You are invited to the 2025 Communities Conference and the second annual Convergence of Intentional Communities
Twin Oaks Community, in cooperation with the Foundation for Intentional Community, is excited to invite you to two events to celebrate and strengthen the intentional communities movement. If you’d like to be added to our email update list, please send a message to conference@twinoaks.org with the subject line “Subscribe”.
Twin Oaks Communities Conference is a family friendly, outdoor camping event, August 29 – September 1, 2025. There are dance parties, workshops, mud pits, auctions, compelling videos, river swims, and more! Workshops include evergreen content on intentional community living as well as this year’s two themes: Resistance and Resilience: Confronting Challenges, Cultivating Possibilities and Transforming Community Culture to support BIPOC Representation, Empowerment, and Long-Term Retention. You can register for the event at TOCC2025.eventbrite.com
Then stick around for the Convergence of Intentional Communities, September 1-4, 2025. Created by and for people who live in intentional communities, the convergence is a time to build stronger relationships between intentional communities and the organizations who support them. If your community is ready to align, collaborate, and grow resilience through solidarity—this is the place to be. You can register for the event at CIC2025.eventbrite.com
Building a dome for the first Twin Oaks Communities Conference Image Credit Ray Jesse Blatt
What is it?
What if we could bring together a bunch of ICs which have vacancies, with a large group of community seekers? That’s where the Twin Oaks Communities Conference comes in.
Twin Oaks Communities Conference will host our annual Meet the Communities morning on Saturday August 30th. About 50 different ICs seeking new members will present themselves to about 200 participants who will then get a chance to ask their own questions and introduce themselves. This is just one of the sessions offered during the TOCC.
Immediately after the TOCC is the Convergence of Intentional Communities, Sept 1-4, 2025. Co-organized by the Twin Oaks Communities Conference and the Foundation for Intentional Community, the Convergence of ICs is more than a meeting—it’s a launchpad for mutually beneficial initiatives that strengthen our collective impact.
Both the Communities Conference and the Convergence of ICs are hosted by Twin Oaks Intentional Community at their conference site in rural central Virginia. Tickets include all content, a tent camp site (bring your own gear), co-op childcare, and awesome local food. All attendees are expected to bring a food item to share and contribute a few hours of volunteer labor.
Rebuilding showers and building a new dome at the conference site after the March 2024 wildfire, in preparation for the 2024 Communities Conference & 1st annual Convergence of Intentional Communities. Image Credit: TOCC
Why should you come?
The secular intentional communities movement has long been fragmented. Groups with similar values and missions are working in isolation, with little mutual support unless they’re physically close to each other. The CIC aims to build relationships and cooperation between ICs, especially between communities with similar values but diverse approaches to living those values.
There is huge potential for this kind of collaboration. Members of two communities on opposite sides of the country might have similar aspirations to be more inclusive, or might face similar problems with conflict management. Stronger connections could help them work together and compare notes in the search for effective strategies. Members of one IC might even travel to the other for a few weeks or months to share knowledge and experience, perhaps as part of an ecovillage exchange program.
The inaugural CIC in 2024 gathered around 60 experienced communitarians to explore new ways of working together. It began by looking at how individuals fit into communities and into the wider movement, identifying shared themes and common needs. From there, attendees established several working groups, focusing on areas including resiliency, resource exchange, regenerative business, and the planning of regional and national gatherings. This Spring, the IC member exchange working group has been working with the FIC on expanding the capacity and services of IC.org– including some possible social networking services. We hope that the 2025 event will extend these existing collaborations and also generate new ones.
We are committed to making these events affordable and accessible to as many people as possible, including work exchange tickets, sliding scale, scholarships, and other discounts. No one will be turned away due to (in)ability to pay. Tax-deductible donations made via the Foundation for Intentional Community help us support this policy, and can be made to the events via our website or our paypal donate button.
Check out our event listing in the summer 2025 issue of Communities Magazine (and our snazzy ad) available now!
