVERABLES UPLOADED TO THE PLATFORM
October 6th, 2021
2nd INTERNATIONAL AGROBIODIVERSITY CONGRESS
November 15th – November 18th,2021
AgReads® 