RESIDENCIES
a participatory, immersive learning experience
Residency 1: Deepening citizenship
August 5th - 16th
This 12 day residency is a chance for people working in politics, engaged arts, grassroots organisations, NGOs, activism and social start-ups, to unravel and practice in an immersive setting, what it means to ‘be’ in the political realm, in word and in action.
When do we engage, and when do we do nothing? What principles, mental models and patterns of behaviour influence how we relate to one another? What solutions can technology offer to increase our participation and engagement as citizens? These are some of the questions that we are interested in.
The residency is directed to those who feel curious and excited about exploring what the political realm is, and how to become more spontaneous and freer to step up in it. The aim is to resource our capacity to make change through speaking up, creating meaningful dialogue and honing the ability to be political.
In true Eroles manner, we will be co-creating the programme together, the beginning guided by the Eroles team. We are influenced by the work of Hannah Arendt, Systems Thinking, Complexity Theory, Theatre of the Oppressed, Storytelling, and more. Dr Patricia Shaw will be joining, and we’ll be engaging with people around the world working in this sphere via online calls.
Dates: August 5th - 16th
Place: Eroles, Spain.
Application deadline: May 16th
Applicants notified by May 17th
Cost for 12 days: €600. This covers accommodation, food, pick-up from Tremp and programme resources. Full and partial bursaries available, please contact us for further details. To secure your place a non-refundable deposit of €300 is required by May 26th.
APPLY HERE
Dr Patricia Shaw Fellow of Schumacher College and Visiting Professor at the Business School of the University of Hertfordshire. Her field of concern is everyday politics, particularly how people develop the capacity to participate thoughtfully and actively in complex and uncertain circumstances as these evolve.
Eroles Team: Ruth Cross, María Llanos del Corral, Dr Alexandra Lagaisse, Mona Rathsman
Residency 2: Emerging politics
August 23rd - September 3rd 2017
If we had departments that were purely dedicated to improving the quality of our democracies, what would they be doing? What is citizenship in the 21st century? Increasingly we are seeing inspiring activities that attempt to foster new ways of organising, questioning the status quo of how we do politics and tapping into an emergent culture that’s enabling new forms of political engagement.
This 12 day residency is for people shaping political landscapes, be that in local communities or trans/nationally and for those who feel the call to co-create new ways of organising. Our aim is to create a fertile space for sharing our experiences and making sense of what might work and what might not, when attempting to reconstitute politics.
We will be experimenting with different models, as well as looking at case studies of emerging forms of organising that are already happening around the world. We will have online calls with people working in emerging politics in Brazil, with Gross National Happiness in Bhutan and with members of Podemos in Spain, amongst others.
The residency will be semi-facilitated by the Eroles Team, some confirmed participants are Ruth Potts, Franco Llobera and Felipe Viveros, with open sessions for the group to programme collectively.
Dates: August 23rd - September 3rd
Place: Eroles, Spain.
Application deadline: May 16th
Applicants notified by May 17th
Cost for 12 days: €600. This covers accommodation, food, pick-up from Tremp and programme resources. Full and partial bursaries available, please contact us for further details. To secure your place a non-refundable deposit of €300 is required by May 26th.
APPLY HERE
Ruth Potts Ruth Potts is a co-founder of bread, print & roses, artistic adviser to Utopia 2016 and co-editor of Red Pepper. She teaches ecological design thinking at Schumacher College.
Felipe Viveros European representative of the Gross National Happiness Centre Bhutan. He is a Chilean born independent action researcher and consultant. Felipe holds a Masters in Science from Schumacher College, UK. Previously he served as project coordinator for the Tairona Heritage Trust, a UK charity that focuses on conservation and indigenous peoples rights. He has worked internationally creating co-learning events that combine deep ecology, permaculture & mindfulness with Wake Up International.
Franco Llobera Councilor in Torremocha City Hall from "Soñemos Torremocha" political Party. Social policy researcher and designer. Community facilitator and consultant on rural and bioregional development. Expert on agro ecology development, virtuous economic circles on agro food systems.
Eroles Team: Ruth Cross, María Llanos del Corral, Dr Alexandra Lagaisse, Mona Rathsman
Our residencies are the heart of what we do. They are a time when a diverse group of people come together to think, play, practice, learn, exchange and to develop a collective action to do in the world. Eroles Project believes it’s from the creativity of artists, the heart of activists, the minds of thinkers, the souls of carers, the hands of builders, and gardeners, the spirit of wise people where we can build a future in which we all thrive.
COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE 2017 (fully booked)
CO-CREATING CULTURE
Perugia, Italy 16th – 31st March 2017
What practices and narratives do we need to peacefully co-create cultures?
This emergent 15 day Community of Practice will take place in a rural house in the province of Perugia, Italy, giving the intimate context for 9 participants with diverse backgrounds to exchange understandings from their work, research or practice that concern the co-creation of present day cultures & communities.
Perugia, Italy 16th - 31st March 2017
This emergent 15 day Community of Practice will take place in a rural house in the province of Perugia, Italy, giving the intimate context for 9 participants with diverse backgrounds to exchange understandings from their work, research or practice that concern the co-creation of present day cultures & communities.
The content and flow of the days will be designed by participants along with Ruth Cross (Eroles Project) including getting to know each other & the space, sharing practices, participatory sessions, participant led sessions, time for walking, playing, gardening, house work, meditation, cooking, bodyworks and documentation.
Why this, why you and why now? In an age of uncertainty we are witnessing the power of narrative to galvanize collective responses to the challenges of our time. Divisive narratives have amplified fear of the other and permitted systemic racism at all levels of society. Yet simultaneously we see robust responses with Indigenous lands being celebrated and defended by people of many cultures, new waves of on/offline collaboration, experiments in degrowth and movements of radical friendship between newcomers and locals.
We urgently need to create new narratives that celebrate such cross cultural responses, that speak to our commonalities rather than our differences, that spark hope and that harness our collective assets.
This CoP asks can we share human and nonhuman lives on our earth whilst being with our collective past, present and unknown future? What energising practices and new narratives do we need to support the emergence of peaceful and integrated cultures, which have capacity to generate meaningful and effective responses?
One aim is to visualise the activities, thinking and practice from this exchange into a booklet, film or new media to share approaches of plurality, intersectionality, cultural diversity, and the yet undiscovered.
Cost on a sliding scale 600€ - 350€ *Price includes food, accommodation & resources for 15 days (bursaries available please email for details)
THE RESIDENCIES
Each residency has a different theme chosen by the Eroles network and designed by the Eroles core team. It is an attempt to respond to what is needed, relevant and urgent in the world, and to reach out across different movements that can learn from each other.
During the Eroles residencies we find ways for both structure and emergence. On the first day of the programme there are guided sessions facilitated by the Eroles team, providing a way to get to know each other and our intentions for the programme, and create a safe space for people to step in and take the lead. Most of the programmes are open for participants to offer questions and enquiries, lead activities, or take time out for self reflection. Usually at the beginning of the week(s), participants work together to programme the schedule of activities. Some residencies are more held by the Eroles Team or invited facilitators, but always keeping the element of participation and collective ownership of the learning process. We strive to set the conditions for a culture of participation and leadership, where anyone can feel comfortable to take the lead.
Each day there is a framework for breakfast, lunch, dinner, cooking, gardening, community meetings and house work. There is also regular time set for collective and personal reflection, in the form of morning check-ins, meditation, body-works sessions, sleeping in the wild and free time to walk in nature.
THE PLACE
In the summer Eroles residencies take place inThe Ulex Centre in the village of Eroles, in the Catalan Pyrenees, Spain. During other times of year Eroles residencies take place in different places around the world. If you have a large space that can house 12+ people and you would be interested in hosting an Eroles residency, please get in touch!
The village of Eroles is surrounded by mountains, olive trees and vineyards, eagles and vultures soar the skies, which happen to have the least light pollution in the whole of Europe – a spectacular amount of stars reveal themselves at night.
Normally there are between 10 and 16 people on the residency from many countries around the world.As a participant on an Eroles residency you will most likely share a room. We share vegetarian cooking, mostly organic and some of the vegetables are self grown. The Eroles Project strives to have as low-impact living as possible; the house is powered through solar energy, water use is kept to a minimum, and we try to make efficient use of the garden through permaculture designed food-growing.