About
A Quaint Think Tank exists to be a deliberately broad body that treats human connection as one coherent subject, explorable through any medium a person, organization, or entity is equipped with to explore it.
The name
Quaint means attractively unusual and old fashioned. A think tank is a body of people producing research, ideas, and positions on a subject. This one stays small and particular by design, while the subject it holds, human connection, is as large as anyone is driven to explore.
Say A Quaint aloud and it becomes acquaint. We are getting people acquainted with the forms of human connection moving through the world right now, often unnoticed, unnamed, or unwelcome in more conventional company. We always loved poetry.
Mission, vision, and values
Mission
To reframe human connection in our evolving world.
To get the world acquainted with the full breadth of human connection, no matter the medium, discipline, or form it takes, and to build community, research, and infrastructure that let it be explored without judgment or a single system lens.
Vision
To make human connection more familiar.
A future where the industries and institutions that touch human connection, from mental health care to education, technology, art, and community life, are shaped by people who understand connection in all its forms. A future where people who have been told their way of needing or desiring to connect is wrong find infrastructure, community, and legitimacy.
Values
- Human centered first
- Every topic starts from lived experience, curiosity, and a response to a human connection need. The research and the programming follow people.
- Every medium is a valid door in
- Film, art, therapy, policy, technology, education, social work, and more are equally legitimate ways into this work.
- Justice
- Our work is rooted in equity, access, and accountability to the communities most affected. The practice of social justice matters more than the label.
- There is no one way to connect
- We refuse a single template for how healthy or legitimate connection takes form.
- Quaint
- A legitimacy that is comfortable and appealing to the rest of the world, to the communities we serve, and to our hearts.
- Governance for the stakeholders
- Boards, and the decisions they make, include the communities most affected by this work, or most equipped to steward the conversation.
- Ethical innovation
- Whether the innovation is technological, artistic, or clinical, we help shape it responsibly. The ethical is not binary, and it takes nuance to speak about human connection.