Cascade PBS Ideas Festival

How to Make Big Tech More Diverse

Big tech has a diversity problem. Some communities of color and women still represent a disproportionately small percentage of all employees at major tech companies. In 2017, for instance, African Americans made up just three percent of the workforce at Facebook, Amazon, Google and Twitter. And women represent jut a quarter of all workers in STEM fields. Changing that takes more than just asking companies to do better. It also means creating more access to education and training. For the latest episode of Crosscut Talks, we gathered a panel of industry experts and diversity advocates to talk about what that access could look like. This conversation was recorded on May 4, 2019, at Seattle University as part of the Crosscut Festival.

Making Sense of Climate Change Through Art

Climate change is impacting our planet, and it's also impacting us — our emotions, our psychology and our worldview. And now, it's a concept that artists and curators are tackling too. The art they create and select helps translate and explore some of these impacts and underscores the connection between art and the environment. For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, we invited four artists and curators to discuss the work they do and the role they play in a climate-changing world. Taking part in the talk are mixed-media installation artist RYAN! Feddersen, art historian and curator Barbara Matilsky, sound artist Judy Twedt and conceptual artist Chris Jordan. This episode was recorded at Seattle University on May 4, 2019 as part of the Crosscut Festival. During the panel we displayed some of the art work under discussion. To see this work, go to the episode page.

What a Future for Journalism Looks Like

The financial side of the news business has been struggling for decades now, and 2019 has been an especially bad year. Downsizing and closures continue across the country. Buzzfeed, Vice and the Huffington Post all announced major layoffs in recent months, and at least a dozen local news outlets have either eliminated positions or folded completely. Here in Seattle, where there is only one major daily newspaper left, City Arts magazine and Seattle Weekly both recently ended their print runs. Is there any hope left for the business of journalism. For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, we gathered a panel of Seattle media leaders to weigh in. This conversation was recorded on May 4, 2019, at Seattle University for the Crosscut Festival.

Will Women’s Sports Ever Get a Fair Shake?

Women's professional sports have seen a surge in popularity in recent years, with more awareness, more fans, and more ticket sales The U.S. women's soccer team's victory in the FIFA World Cup this past summer was an especially big reminder that women's athletics can have just as much cultural value and commercial viability as men's. But the playing field is far from Level. To this day, female athletes earn a fraction of what their male counterparts do. They receive far fewer corporate sponsorships and their teams have far fewer resources. Few women are coaches, executives or athletic directors. And just an estimated 4% of sports media coverage is of women's sports. For this episode of Crosscut Talks, we invited a panel of female athletes and executives from the Seattle area to discuss these persistent inequities, to chart how far we've come and how far we have yet to go. This conversion features former Seattle Storm player Jamie Redd, World Cup champion Amy Griffin, Reign FC co-owner Teresa Predmore and Storm co-owner Ginny Gilder. This episode was recorded on Sept. 26, 2019, at the Cascade Public Media studios as part of the Crosscut Talks Live event series.

To learn more about women’s professional sports in the Seattle area, read Equal Play, the latest in Crosscut’s Focus series. 

Can Environmental Policy Bring the Two Parties Together?

Republicans and Democrats don't often agree. Environmental policy is no exception, especially climate policy. The response to the Green New Deal highlighted the clear divisions between the parties. Most Democratic leaders stood behind it, while most Republicans ridiculed it. The partisanship softens some when looking at the voting public. But while the gap is closing, surveys show that Democrats across the country still support action on climate change in greater numbers than Republicans do. So, is there a path forward for bipartisan environmental policy? For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, we discuss what it might take to get us there by asking leaders with environmental expertise from both parties, including former congressman and RepublicEn founder Bob Inglis, former Washington state gubernatorial candidate Bill Bryant and Washington State Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz. This conversation was recorded on May 4, 2019, at Seattle University for the Crosscut Festival.

Booming Economies and the People They Leave Behind

There's no question that the thriving economies of wealthy west coast cities have left some residents behind. The gap between rich and poor is wider than ever. And although the market has cooled some, the cost of housing continues to rise, leaving more and more people unable to afford housing at all. So, what do we do? For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast we gathered urban leaders, including King County Executive Dow Constantine, Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf. They weighed in on what's worked, and what hasn't, to address issues of affordable housing and homelessness in their cities, and to explore what solutions might still be out there.

Inside a New Era of Activism

Grassroots activism has served a crucial role in American culture and politics throughout history. Getting out in the streets and marching in protest is still a valuable tool for the modern activist, but there are a lot of other ways activists spread the word and effect change these days, from social media campaigns to guerrilla marketing. For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, Hashtag Feminism founder Tara Conley discussed these methods with three other activists: Shout Your Abortion's Amelia Bonow, Momsrising's Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner and Earth-Feather Sovereign of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Washington. This conversation was recorded on May 4, 2019, at Seattle University as part of the Crosscut Festival.

The Future of Work in America

Artificial intelligence and other forms of automation are on the horizon for a lot of different industries. From self-driving cars to robot factory workers, AI is coming, and it could have a huge impact on jobs in this country. That, combined with global trade and the changing face of the American labor union, creates a lot of uncertainty for the future of work. What does labor look like in 21st century America? For this episode of Crosscut Talks, we invited a panel of labor leaders, scholars and disrupters to offer insights and predictions. This conversation was recorded on May 4, 2019, at Seattle University as part of the Crosscut Festival.

Sexism and Racism in the Music Industry with Hollis Wong-Wear and Eva Walker

The #MeToo movement has hit every corner of the U.S., and there have been public accusations of sexual harassment and assault in almost every high profile industry, from Hollywood to politics to the news media. The music industry is no different. Sexual abuse allegations against R&B singer R. Kelly and sexual harassment allegations against alt-rock star Ryan Adams have forced the music business to face a reckoning. For this episode of Crosscut Talks, we invited the hosts of the KUOW podcast Battle Tactics for Your Sexist Workplace to discuss the persistent imbalance of power in the music industry with two women who know it well: Flavr Blue lead vocalist and activist Hollis Wong-Wear and Black Tones lead guitarist and KEXP DJ Eva Walker. This conversation was recorded on May 4, 2019, at Seattle University as part of the Crosscut Festival.

Finding Hope in the Hopelessness of Climate Change

The scientists charting the impacts of climate change continue to issue dire predictions about our planet's future. In late 2018, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report stating that some of the most devastating effects could be felt as soon as 2040. The National Climate Assessment, a federal report on climate impacts within the United States, also had some grim predictions, including more flooding in the East and more wildfires in the West. For this episode of Crosscut Talks, we gathered co-authors of those two reports, along with other climate policy experts, to help us understand what it all means, and where we can look for hope. This conversation was recorded on May 4, 2019, at Seattle University as part of the Crosscut Festival.