The Art of Invitation Online Course for growers, farmers and seed savers
Date Published: 17th October 2022
Last few places – starts next week!
The Art of Invitation explores creative ways of engaging communities in the ecological, cultural, and social challenges of our time. These workshops offer new, creative tools for change that can be used as resources for you and your projects, groups, communities, and organisations.
How can we bring people together across differences to actively engage with the challenges facing our communities? What are the real issues that concern people? How can we ask questions creatively to activate meaningful dialogue? What skills, resources, and capacities do people already have that can be built upon?
The Art of Invitation is an online course which explores creative ways of engaging communities in the ecological, cultural, and social challenges of our time.
This workshop will support you to:
- Develop creative approaches to engaging the community around you
- Increase engagement with diverse groups
- Create seasonal Celebrations and community events
- Use the arts and creativity to share your values
- Tell your stories and communicate narratives of change
Session dates: Thursdays 24th Nov, 1st, 8th & 15th Dec 2022 9.30-12noon
There will be the opportunity for ten participants to have a follow-up session to develop ideas with the course leaders.
If you would like a place please email csanetworkuk@gmai.com by Monday 21st November
Additional information
What to expect
● Approaches to engaging people in creative, collective responses to systemic challenges facing their communities
● Creative processes and activities that can activate and inspire people to participate in regenerative and more sustainable ways of living
● A participatory approach to facilitation involving doing, making, and reflecting, both individually and in groups
What I’ll leave with
● Creative approaches to bring groups of people together and maintain their involvement.
● Ways to reach and include more diverse groups of people
● Fresh insights to resource you and your current projects or launch new ones
● Creative ways to engage your community
Information about sessions
Training will cover themes of:
- Creative community consultation and engagement
- Creating seasonal celebrations and community events
- Use of arts and creativity to share our values, tell our stories and communicate narratives of change
There will also be follow-up half-hour 1:1 sessions for ten participants with course tutors to advise, troubleshoot, and mentor on specific issues and individual projects.
Session 1: Led by Ruth Ben-Tovim Creative tools for consultation and community involvement.
Session 2: Led by Anne-Marie Culhane Collaboration – looking at inspirational environmental and food growing arts projects, events and gatherings.
Session 3: Led by Lucy Neal – Communicating our values, stories and narratives of change.
Session 4: Led by Ruth Ben-Tovim – A creative enquiry into your own unique role in the projects you are involved in.
Follow up 1: 1 sessions with up to 10 participants.
About The Art of Invitation Team
Ruth Ben-Tovim
‘From 2003 – 2020, I was the co-founder and Executive Director of Encounters Arts, specialising in creative community involvement and engagement. Working in different sectors and with diverse collaborators, I produced and delivered over 80 intimate participatory projects and interventions that invited people from all backgrounds to explore and creatively express their past experiences, responses to the present and hopes and fears about the future.‘
Anne-Marie Culhane
‘I create events, performances and long-term projects that invite people into active and enquiring relationships with each other, the land and earth’s natural systems framed within the context of a global climate and ecological emergency. I am an artist, activist, project manager and collaborator working across various disciplines. My work takes place in outdoor spaces, community centres, parks, the street and sometimes in galleries and museums.’ www.amculhane.co.uk
Lucy Neal
‘I am a theatre maker and writer exploring celebratory events that act as catalysts for change, from gifting a small seed in a six-minute ritual, to staging a theatre of fire for 20,000 in a London Park. I was Co-founder and Director of the London International Festival of Theatre (1981-2005). I am active in the grassroots Transition movement in Tooting, South London, where I live. My handbook ‘Playing for Time – Making Art As If the World Mattered’ (Oberon Books, 2015) maps collaborative arts practices emerging in response to planetary challenges.
“These artists do something remarkable, something precious. They create invitational spaces in which people feel comfortable to relate to each other, and to ideas in a very different way. I don’t know anyone else who brings the care, love, attention to detail, and passion to what they do.” Rob Hopkins, Founder of the Transition Movement
We’re very excited to be able to offer this course on a funded basis to our networks as it would generally be a financial investment for the individual.
Places will be shared amongst members of the three Networks involved, and priority will be given to those from established enterprises who can demonstrate the valuable application of what will be learned.
We’re charging a refundable fee of £30 to ensure that all places are filled. If you attend all course sessions, this money will be refunded at the end minus the Eventbrite fee. If you miss a workshop without a valid reason, the £30 will not be refunded.
We appreciate your understanding on this as we anticipate this course will be very popular, and we want to ensure all places are filled to make the most of this amazing opportunity.
The application deadline is Thursday 6th October, and we aim to let people know whether their application has been successful by Thursday 13th October. If successful, you will then be sent a link to the Eventbrite event page to make the deposit payment.
Please apply here. The deadline for applications is 30th October.