What we've been learning from: February 2026
- Opus
- 23 hours ago
- 2 min read
Here's our regular round-up of some of the most interesting and thought-provoking things our team have been reading, watching and listening to over the past month.
On Theatre, Civic Organisations and the Emergence of Spatial Dramaturgy.
Our finance coordinator Laura shares a fascinating piece by Amahra Spence on Theatre, Civic Organisations and the Emergence of Spatial Dramaturgy. “My interest in the intersection of theatre and social/civic organisations is a lived one,” writes Spence. “I am a theatremaker. My worldbuilding practice began there. I have been making and co-creating work — predominantly devised theatre — since 2008. Theatre taught me early that worlds are not simply imagined; they are composed. They are built through attention, constraint, story, repetition, collaboration, conflict and care. They demand collective labour toward a horizon that does not yet exist, and they insist that how we work together shapes what becomes possible on the other side of that work."
Healing our Personal and Social Wounds through Relationships
Opus collaborator and friend Jack Becher was recently a guest on The Social Regeneration Podcast, discussing with host Pia Hillebrecht why we need ‘brave spaces’ and grounding in place to move beyond patriarchy. “This episode is for people who feel called to work in the impact space, heal their own and therewith our social wounds – and for anyone longing for deeper, more relational approaches to systems change. Jack's pathway into systems change facilitation has been shaped by activism, academic frustration with silos and symptomatic approaches, and the discovery that real transformation grows through relationships rather than rigid theories. I share how my own experiences resonate with Jack’s emphasis on curiosity, community, and slowing down to centre the process rather than the outcome. Jack explains how their years in activism and research revealed recurring harmful patterns and how deep relational work became essential for unlocking new possibilities."
End-of-year reflections from Indy Johar
James shares ten year-end reflections written by Opus collaborator Indy Johar. “2025 did not clarify where we are going,” writes Johar. “It clarified the conditions under which we are trying to go anywhere at all. Across climate, finance, politics, technology, and institutions, the defining feature of the year was not disruption, nor transition, but the steady erosion of coping capacity. Systems still functioned. Markets still cleared. Decisions were still announced. But beneath that surface, the ability to sense, coordinate, revise, and act legitimately under uncertainty thinned. Volatility did not just increase; it began to degrade the systems meant to absorb it.”