DOING SOCIAL RESEARCH
Think OutWord's 9 day "Community Lab"
August 22nd - 30th
Triform Camphill Community, Hudson, NY

From August 22nd to August 30th, Think OutWord will host 25 people for an intensive social research project in Hudson, NY. The focus of the gathering will be to look more deeply into our questions around community. How do we come to understand and transform social phenomena? How do we prototype new social forms? This will happen naturally by forming our own community over the 9 days - through living together, sharing meals and questions. It will also take place through immersion in life at Triform (itself a social experiment, part of the larger spiritual/social impulse of Karl Konig - the Camphill Movement) as well as though meeting and working with members of the greater Hawthorne Valley community. 

The day’s schedule will include: breakfast, morning work within Triform, community lunch, break, afternoon artistic and social process with local Community Organizations, dinner, group conversation, sleep. The course of the 9 days will lead towards greater social understanding on behalf of the group and greater social cohesion on behalf of the larger community (perhaps culminating in a social/environmental sculpture - the creation of a sacred site and festival on the final evening). 

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Tools: Our work will be based on the practice of deep listening. We will be an ear for the community, a mirror within which it can see its own reflection. Our research will be grounded in various “social technologies” (such as Theory U, Open Space, World Café, Bohmian Dialogue, etc) and facilitated by members of the Think OutWord Core Group.

Community Organizations: Free Columbia Art Course (painting), Walking the Dog Theater (clowning), The Nature Institute (star-gazing and nature observation), the Camphill Copake Eldercare Project (threefolding community), and the Hawthorne Valley Association. Besides receiving the gifts these organizations have to offer we also explore the question of community with them, offering in return a form of "consultation" using the above-mentioned tools.

Pre-reading: In order to enrich our conversations and study together, we ask all participants to read a small packet beforehand that contains two articles by Rudolf Steiner - one on the Fundamental Sociological Law, the other on the Fundamental Social Law. (This packet will be given to you when you register.)

Backpackers: Think OutWord's "Community Lab" is part of the 5 week, Youth Section sponsored Backpackers Conference from August 13th to September 17th. Anyone interested in doing all of Backpackers should contact 
Kathleen Morse at morse.kathleen@gmail.com.

Cost: Those attending Backpackers should contact Kathleen to find out the cost of the whole 5 weeks (which the Community Lab is included in). For those not attending all of Backpackers, the cost for the 9 days is sliding scale $100-$300 

Availability: SPACES ARE LIMITED. Preference will be given to those attending all of Backpackers. We estimate there will be 5 to 10 additional spaces. If you would like to attend only the Community Lab please contact Seth Jordan at seththomasjordan@gmail.com