Emergent Strategy Study Group
with Daniel Baker, hosted by Aiyana Masla and Masumi Hayashi-Smith from Alma Partners
Sundays: March 1st, March 22nd, and April 12th
1pm - 2:30pm PT / 4-5:30pm ET
Sliding Scale Cost
Sustaining: $75 / Supporting: $225 / Solidarity: $375
(prices above are for all three sessions; please plan to attend on all three dates)
Emergent Strategy, when first published by adrienne maree brown in 2017, brought organizers and changemakers a multitude of frameworks, ideas, and tools for working with a rapidly changing world where crisis, climate emergency, and social tumult are escalating.
Emergent strategy is inspired by the wisdom of the natural world and the concept of biomimicry, to help us better understand the power of collaborative efforts rooted in interdependence. It includes the practice of learning from examples such as the ways ant colonies respond to floods, or how murmurations of birds adapt their movements to each other. Emergent strategies are ways of consciously responding to the moment, practices of adapting to the changing conditions of our world.
Together in this series, we will:
Explore how to consciously embrace the world and the generations that are coming towards us. How are we mentored by the natural world in our local communities? With our families? What does this look like in our school communities? With our colleagues? In response to emergencies or the need for mutual aid?
Have the opportunity to connect through the principles of emergent strategy to inform our work and our relationships. The series will be shaped with a focus on the work of educators; however, all participants are welcome!
Engage in a combination of lecture, artistic reflection, and collaborative group work.
While reading the book will greatly enhance the experience of the series, participants are not required to have read the text. Instead, we will unpack the ideas together as we explore how they can best support us in our work in the world.
About the Presenters and Facilitators
Daniel Baker
Our study group will be joined by Daniel Baker, who was introduced to Waldorf Education soon after graduating college; he served as a dutiful grading elf to overtaxed class teachers. Sitting in the back of those beautiful classrooms, what he saw, heard, and felt was a profound gift for his own inner child. Since then, Dan has done a little bit of everything at Pasadena Waldorf School, spending the bulk of his time as the chair of the high school Humanities department.
In this most challenging year for PWS, in which the school lost one of its campuses to fire, Dan and his colleagues have seen firsthand how the crises of our present moment can become powerful opportunities for transformation. Dan is inspired by the ways in which the spirit of Emergent Strategy already lives within Waldorf Education, and how it can help us sense and meet what comes toward us out of the future.
Masumi Hayashi-Smith
Bio can be found here.
Aiyana Masla
Bio can be found here.
*Please note: in alignment with the Alma Partners core value of Centering Relationship, we do not record our sessions! Please plan to attend live.
Resources will be shared with participants as a follow-up to our in-person sessions.