This cohort is facilitated by Cultivate Leadership to create a unique opportunity for change makers, activists, artists, organizers and passionate concerned citizens wanting to bridge divides in their communties.

In 2024, our teachers, Marcie Telander and Mark Schwiesow will teach Cultural Animation using their 40-year running leadership case study, Vinotok, to model how communities come together across political, class, & belief divides to create unity and reconnect people with the stories of their place. Apprentices will create their own unique community Earth-based event after completing the immersion, and Cultivate Leadership will provide coaching for all cohort members.

Our 40-year, week-long event serves as a powerful model of a Culture of Vision, of collective assistance and persistence. It has become an international image of enactment for all forms of Community Celebration. This festival is the result of decades of experience, co-creation, education and dedication through some of the first originators of Community Animation and Earth-Honoring communal healing through celebration. It brings forth the most ancient forms of ceremony while offering regenerative, contemporary expressions of the sacred meaning of Place Spirit. The preservation and protection of the environment are animated and embodied through the humans who honor the Personhood and cultural diversity within every part of the local and extended Earth-human family and environment. Gather your family, neighborhood, organization, town, city--draw from the values which rise up organically from your roots, shared history and communal mission. Marcie Telander, marcietelander.com earthwisdominstitute.org

The cohort meets online four times and then joins the week-long intensive in Crested Butte, Colorado to experience the integration of art, myth, feasting, fire, dancing, drumming and performance arts, that ritualizes and recommits the community’s relationship with Place, and one another. This TedX featured, globally renowned tradition has mastered four decades of horizontal governance with over 250 volunteers hosting over 35 events in 7-days. Most importantly, their organizing has has preserved ancestral heritage, honors the stories of local elders, and has assisted in protecting the land from extractive mining for 40 years running!

Apply Now- enrollment closes May 30th

Tuition will be charged on a sliding scale for those requiring scholarships. Fill out applicaiton here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VinotokApprentice