Building Cultural Capital in Fergus Falls
Attending the Rural Arts and Culture Summit June 8 – 11 in Fergus Falls? InCommons will be conducting the breakout session “Hosting Courageous Collaborative Conversations with Multi-Stakeholder Groups” on Thursday, June 9, at 12:45 p.m.
The session will be a capacity building conversation hosted by Art of Hosting Facilitators to explore a question(s) similar to, “How do you design and host Courageous collaborative conversations with multi-stakeholder groups that find common ground and innovation for solutions?” Participants will learn how to design and host: Circle, World Café and Harvest by taking part in those practices through discussing the questions. At the conclusion of each discussion, the hosts will explain how each discussion was designed, how the questions were determined, why the set-up was chosen, etc. Participants can ask questions, share learning, and clarify how the design and hosting of the practice may help in their work. Also, we will discuss how all the elements in the design come together to create the conditions for breakthroughs with multi-sector stakeholder groups, and how to capture the ideas for next step actions.
In taking part in these discussions, participants will share their own successes and challenges in hosting multi-stakeholder conversations with each other to learn and build relationships with each other. The learnings from each session will be harvested and shared with everyone after the conference through InCommons.org where the discussion can continue and connections with each other can be made for further gatherings and co-learning.
The session’s topic folds well with the summit’s overall theme: Building Cultural Capital: Connecting Rural Arts, Culture, Heritage Through Education, Exchange, Critical Dialogue and Celebration. As this conference addresses the need (and opportunity) for groups to work collaboratively in areas other than large, urban communities. It’s found in small towns and rural regions. This conference is committed “to further developing the richness of life in rural America.”
We hope to see you there, and we hope you can participate.
Either way, we encourage you to share your thoughts: How can rural communities throughout the state and region collaborate to build stronger communities, and what issues are most important they address right away?
Comments
InCommons information
So I became a "member" of InCommons so I could vote for a project that is a finalist in the "Facing Race challenge." I was curious about the concept and workings of InCommons so went to your "about" tab and found the description interesting but wholly unsatisfactory in some critical areas that have mostly to do with accountability in community work.
For example: who is InCommons? Is there a Board of Directors? How is InCommons connected to community? and what or which communities might that be? How are they funded? How are they using the ideas generated from this online connecting strategy? Just a few of the questions I was searching for under the "about" tab.
Caty..
Caty, thank you so much for your note. Thanks for voting and thanks for becoming a member. Your comments are incredibly helpful and insightful. The answer to many of your questions can in part be answered by the fact that InCommons is a new program that's currently being shaped and co-created by the very people (like you) who become members and become active participants.
InCommons has been formed and supported by a variety of primarily non-profit organizations and Foundations in the community. We call them "Formal Partners" including Bush Foundation, Minnesota Community Foundation, Ashoka, Minnesota Public Radio, TPT, Minnesota Council of Churches, Walker Art Center and other groups. InCommons' reach has extended to the community through a variety of grassroots initiatives it's conducted on its own (such as the Rural Arts and Culture Summit in Fergus Falls), community challenges (like Facing Race), as well as in partnership or through the channels of its Formal Partners. We also conduct in person and online gatherings in which the topic is solving a specific community issue.
Through all of these initiatives, we seek to "harvest" notes and materials and post them on the site for members to access.
As noted, we're just beginning, but we're hoping as more people participate, connect with others on the site, and share resources and ideas, our presence and effectiveness will grow. Incommons is free and available to any community that shares in the values. We are interested in building a network of people who are involved in creating positive change and who want to share their stories, tools and learning.
I hope this is helpful. I'd be glad to connect you with Jake Voit, InCommons' Manager, should you have more questions. Kind regards, Eric.
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