The Gatherings
Co-Creating Desired Futures
Learn to Master the Art of Facilitation with Expert Coaching
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Immerse yourself in a Co-Creating Desired Futures Facilitation Intensive
Hear or read the screenplay that inspired The Gatherings
Check out the story of how we get to our desired future from here
Host or Facilitate a Gathering in Your Community
Get support from our growing cadre of Gathering facilitators and hosts
Our story
As documentary filmmakers, we traveled around the U.S. and Canada to find people who were trying something different to create a society based on cooperation and community instead of competition and profit.
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In the meantime, we began to imagine a far distant future where there are no borders, where resources are intelligently managed, and where everyone has access to what they need and can live anywhere they like. We set about to write a screenplay based on that future in the year 2149. A young character looking back from that future time wants to know- "How did things change?".
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Rosa Zubizarreta Ph.D.
Terry Sterrenberg & Laurie Simons
While we were writing the screenplay, we met Rosa Zubizarreta and read her book "From Conflict to Creative Collaboration: A User's Guide to Dynamic Facilitation." We found what we were looking for- a way to bring people together in small groups to consider big issues. She showed us how these groups are already in motion, mostly in Europe (Austria).
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So, we incorporated this idea into the screenplay. A young woman in 2024 tries to start small groups called "Gatherings". The idea finally spreads, and over time leads to "continuous participatory governance", eventually eliminating the need for centralized government. It was fiction.
But a friend of ours in wanted to try a Gathering in real life. To do that, we first we needed trained facilitators.
We reached out to Rosa, and she agreed to work with us to offer a Zoom course called the "Co-Creating Desired Futures Facilitation Intensive". Then she came to Brooklyn to facilitate the first Gathering.
We have had two trainings and four Gatherings so far.. The result? Participants want to have more Gatherings.
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This is where you come in. We hope that you are curious to see what Gatherings can do in your community.
"I allowed myself to be very open, which was new to me."
Gathering participant
×´A great opportunity to think about our futures and be able to express myself and gather ideas and see the outcome.×´
Gathering participant
"I am leaving energized. Impressed with the diversity of ideas."