Empty Chair

So everyone can have a seat at the tableSo everyone can have a seat at the tableSo everyone can have a seat at the tableSo everyone can have a seat at the tableSo everyone can have a seat at the table

[What its about]

The idea

Power arranges itself comfortably. It sets the table. It names the agenda. And then there’s the chair that wasn’t invited.

The Empty Chair makes you curious. It invites you to witness it, and yourself.

A thrifted chair. Boldly spray-painted. Placed to disrupt. Made to inspire.

It’s just a chair, until it isn’t. A conversation. A pause. A mirror for the invisible.

Why it Matters

The Empty Chair represents those left out of decision-making. The underrepresented. The overlooked. The forgotten. The ancestors.

It’s also a reminder that some voices extend beyond the room. The communities we design for. The environments we impact. Even the earth itself.

Because equity doesn’t always have to be heavy. It can be rooted in levity, or even play.

How it works

JUST uses the Empty Chair as an equitable capacity-building tool for workshops, strategy, engagement, team building, and education. It’s designed to surface new perspectives, broaden understanding, and expand who is included in decisions.

Each chair is thrifted, reflecting communities too often left out of the conversation, and giving new life and meaning to what was once cast away.

Each chair is gifted to the organization it serves, left in stewardship, a catalyst for continued dialogue, influencing more just outcomes.

Get involved

Bring the Empty Chair to your table!

Whether you’re leading a company, training a team, championing advocacy, building community, or simply looking to start more inclusive conversations, the Empty Chair Workshop creates space for insights and ideas that might otherwise go uncovered, or unheard.

Host a workshop. Start a dialogue. Shift the future.

Reach out at [email protected] to get started.

[empty chair irl]

[testimonials]

“The highlight of our time together was time to reflect on our privilege and place in contrast to our society’s invisible, most vulnerable, at-risk people who are not in the room - represented by an empty chair.”
Director of DEI, SMITHGROUP
"The Empty Chair Workshop is a space to reflect on how we can use our power to raise and uplift the hidden and oppressed in the built environment and AEC profession."
Equity Leader
"The Empty Chair helped me rationalize my guilt, and the roots where it stems from..."
Montessori Educator
“The highlight of our time together was time to reflect on our privilege and place in contrast to our society’s invisible, most vulnerable, at-risk people who are not in the room - represented by an empty chair.”
Director of DEI, SMITHGROUP
"The Empty Chair Workshop is a space to reflect on how we can use our power to raise and uplift the hidden and oppressed in the built environment and AEC profession."
Equity Leader
"The Empty Chair helped me rationalize my guilt, and the roots where it stems from..."
Montessori Educator
“The highlight of our time together was time to reflect on our privilege and place in contrast to our society’s invisible, most vulnerable, at-risk people who are not in the room - represented by an empty chair.”
Director of DEI, SMITHGROUP
"The Empty Chair Workshop is a space to reflect on how we can use our power to raise and uplift the hidden and oppressed in the built environment and AEC profession."
Equity Leader
"The Empty Chair helped me rationalize my guilt, and the roots where it stems from..."
Montessori Educator

Item 1 of 3

[get involved]

Invite participation with an empty chair workshop or flash installation at your organization or event.

Reach out to us .

Because sometimes activism doesn’t begin with a march. Sometimes it begins with a chair, and the courage to pull it up to the tableBecause sometimes activism doesn’t begin with a march. Sometimes it begins with a chair, and the courage to pull it up to the tableBecause sometimes activism doesn’t begin with a march. Sometimes it begins with a chair, and the courage to pull it up to the tableBecause sometimes activism doesn’t begin with a march. Sometimes it begins with a chair, and the courage to pull it up to the tableBecause sometimes activism doesn’t begin with a march. Sometimes it begins with a chair, and the courage to pull it up to the table