December 2025

Through this network of trained futurists, we hope to make strategic foresight

part of the DNA of Northeast Wisconsin, driving our preferred

futures rather than simply reacting to what happens.

Introducing Kelli Strickland

Executive and Artistic Director of the Weidner Center and Envision Foresight and Consultation Graduate

Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you came to be the Executive and Artistic Director of the Weidner Center. 

I have worked in the arts for over thirty years, beginning my career as an actor, then a teaching artist, then a producer and finally moving into organizational leadership. About nine years ago, my husband and I decided that we wanted to find a place where we had easier access to more trees, water and sky, so we began looking for professional opportunities (myself as an arts administrator and he as a theatre professor and actor) outside of Chicago but still in the Great Lakes region in order to remain close to our family. I was looking for a multi-disciplinary center that exhibited a willingness to try new things and had a university affiliation, with proximity to the aforementioned trees, water and sky. The Weidner checked all of the boxes.

How has the Weidner Center changed under your tutelage as Executive Director? 

I would call out four things: 

• Probably the most notable change is our willingness to produce, rather than exclusively present. If you are restricted to presenting, you are limited by what is available that others have made. When you produce, your imagination is the only limitation. 
• Second, our principle of partnership. We do nothing without a partner. 
• Third, we get out of our building. A lot.
• And finally, we take seriously our charge to make the arts accessible to every individual who raises their hand in interest. We strive every day to find new ways of removing barriers to the performing arts. We don’t take for granted our current audience or audiences of the future. We build those audiences every day. Learn more here.

AI, Envision, and You

Some observations from Jim Golembeski

It’s 2005. Three retired friends are sitting in a bar watching a baseball game. In the course of their conversation the question comes up, “Who was the AL Batting Champ in 1965?” Delving into their memories, many names come up, along with stories and anecdotes that fill the rest of the afternoon.

It’s 2025. Three retired friends are sitting in a bar watching a baseball game. In the course of their conversation the question comes up, “Who was the AL Batting Champ in 1965?” One of the men looks it up on his smart phone, announces “Tony Oliva” and they go back to watching the game in silence.

In 2035, the retired guy lies back in his lounger at home. The smart glasses his family gave him for his birthday are showing him a virtual World Series game featuring the greatest players of the 20th century. The Amazon drone delivers a hotdog and a beer to his door during the 7th inning stretch. He gets Tony Oliva’s virtual autograph.

Parmy Olson’s recent book, Supremacy: AI, ChatGPT, and the Race That Will Change the World, traces the development of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) led by two innovators, Sam Altman (OpenAI) and Demis Hassabis (DeepMind) who began their efforts with the most altruistic of intentions. The book covers the amazing developments in GAI over the last six years and the implications for our world. Most significantly, and beginning with the release of ChatGPT in November 2022, computers no longer just process information, but they generate new information. This has created a whole new

reality. But what does it mean for us? Continue reading here.

World Futures Day Save the Date

World Futures Day 2026

Friday, February 27, 8 a.m. - Noon

Oneida Hotel Conference Center

Garry Golden is a professionally trained futurist who writes, speaks and consults about the driving forces that will shape society and business in the 21st century. His uncanny sense of what will hit-and what won't-can be seen in FutureThink's research and heard in his international keynotes and corporate change leadership seminars.

Garry attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison and received his Futures Studies degree from the University of Houston and serves as Adjunct Lecturer on the Future of Energy and Environment for the University of Houston. He has served as the principal trainer for Envision's Foresight Workshops for nearly ten years.

Here are the future-focused organizations who participated in the

Fall Strategic Foresight training cohort! 

They learned about the art and science of thinking like a futurist.

Resources from the Foresight Community

SMRs, not large reactors, are ‘future of nuclear power’: ITIF

Small reactors could become a key U.S. export if DOE expands support for advanced nuclear technology and the federal government aligns regulations with friendly countries, the think tank said.

Small modular reactors are more likely than larger designs to achieve long-term “price and performance parity” with conventional energy sources, such as gas, but only with substantial, ongoing support from the U.S. government, says the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. Read the article here

Why Foresight Matters

Envision Greater Green Bay is helping communities look ahead—identifying early signals of change and working with local leaders to co-create a future rooted in innovation, sustainability, and inclusion.

Strategic foresight allows us to ask better questions, challenge assumptions, and prepare for multiple possibilities. It empowers communities to build the future before it arrives—and to ensure that future works for everyone. Because thriving communities don’t wait for change. They shape it. Together.

In a world where the future isn’t a straight line, the smartest move we can make is to embrace uncertainty, invest in people, and lead with purpose.

-What assumptions about our region’s future are you ready to challenge?

-What roles should we start preparing for now?



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