Workshops and Offerings for 2025

We will update this page as more events are added to the program. Please keep in mind that while these workshops and events are accurate when posted, they are subject to change.

Community of Resistance

Description: The Quilombos were a network of settlements in colonial Brazil where Africans escaping the plantation system lived a life of resilience & supported the cause of freeing more people. Community thrived at a tenuous distance from colonial activity.

We will compare the Quilombos movement to our intentional communities. What can we learn from this contemporary of our own?

Today we mostly work with the belief that our communities can hold different cultures. The quilombos citizens were diverse as the African peoples came from different regions and diverse nations.

Today we look to improve our conflict resolution processes. Often the slave trade took prisoners of war from both sides of conflict. Those who were once enemies, found themselves building a life together in the quilombos.

We will participate in Afro-Brazilian cultural rituals of community celebration. Many important community norms and cultural practices have their essences stored in cultural art so that future generations can access. More information can be found here: https://liberationarts.com/expressive-arts-workshops/quilombus/

Presenter Bio: Macaco ​Nova Yolk is an artist & facilitator of expressive art circles​. He lives & works in the intentional communities of ​Central Virginia​. He partner​s with ​community-building initiatives & organizations​; particularly ones that emphasize alternative lifestyles & cultures​. Macaco ​is a Contramestre in the Afro-Brazilian art of Capoeira​. He has taught to diverse groups including special needs children ​in the behavioral health facilities​ and public ​schools​ ​of New York City. 

Bankers vs. socialists: who builds a better economy? 

Description:  We are going to play some interactive games of trust, risk, and survival. in these games we will take a look at what allows us to flourish as a group and what brings us down, when do we know to trust and when do we get suspicious, and what that tells us about the financial as well as the emotional economics in community. and just to put this in perspective we will also review the results of an on-going research project on how banking CEOs fair on the same games we just played, and reflect on what it means for creating alternatives to capitalism!

Presenter Bio: Gil Benmoshe has been living in intentional communities for over 20 years. with a strong focus on permaculture, natural building, and education. in his professional life he works as a researcher in the field of psychology of politics as well as a facilitator in team building towards effective communication, leadership, and conflict resolution. these teams often include academic, professional, athletic, military, corporate and government agencies.  Gil has a specific interest in “imagineering” a post-national future and how people can self organize without the state or the market.

Anarchist Parenting Circle

Description: People are children and children are people. We are all learning and growing throughout our lives. An important mission of a multi-generation anarchist community is to facilitate the development of young people into kind, responsible, self-directed humans.   We can mutually support humans of all ages by practicing curiosity, consent, and clear communication. This workshop will be a space to discuss philosophy, explore questions, and share anecdotes. 

Presenter Bio: Strings (they/them) lives, plays, and works at Bramble, a collective homestead project in Bumpass, Virginia. Strings identifies as a chaotic-good anarchist, gardener, musician, artist, maker, learner, and unschool parent who loves to hang out in the woods and make mild mischief. They are passionately curious about sustainable human development.

Agapoli: A Strategy for Community Power

Description: Agapoli is a framework for understanding what makes communities of individuals functional (or dysfunctional) in a way that can be scaled and applied to relationships between groups.  As such, it points to a strategy not just for empowering any community, but for building a better society at large.  What’s more, because Agapoli builds power in a scalable way that fascists cannot themselves employ, it suggests a way to beat those bastards. 

Presenter Bio:  Ian has been a 14-year participant in the Baltimore Free Farm  (baltimorefreefarm.org), an urban food justice oriented project which spawned a housing co-op, multiple community gardens, a food rescue program, and a Food Not Bombs chapter.  He’s also a homebrewer who’s been bringing his kegs to every Communities Conference for about a decade and to countless Bmore potlucks, aiming to foster the atmosphere of generosity at the heart of community vitality.

Ecovillages: Pathways Towards Regeneration 

Description: What if the future is already here — just unevenly distributed? We’ll explore ecovillages as living laboratories of regeneration and resilience. Through case studies of pioneering communities such as Findhorn in northern Scotland and Auroville in southern India, we’ll see what’s possible when people come together with shared values and an integrated design approach.

Presenter Bio: Envisioning humans living in harmony with each other and all life, Daniel founded Living Routes in 1999, which ran study abroad programs based in ecovillages. He later co-founded Gaia Education and served as President of the Global Ecovillage Network. Daniel has visited over 150 ecovillages around the world and lived in Auroville in south India and Findhorn in northern Scotland, where he served as Education Director of the Findhorn Foundation. He currently co-directs the Foundation for Intentional Community.

 21st Century Networking:  IC’s and the Social Housing movement

Description: What is the International Social Housing Festival and the growing US movement for Social Housing?  Who’s behind it? What does it offer ICs? to expand solidarity efforts and grow the number of communities. You’ll learn about members of the movement such as tenants rights, affordable housing and advocacy groups in your region. 

Presenter Bio: Over the last 25 years Betsy has led workshops at Community Convergences and other IC conferences, living in and serving communities, seekers, and institutional boards and networks such as Coho/US, FIC, and GEN.  A former community planner/researcher (MCP/PhD) Betsy is a fulltime activist/advocate these days.  She has studied IC network/affiliations, and follows grassroots community housing justice networks and movements in the US and Europe She and her partner Raines Cohen are both GEN Ecovillage Ambassadors, Ecovillage Design trainers, and manage multiple regional IC meetup groups. 

From Dream to Reality: Financing Regenerative communities through Legal Innovation and Impact Contributors

Description: This workshop presents the legal and financial model developed by Les Pas-Sages (https://www.les-pas-sages.org/international), enabling regenerative housing projects to be funded by aligned supporters. What if your savings could help bring intentional communities to life—even if you don’t plan to live in one and without needing to make a donation? Through tools like cooperative membership and impact contributions, people can invest in community—without profit, but with purpose.

Presenter Bio: As a birth Doula, haptonomy practitioner, active member of the Non Violent Global Liberation organization with Miki Kashtan and President of Les Pas-Sages, Sandra Bedigis Rueda has been committed to bring sustainable and pragmatic alternatives to societal individualism and isolation through supporting building communities. She is the initiator of Colmeia 62, Portugal’s first ecovillage project using Les Pas-Sages mechanisms. Together with the LPS team, they are now spreading this innovative model over Europe and beyond.

DC Microgrids: Building energy sovereignty in the US, Caribbean, and beyond

Description: Between increasingly frequent climate disasters and the shredding of the social safety net, low-income and POC communities throughout the country are recognizing the urgent need for resilient, community-owned, autonomous energy infrastructure. In this workshop, Debbie Piesen from Living Energy Farm tells the story of LEF’s DC Microgrid (Livingenergylights.com), which was designed in response to the founder’s decades of experience building renewable energy systems in the context of intentional communities. Today, as LEF installs DC Microgrids in communities across the US and the Caribbean, it’s emerging as a critical tool in the “resilience toolkit” for communities both intentional and unintentional.

Presenter Bio: Debbie Piesen is one of the founders of Living Energy Farm, an organic farm and intentional community in Louisa, Virginia that is off-the-grid and uses no fossil fuels. When she is not working on the farm, Debbie teaches others about sustainable energy systems and installs DC Microgrids, an innovative solar energy system design developed at the farm. She has two children who are both named after persimmon varieties.

Twin Oaks Racial Equity Team

Description:  Coming Soon!

Presenter Bios: Coming Soon!

A Living Network of Communities in Resistance

Description: This session explores how decentralized tools like DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) and community-rooted tech can strengthen housing and worker co-ops in building care-based, alternative economies. Together, we will explore how labor-backed systems can help urban and rural communities reclaim space, track contribution, and share resources without replicating hierarchy or extraction.

Grounded in lived experience from intentional communities and system-impacted neighborhoods in Chicago, this session weaves real-life examples with broader visions for collective resilience. One such example is a Richmond-based incubator designed to grow BIPOC-led co-ops and connect them through a decentralized economy of mutual aid, land stewardship, and shared governance. The long-term goal is an archipelago of autonomous, interconnected communities that resist isolation and build survival through solidarity.

Presenter Bio: Erin Gideon Limón is a former ICU nurse from Chicago turned communard. She has lived at Twin Oaks and Acorn and served on Twin Oaks’ Racial Equity Team. Her work explores how to connect urban BIPOC communities and rural communes through mutual aid, tech justice, and decentralized governance. She is actively building relationships and infrastructure to link these worlds through care-based, transparent systems that redistribute power and resources.

Doing More With Less: Finding Resilience Through an Off-Grid Tiny House Mindset

Description: In this workshop we will discuss types of alternative dwellings, cutting the cord on utilities, adjusting buying habits and ways to be more self-sufficient. The format will be a guided discussion with room for everyone to share their dreams, experiences, ideas and questions. 

12 years ago I found myself owning a 2000+ sq ft house in the city and realized I was only using a small fraction of that space. I was buying things I didn’t need just so unused rooms didn’t feel empty. Most of my income went into the mortgage, utilities and repair costs. I upgraded to a 2 bedroom apartment, but I still felt like it was more than I needed and like I was trapped by bills. About 10 years ago I decided that I wanted more freedom, and started my journey into living in alternative structures. I lived in sheds, a sailboat, a pickup truck, and have been in a converted school bus for the last 4 years. Every step of the way has pushed my comfort limits and reshaped the way that I interact with capitalism, self sufficiency and especially gratitude. Learning to do more with less has given me confidence that when shit hits the fan my family will be just fine.  

Presenter Bio: Hey Y’all, I’m Bubbles Cuckoo (formerly Jason Taylor), and I am from Louisa, VA. I have worn many hats in my life, including graphic designer, printmaker, teacher, professor, old house restorer, boatbuilder, treehouse maker, robot mechanic, and festival organizer. I have taught hundreds of people how to make art, build things, and be more self-sufficient, and I look forward to passing on what I’ve learned you as well. www.bubblescuckoo.com

I live in a collection of buses, campers and other weird structures that we have converted into an off-grid tiny-house compound. My partner and I acquired a piece of raw land about two years ago and are building a small collective homestead with our friends that is focused on nature, education and creativity. www.bramblecollective.xyz

Better Together:The Power of Regional Organizing

Description: You don’t have to go it alone, in your search for community or in recruiting members and building awareness of your community and the movement. Learn from examples of successful inter-community cooperation in the SF Bay Area in California, the Portland-Seattle area, around DC, New England, Ann Arbor, and other areas. Discover the power of joint promotion, shared events and outreach, and mutual education.

Presenter Bio: Cohousing Coach. EcoVillage Ambassador. Community Connector. Former boardmember, National Cohousing Association and Foundation for Intentional Community. Regional Community Organizer in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, and Beyond. Trying to connect movements and help us better connect with our fullest potential as a network, and to help people find and build community wherever they live.

Answering Martin Luther King’s call for”a radical revolution of values”

Description: How we can decolonize our thinking from Capitalist Values and embrace Indigenous values.

The current Capitalist system is collapsing. We need to envision a new society based on Indigenous/Communalist values: to embrace community, instead of individualism; cooperation instead of competition.

Based on this article: ANSWERING MLK’S CALL FOR A ‘RADICAL REVOLUTION IN VALUES’ 

Presenter Bio: I [Roberto Mendoza] am Indigenous, from my mother’s Muscogee heritage and my father’s Chicano Mestizo heritage. I have been engaged in the leadership of Indigenous, Bioregional, Green and Latino movements since 1969. I have written about the Indigenous and communalist movements in medium.com and am working on a book about my thinking. I present seminars on Indigenous vs Capitalist Values all around the U.S.

Bridging Political Polarization through NVC and Conscious Touch

Description: In our deeply divided political landscape, we often find ourselves triggered by opposing viewpoints, unable to hear the shared human needs beneath different perspectives. This workshop offers a reframing from intellectual disagreement to embodied understanding. Following icebreakers, we’ll use the current debate around political action versus systemic change as our starting point. Through small group NVC card activities, we’ll identify the human needs and feelings underlying our triggers when hearing opposing perspectives. We will then move into “soul contact improv”, a guided slow movement practice that involves music, movement, breath, and gentle, safe touch between strangers who began the session in political disagreement. We will close with a whole group integration.

This workshop demonstrates how resistance to polarization requires resilience to stay connected to our shared humanity when we disagree. We cultivate the capacity to engage across differences through embodied practices that reveal our shared needs and common humanity. Such engagement applies to both interpersonal relationships and those with within community life.

Presenter Bio: Cindi-Cynthia Fisher and Allan Sindelar are two lifelong activists who share love for community, dance and movement, NVC and each other. They are in a poly relationship and this is their first experience of presenting together, bringing their vulnerability as they navigate these very political divides within their own partnership. Cindi-Cynthia brings deep NVC practice and extensive experience in breath work, music, movement, and slow contact work. Allan brings presence, … Both have lived in intentional communities and attended multiple New Culture camps. Together they model how intimate relationship can hold space for profound political differences through embodied connection and mutual respect.

Integrating Liberation into All We Do: How to not Recreate What We Are Resisting

Description: 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 the Nonviolent Global Liberation Community (https://nglcommunity.org), one way we respond to these questions is by focusing on liberation, which is both “undoing the effects and [eliminating] the causes of social oppression” (Erica Sherover-Marcuse). We aim to integrate this into everything that we do – in notetaking, sharing money, cooking dinner, engaging with neighbors… We explore liberation at the individual, interpersonal, and community levels– bringing it to the larger systems around us wherever we can.

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.

Presenter Bio: 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.

GEN Fund – a community ecosystem model for shared trust to finance community projects

Description: There’s a growing interest to live in alternative communities that emphasize sustainability, collaboration, and shared values – but many face hurdles in securing funding and resources to kickstart or sustain their initiatives.  In Europe, GEN Fund is creating structures to collect resources to fund new housing initiatives. We are creating a more favorable context and greater access for a greater number of people and populations to create the projects of their dreams. We are beginning now to cross-pollinate by setting up a community foundation here in the USA based on the same principles.

In this workshop, we will map the ecosystem of actors in the community movement in this gathering, share more deeply about our vision, strategies, current progress, and next steps. We will engage in a simulation to embody the trust and cooperation that supports the success of community fund structures, and we will invite emergences of knowledge and wisdom from the group.

Presenter Bio: Originally from the Midwest, but has been living and working in Austria, Denmark, and Spain since 2016. With backgrounds in environmental science, spirituality, ecovillage design, and project management, Ari dedicates herself to the healing of the Earth and humanity through work and projects which aim to transform the way we relate to ourselves, each other, and the elements. Particularly in the creation of alternative financial structures, Ari calls in qualities of trust, flow, allowing and abundance to be shared between people and non-human beings. One such project can be found here: https://lightwave.ch/en/

How to Develop and Sustain a Small Community

Description: Join David and Victoria in a conversation about what it takes to develop and sustain a small community with stories and examples from their experience at the White Lotus Eco Spa Retreat (https://whitelotusecosparetreat.com).  Learn about how David began to build a community 40 years ago which he refers to as an “unintentional” community due to the way it developed organically with the simple mindset of helping friends find a place to call home where they can feel safe and come together with others with similar values. The discussion will explore topics such as values, personality types, communication, and ways of bringing people together.  Reflect on ways to navigate through sometimes tough or uncomfortable times as well as how to highlight and appreciate the unique ways each individual can contribute to a community. Community is an opportunity to not just learn about how to relate to others but also to learn about ourselves in order to grow and evolve.

Presenter Bio: David VanDerveer, founder and architect of The White Lotus Eco Spa Retreat has worked professionally as an electronic technician, D.J, videographer,  chef,  yoga instructor, builder, and  heavy equipment operator, but he is best known as an international comedy juggler. 

Victoria Bryant is an educator, performing artist, and serves as the event manager as well as retreat facilitator at the White Lotus.  She has been a resident there for over two years and enjoys planning as well as hosting events that bring the community and guests together to celebrate and connect with one another.

Liberation in Practice: Embodied Authentic Relating for Community Transformation

Description: 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.

Presenter Bio: 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. Her website is: https://crystalbyrdfarmer.com

Authentic Relating to Support ICs

Description: Authentic Relating (AR) explores a method for addressing social challenges by tuning into both our own needs and the needs of others. AR games offer a fun and engaging way to practice meaningful conversations, foster deeper connections, and cultivate a sense of being heard and understood.

While the skills learned through Authentic Relating benefit anyone, they are especially vital in tight-knit, intentional communities. In this workshop, we will explore how community members can use AR tools to create a safe, open space where individuals can connect authentically, communicate clearly, and help lead to resolving conflicts constructively.

Presenter Bio: Mike Jadoo, a certified Authentic Relating facilitator through ART International, believes deeply in the power of connection. His own journey into relational skills began with Authentic Relating and Nonviolent Communication (NVC)  practice group, where he discovered the transformative potential of empathy. Driven by the conviction that everyone deserves to understand their feelings and connect authentically, Mike has positively impacted countless lives.

White Privilege and Intentional Communities – Calling White Folks to Explore This Together

Description: 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.  

Presenter Bio: 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. 

Community Death Care 

Description: There is likely going to be an urgent need for community death care in the next decade as professional funeral services will be increasingly sparse (especially in rural areas) and increasingly uneconomical for most people. The resilience and self-sufficiency of all of these communities is essential throughout life including death and the final laying to rest of one of their own.

When someone dies at home, there is no need to rush to call a funeral home. You can do some – if not all – of their after-death care as a community with enough forethought and preparation. 

Part 1: A death café style casual group discussion about death; Participants are asked to bring their experiences, beliefs, questions, fears, and explorations of the life/death continuum. Anna will bring her experience as a community death care advocate and educator, as a funeral director and celebrant in facilitating the conversation and to fill in any blanks in the group’s knowledge about caring for the dead. Part 2: A group activity portion will provide an opportunity for hands-on practice with a variety of funerary rites including, bathing, dressing, adorning, shrouding, moving, conveying and burial. Part 3: Discussion of culturally informed variations on death rites with a focus on multi-culturalism and personal empowerment in death.Presenter Bio: Anna Jordan is a licensed funeral director, celebrant, community death care advocate, death cafe facilitator, and a board member of the National Home Funeral Alliance (homefuneralalliance.org) which educates and advocates regarding peoples’ right to care for their own dead. Anna was born in Vermont, and grew up in Vermont, Maine and Alaska. She home-schooled her three children and is now settled in Washington State. She has found her life’s calling helping people talk about, think about and learn about their end-of-life choices from dying to disposition. When she’s not working in the realm of death, she enjoys bare-foot walking, forest bathing, meditation, yoga, nurturing her community and creating art.