Out of one make two

In the beginning of u.lab2x we thought to do one retreat. At the moment we are really enthusiastic about two different formats and today we choose to go forward with both. 

One will be focused on focusing;) 

A 5 day working stage in a town o village, just during the days, without overnight staying. It´s an invitation to all the people working in the university who don´t find time to focus on one project, paper or research. A persons who lacks the quality time needed to bring an idea, writing or investigation forward. This retreat is about connecting people to focuse on a selfchoosen specific topic. Food and infrastructure is cared for and the breaks and evenings provide interaction with people in the same situation as well as inspiration by local artists or nature. All this is thought and created from a Theory U perspective of the world.

The other one is about connection and (self)care

In our Stakeholder Interviews we saw a big need for selfcare and connection to each other in university teachers. This brings us to a more classical retreat in nature (Arantzazu) of 3 days full of nature, connection and reflection. A come-together to see ourself as a part of the system, in other words: to make the system see and sense itself. The aim is to give us the time to feel together and feel that we are together. If out of this would arrise an idea of how to change what makes us suffer, that would be a great outcome. Still we are sure that just connecting and creating community already is a great and relevant achievement and it will arrise just what is needed and possible at the moment.

A way to go

The funding is still something we did not dived into deeper. Any suggestion is welcome! One option will be a low cost  version which would be self-fundable. The other is about getting help from a public grant - still to figure out which one. We stay what emerged last meeting: Trust and faith!

Maybe you will receive an invitation for a 4D Mapping soon. We really want to make this a participatory creation and try to leave as little blind spots as possible. As the whole project is embedded in Theory U, the wish of creating a change we need and want at a bigger scale always acompanies us. Let´s see to where exactly it will lead us.