We're excited to announce this year's 2025 Cultural Focus, IKIGAI!

Ikigai sees us turning a corner in our 5-part cultural focus adventure. The last 3 years have explored themes that ask us to look inside ourselves, investigating our ability to change, find balance, and identify the things that make us tick. Metamorphosis, Lagom, and Meraki offer us a process to understand our place in a rapidly changing world. A world that often distracts and overworks us, can invigorate and boost us, continues to confuse and amaze us, and generally leaves us overwhelmed with emotions, with very little time for rest and reflection.

With Ikigai, we explore the concept of Purpose. In a western context, we often define purpose in relationship to our career and our professional capacity. But when you break down the world, there are two parts to Ikigai: “Iki” which means “life”, and “Gai” which means “worth living”. In this sense, purpose isn’t relegated simply to a person’s purpose in their careers, but rather, to a larger holistic human experience that can be both personal and communal. As we reflect on the lessons learned from Metamorphosis, Lagom, and Meraki, Ikigai gives us a way to determine how we can show up as our best, authentic selves in community, and for community.
With Ikigai, we challenge ourselves to find purpose, embracing both the intimate and the social implications that ask us to show up. What is your ikigai?