For a long time, I’ve felt that many of the problems we face aren’t caused by a lack of intelligence, talent, or opportunity.

They’re caused by a lack of understanding.

People increasingly live alongside each other rather than with each other. We form opinions about groups we’ve never met, communities we’ve never visited, and individuals we’ve never spoken to. We spend more time talking about each other than talking to each other.

Culture Factory began as a simple question:

What would happen if we deliberately created more shared experiences?

Not experiences designed to tell people what to think.

Not experiences designed to score political points.

Just experiences that bring people into contact with each other in ways that are interesting, creative, and meaningful.

The first step towards answering that question is Say It For Me.

The idea is simple. Two people from different backgrounds sit down together and attempt to explain each other’s beliefs instead of their own. The goal isn’t to win an argument. The goal is to understand another person well enough to represent them fairly.

Whether the experiment succeeds or fails, it reveals something important about how we see each other.

But Culture Factory was never intended to stop at a single show.

The long-term vision is to build a platform that creates shared cultural experiences at every level. Conversations become communities. Communities become projects. Projects become opportunities. Opportunities become lasting connections.

We’re starting small.

A pilot episode.

A website.

A Discord server.

A handful of people willing to take a chance on an idea.

But every meaningful thing starts somewhere.

Culture Factory is an experiment in bringing people together.

We’ll make mistakes.

We’ll learn as we go.

But if we can create even a few conversations that wouldn’t have otherwise happened, then it’s a start.

And starts matter.

That’s how you devour a whale. One bite at a time.

Joel Keys

Founder, Culture Factory