A summit on designing empathy-building experiences, featuring a healing community drum circle with Sufi and spiritual rhythms.
The 9th Annual Designing for Empathy Summit comes to the WorldBeat Cultural Center on Wednesday, October 21, from 3 PM to 5 PM. This year's theme is Awe & Wonder!, and the summit centers on a specific question: how to intentionally design empathy-building encounters—both inside and outside museums—where empathy becomes an outcome that can be reflected upon and translated into positive action. The Awe & Wonder! frame treats those experiences as moments capable of shifting entrenched perspectives and deepening our sense of self and interrelatedness.
The afternoon's main feature is a Healing Community Drum Circle, which draws on Sufi and spiritual rhythms. It's a hands-on way to experience the summit's focus on connection and shared presence rather than just talking about it.
Co-host WorldBeat Cultural Center is a nonprofit multicultural arts organization founded by Makeda Cheatom in 1993, devoted to promoting, preserving, and celebrating the African Diaspora and Indigenous cultures of the world. Its first home was an annex in Old Town San Diego; in 1995 it moved to its current Balboa Park site, the transformed remains of an abandoned water tower. Cheatom, inducted into the San Diego County Women's Hall of Fame in 2012, has led hundreds of programs and presented artists across many genres.
Every week we pick 🏆 the 5 best 🏆 things to do in San Diego and send them to your inbox. Just one weekly email, no spam.
By submitting your email, you accept our Privacy Policy
The center houses murals by local artists, art galleries, small shops, and the Healing Peace Garden—an urban oasis of rare edible and medicinal plants that serves as an outdoor classroom and is a Certified Monarch Waystation and Certified Wildlife Habitat. The summit runs from 3 PM to 5 PM on October 21 at 2100 Park Blvd, San Diego, CA 92101.
