Communities Conference & Convergence of ICs 2025 Update 3
Headlines
- Do you want to present a workshop at the Communities Conference? Act fast- the call for presenters form closes July 15
- Announcing our first accepted workshops for the 2025 Twin Oaks Communities Conference
- Crystal Byrd Farmer will be presenting “Liberation in Practice: Embodied Authentic Relating for Community Transformation”
- Selene Aswell will be presenting “Integrating Liberation into All We Do: How to not Recreate What We Are Resisting”
- Anne & Tom Pigman will be presenting “White Privilege and Intentional Communities – Calling White Folks to Explore This Together”
- Work Exchange Ticket Reminder
- Other Great events happening in and near Louisa this summer
Prefer to read your news online? You can read this post on our blog
Need to catch up? You can find all of the 2025 Updates on our blog here
Do you want to present a workshop at the Communities Conference? Act fast- the call for presenters form closes July 15
We’re still looking for a few more workshops to feature this year, so if you have have an idea- let us know! Workshops may cover a broad array of topics in cooperative and alternative cultures, lifestyles, economics, and organizing. If the workshop is not specific to intentional communities, the presenter will be expected to address the topic specifically in relation to intentional communities. Workshop presenters receive free admission to the conference.
We are particularly interested in workshops about racial dynamics in community, restorative justice, economics of community living, and controversial topics within communities. Full details and info on how to apply are available in our 2025 Call for Presenters post, and the direct link to the 2025 Call for Presenters form is here.
Announcing our first accepted workshops for the 2025 Twin Oaks Communities Conference
We are pleased to announce our first three accepted workshops for 2025, with more to come!
Crystal Byrd Farmer will be presenting “Liberation in Practice: Embodied Authentic Relating for Community Transformation”
About the Workshop In this interactive workshop, we’ll explore how power, identity, and belonging show up in community life. Through movement, storytelling, and authentic relating games, we’ll unpack moments of disempowerment and reclaim agency together. Come ready to connect, reflect, and leave with embodied tools to support equity and liberation in your community.
About the Presenter: Crystal Byrd Farmer is an organizer and speaker in the intentional communities movement. She serves as a board member for the Foundation for Intentional Community, the BIPOC Intentional Community Council, and The Sum. In 2020 she published The Token: Common Sense Ideas for Increasing Diversity in Your Organization. Crystal is passionate about encouraging people to change their perspectives on diversity, relationships, and the world. Learn more about Crystal at CrystalByrdFarmer.com
Selene Aswell will be presenting “Integrating Liberation into All We Do: How to not Recreate What We Are Resisting”
About the Workshop Why do so many peace movements eventually become tools of state violence? What leads communities to repeat patterns, even as they intend to create a visionary alternative?… In this workshop, we intend to explore together some phenomena that we’ve encountered during our experiments in integrating liberation into community living (“male & female training” and “the couple groove”). We aim to practice with you a support structure that can be immediately applicable wherever you are.
About the Presenter: Selene Aswell is working toward a world where we humans live in a locally-based, global network of life nurturing, mutually mothering communities rooted in a thriving biosphere, taking steps now to cofound such a community in the US. She has been experimenting in gift economy for 18 years. Selene has a BA in Community Building, is an NVC trainer certified by the Center for Nonviolent Communication, and has been actively coholding the Nonviolent Global Liberation Online Community since 2020. Learn more about Selene and her work with the NGL community at nglcommunity.org.
Anne & Tom Pigman will be presenting “White Privilege and Intentional Communities – Calling White Folks to Explore This Together”
About the Workshop Coming together in a supportive, honest, heart-connected experience, we will unpack what white privilege is and what it means to be part of the normative white culture that exists within the Intentional Community movement. Using interactive, reflective and interpersonal experiences, we begin to challenge ourselves to face our conscious and unconscious bias, beliefs and actions. Space will be created to address the often present road blocks of shame, fear, and guilt that arise and keep us from moving forward toward real change. We will provide some hands-on interpersonal skills that help navigate this territory and support action and advocacy within our own communities. We do so with the hope that a deeper understanding, explored within the context of the hopes and goals of a more diverse and inclusive Intentional Community space, can be part of the journey towards personal and collective transformation.
About the Presenters: Tom and Anne Pigman are experienced facilitators and community builders dedicated to social justice and shared leadership. Their work is rooted in decades of engagement with diverse communities, including African-Americans, recent Caribbean immigrants, and Latinos in Chicago, as well as international efforts in South America and Ghana, West Africa, where they partnered with local leaders to support grassroots change. Trained through the Matrix Leadership Institute, they lead retreats that foster authentic connection and racial equity. They are also developing Where Pigs Fly Farm in rural Indiana—a gathering space to inspire youth and adults to discover and share their unique gifts in service of community healing and transformation.
Work Exchange Ticket Reminder
We are committed to making the communities conference affordable/accessible to as many people as possible. If the standard ticket price is more than your budget can absorb, adult work exchange tickets to the Twin Oaks Communities Conference and the Convergence of ICs are available for $50 (reduced cost youth tickets are also available). All participants at the TOCC expected to contribute 2 hours of work during the event, our discounted work exchange ticket option requires an additional 4 hours (6 total). You can read more about work exchange tickets here, and you can purchase them via Eventbrite just like a standard ticket at tocc2025.eventbrite.com or CIC2025.eventbrite.com
Want to help support our work exchange ticket program? You can donate via Eventbrite when you purchase your ticket, on the donate page of the website, or email us at conference@twinoaks.org for other options.
Other Great events happening this summer
There are so many great community-centric events over the next few months! If you’d like us to share info on your event in a future newsletter let us know at to.communities.conference@gmail.com. All 4 of the events below have NOTAFLOF policies (No One Turned Away For Lack Of Funds), and we are especially happy to share info on events with similar policies.
August 22 – 24, 2025: Twin Oaks Women’s Gathering, Sliding scale $60-$160, recommended ticket price $85
August 29- Sept 1, 2025: Twin Oaks Communities Conference, $160 adults, $60 youth, $50 Work Exchange
September 1- 4, 2025: Convergence of Intentional Communities, $160 adults, $60 youth, $50 Work Exchange
Sept 12 – 14, 2025: Twin Oaks Queer Gathering, Sliding scale $50-$200, recommended ticket price $100.
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