When you think of heaven on earth, what comes to mind? How might you “build” heaven on earth, and how might your vision of heaven differ from someone else’s? 

Better Angels envisions our best selves for one another and the city by offering up grace where we fall short, in exchange for providing witness to a stranger. Giving someone else grace is a pathway to collective hope – and, in the case of Better Angels, grants you entry into heaven on earth. The artist, Heather Kapplow, will moderate a conversation about how we might construct “heaven” for all with the backdrop of the 250th anniversary of this country’s founding.

Jha D. Amazi leads the Public Memory and Memorials Lab at MASSDesign, where she works with communities to design projects that shape our public realm. She believes that public narratives should be expanded to honor and represent those who have been historically marginalized. 

Dan McKanan is the Ralph Waldo Emerson Unitarian Universalist senior lecturer at Harvard Divinity School. He studies religious and spiritual movement for social transformation, focusing particularly on creating intentional communities as well as environmental activism.  

Neda Moridpour (she/they) is a Kurdish-Iranian cultural futurist, artist, and organizer. They create collaborative spaces that center mutual care and visualization of future world-building through their community-engaged social practice art.