COEO Presents: Folk School ‘16

Camp Wanakita, September 23-25, 2016

The 2016 COEO conference organizing committee has been hard at work and plans are set for this year’s annual conference. Folk School ’16, hosted at YMCA Camp Wanakita in Haliburton, aims to bring together practitioners and skilled trades people to share their knowledge, practices and folk traditions with the COEO community.

Folk: of or relating to the traditional art or culture of a community or nation.

Folk school: a place where people can learn the traditional arts and crafts of a community or of various communities or nations.

Folk School ‘16 is all about taking a step back from electronics and moving towards a hands-on approach to learning. How can educators incorporate traditional knowledge and skills into their practice if they have not been taught the skills to do so? How can we move towards sustainability, resilience, peace and reconciliation if there is no space for traditional knowledge in our practice?  Folk School ‘16 aims to provide space for members to start learning (or re-learning) these traditional skills and crafts.

This conference will explore themes surrounding, but not limited to, the following areas: hands-on skill development through craft-making, building and/or artisanal trades; traditional knowledge through storytelling, music, games and/or ceremony; education on the practice of Earth-caring and community-strengthening skills; connecting people to the land through food and drink (scavenging, hunting, fishing, farming, permaculture, preserving, baking, cooking, fermenting); helping people understand the hidden art in the meeting of our everyday and tripping needs (i.e. mending, sewing, MacGyver-ing, cooking, building, plant identification, etc.); making connections between community members through adventure, play, outdoor activities, nature connection and knowledge generation and; educating practitioners on how to incorporate folk skills and hands-on activities into their teaching.

Please plan to join us as we explore new ideas and perspectives, learn and share best practices and refocus and rejuvenate for the year ahead!

Visit the COEO website for all the details about this exciting upcoming event or click here to see the Conference Program. Register by mail or today at www.coeo.org.