The Art of Hosting - April 2024

The Art of Hosting is an engaged learning experience for change makers, educators, facilitators, participants in community and collaborative work, and others to come together to develop important new skills in hosting meaningful conversations. In this training, you will learn to plan and practice meaningful dialogue, host more effective meetings and better engagement processes, and develop participatory leadership skills. The training will benefit people working in any field, including environmental stewardship and community health.

As we learn together, you will have the opportunity to bring your burning questions, current work challenges, and engage in meaningful conversations and relationship building.

In this three-day workshop you will learn:

• How to invite and convene meaningful conversations that lead to wise action.
• New skills and methods to engage (both small and large scale).
• Collaborative process and project design for working with complex issues.
• How to work collaboratively and effectively in managing complex community issues.
• How (and when) to bring more participatory leadership approaches.
• Self-leadership practices that support strong leadership and resilience.
• Frameworks for ongoing practitioner growth and development.

DATE & TIME

Monday, April 22nd at 9 a.m. - Wednesday, April 24th at 4:30 p.m. PST

WHY THE ART OF HOSTING?

The complex times we are living in call us to engage together in meaningful, courageous, and creative ways to find good and healthy ways forward together when no one person has the answer. This often includes working with both the challenges and gifts of our differences and connecting to our collective wisdom and intelligence through meaningful dialogue, more effective meetings, better engagement processes, and participatory leadership.

FACILITATORS

Your hosting team has decades of experience teaching and utilizing participatory leadership practices in almost every conceivable setting, from non-profits and social justice movements, faith communities, Indigenous communities and social institutions, education, the corporate sector, and government. They are experienced facilitators, coaches, and leaders in their own right, and are stewards of the global Art of Hosting community.

Kelly Foxcroft-Poirier has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Emily Carr (ECIAD) and has been a practitioner of facilitation methods and frameworks through the Art of Hosting and Visual Facilitation at UBC for 13 years. Kelly is deeply influenced by community values and a spirit of innovation; gifting forward a strong sense of ingenuity, imagination, and resilience in all of her work. Constantly inspired by her Tseshaht roots and her grandfather’s background in organizing, advocacy, and worker's rights, Kelly combines playful courageous curiosity to shift into places and possibilities where courage and vulnerability gift forward connection, potential, and community building. www.whiteravenconsulting.ca

Chris Corrigan is a teacher and facilitator of strategic conversations and a practitioner of the Art of Hosting whose work invites collective intelligence and collective leadership to be activated in the service of complex challenges. Chris has worked locally and internationally in a huge variety of contexts including social services, indigenous community development, immigration and refugee issues, business, government, food systems, and education.  He has written and contributed to influential books on the role of participatory processes in activating new forms of leadership and community development.  His well-known weblog, Parking Lot, has charted his own learning in the field since 2002. He specializes in Open Space Technology and design for large-scale initiatives to work in high levels of complexity. He is a poet and a musician. www.chriscorrigan.com

Caitlin Frost is an experienced process designer, facilitator, trainer, and coach working with teams, organizations, and communities as well as individual leaders and practitioners locally and internationally. She brings complexity-informed approaches to the design and facilitation of meaningful dialogue, engagement, and participatory processes in the non-profit, government, and corporate sectors. Her coaching work focuses on cultivating the ‘leadership mind’ needed for holding multiple perspectives and navigating uncertainty and complexity. She also brings extensive experience and impactful tools for identifying and transforming the limiting beliefs and patterns that hold us back individually and collectively, including working with fear, assumptions, and bias. Caitlin is a Steward in the Art of Hosting international community of practice, is Certified in Human Systems Dynamics and is highly experienced and a teacher of The Work inquiry process. Caitlin lives with her family on Nex̱wlélex̱m (Squamish Nation) also known as Bowen Island, BC, Canada. www.harvestmoonconsultants.com; www.caitlinfrost.ca

ACCESSIBILITY

Activities for this event include sitting and standing for full days with mid-morning, lunch, and afternoon breaks. Participants are welcome to move, lay down, and take breaks as needed for their wellbeing. There will be some activities involving short distances of movement around the event room. Adjustments can be made to support participation if mobility is a challenge. Teaching material will be both spoken and provided in writing in a workbook written in English. Please let us know ahead of time if you require accommodations or support to enable your participation and learning during these activities.

HEALTH AND SAFETY POLICY

CBT is committed to hosting a safe, equitable, and inclusive event. Discriminatory behaviours and harassment or any other emotional or physical harm will not be tolerated and anyone displaying such behaviour will be asked to leave the event. No refunds will be issued if a participant does not comply.

CANCELLATION POLICY

To cancel your registration for this event a $100 admin fee will be charged, or you may transfer your registration to another person at no charge. Within two weeks of the event, there will be no refunds issued except in the case of an emergency (as determined by event organizers case-by-case.)

VISITOR ACCOMMODATION

You are responsible for arranging your accommodation. Tin Wis Resort has rooms available for you to book, please let them know you are participating in Art of Hosting upon booking. Tofino has a wide range of accommodations available from luxury hotels to hostels and camping. For more information, visit the accommodation listings on the Tourism Tofino website at www.tourismtofino.com/accommodations/.

COST

Tuition is $1350 and a $25 processing fee. A reduced rate is available if needed for accessibility, for non-profit organizations of $1150 + $25 processing fee. With support from CBT and the Alberni-Clayoquot Health Network some subsidized rates may be available for local participants who reside or work in the region. Please contact Marianne (marianne@clayoquotbiosphere.org) for more information. Please don’t let cost be a barrier. Cost includes materials, morning coffee/tea and lunch all three days, as well as a group dinner on Tuesday evening at the Tin Wis. Tuition does not include accommodation.