SotA Mini Session Reflection

Images by Shelby Bohannon

The first week in May, we had the privilege and joy of holding space for community again. I'm still reflecting and processing the joy of having you here, of caring for you, of having a physical gathering for the first time in 3 years. To feel what it is to be present and in person for this project. 

Mostly I’m sitting in deep gratitude for the privilege of being continually transformed by this work - individually and collectively. By continually growing the ways we care for people here, the ways that collectively we can provide a learning space that is equitable and caring and radical in response to a world that is not.

It was incredibly surreal to be back, living in community in these magical mountains. We knew it was important to gather, to learn together the ways this community needs to adapt and grow amidst a world that looks very different than it did last time we were together. It was beautiful, it was magic, it was transformative, it was intense, it was FUN. It was a week filled with loads of affirmation and light.

We need spaces where the light is let in. Where we feel safe existing as vulnerable beings, where we form community and have rich conversations and nourishing collaborations, and practice collective care.

The main thread I’m taking from our week together right now is that it still felt like SotA. I’m swimming in a pool of gratitude that it felt like SotA. That we can still offer this community in the world as it is right now. I hope this space will be a home to you now like it’s become to so many of us. I can’t wait for those who missed this year to come back, and for our new fam to return again 💖

Sending you so much love from these mountains to you✨

Heidi Gruner, Director

✨Class List + Scholarship Apps due TODAY! ✨

Mini-Session Class List!

We're excited to share our 2022 class list with you! This list is built from classes that would have been taught at our 2020 session + a few offerings from our beloved community and Advisory Committee. We are counting down the moments until we can share space with you in the spring, and it just feels that much closer with this curriculum finalized.✨

Keep in mind! Not only faculty teach at SotA - we support a collectively built and self-directed approach to learning which means all participants can learn and teach. Faculty and staff attend classes, and students teach pop-up classes at night. ANYONE can apply to be a student - if you are 18 or 35 or 77, if you identify as an artist or not - there are no prerequisites or requirements. Just the desire to learn communally in a welcoming, radical, care-driven community. We aim to hold space, learn alongside, and listen deeply to one another, and we hope to share space with you this May!

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Important Dates & Deadlines:

➡️ ➡️ March 21st, TODAY - scholarship application deadline ⬅️ ⬅️
March 28th - student application deadline*

*we will continue accepting paying student applications after this deadline until all spots are full.
However, we encourage you to apply by the deadline for the best chance of joining us this May!

We're holding a mini-session May 1-8!

We've moved with care and intention as we have considered the decision of whether to gather. We've talked a lot about what's safe, balanced with what's needed right now from our community and beyond. We don't take this decision lightly. We believe that we can do our best, collectively, to gather safely right now (read our covid protocols here). We know the need is there! We know that many of us, within our community and beyond, are in need of the affirming experiences offered by radical spaces like SotA.

It feels really surreal and exciting to have the opportunity to hold space for our community again this year! SotA is not only creating space for radical, communal learning, we are hosting a community that aims to be equitable and safe(r) for those most marginalized in institutional learning spaces. We aim to hold space, learn alongside, and listen deeply to one another. It is our aim to foster a community where we can collectively nurture our imaginations, and learn, teach, and grow together.

Important Dates & Deadlines:

Mid-March:  2022 class list released
March 21st - scholarship application deadline
March 28th - student application deadline*

*we will continue accepting paying student applications after this deadline until all spots are full.
However, we encourage you to apply by the deadline for the best chance of joining us this May!

Why a mini-session? With a 1-week session, we eliminate a lot of risk: it's the same group the whole time, no coming and going, and we can effectively form a pod while we're together. It is our hope to hold our next FULL 3-week session in May of 2023, but we wanted to offer something lower-risk this year.

We will be creating a faculty list mostly from our 2020 faculty, so there will be no faculty applications this year. We are shifting our student and scholarship applications to be fully online, and they are ready now!

Lastly, thanks to our Radical Accessibility Fundraiser, we are able to offer additional scholarships this year - almost 40% of our students will be attending on scholarships - which is a really huge step towards a radically accessible future for SotA! We hope to share space with you this year. Access our 2022 applications below.

☝️ You will need to log into google to access these apps. ☝️

Thank you for bearing with us as we transfer our apps to google forms, this significantly reduces labor for our all-volunteer team.

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"In order to generate a future in which we all know we can belong, be human, and be held, we must build life-affirming institutions."

- adrienne maree brown

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$25k CAMPAIGN KICK-OFF:Monday June 28!

$25k CAMPAIGN KICK-OFF:
Monday June 28 at 12pm ET / 9am PT

Hi :-) 
June is upon us: the month of the first ever formal School of the Alternative fundraiser!! We are raising $25k in order to pay faculty and staff, offer more scholarships, improve physical accessibility, and increase class supplies. Learn more below!

Trying to raise this much money is brand new for us, but the motivation for the campaign is not new. Radical accessibility has always been at the top of our list – we want as many folks as possible to be able to attend sessions, and for the experience to be mentally, emotionally, physically, and financially healthy for them. Please help us get there. Starting next Monday!

– Nelle Dunlap, School of the Alternative board member

How you can help (easy as pie):

DONATE to SotA instead of buying that new Glade plugin scent or a weirdly expensive purebred parakeet.

We are all coming from different places financially. If you have $5 to give right now, awesome. It helps! If you have $50 or 500 or 5k, awesome. It helps! We will send our campaign link out on Monday, or you can head over to our Patreon and join our sustainer community right now.

SHARE your SotA experience and the campaign link with your coworkers, your family, that cute person you've been chatting up...

If you are on this list because you attended a session and liked it, please share that with your community. Did it change your art-making direction? Did you form close friendships? If you appreciate our journey in radical arts education, pass it on! And don't forget to add the campaign link right along with it, whether in an instagram story or in a letter to your rich aunt.

Want more? The money you raise will fund:

Paying faculty and staff + supply budget
I'm not sure you know this, but right now staff and faculty positions are all volunteer roles and most supplies are donated. This limits who can come teach at SotA to those who can afford to take the time off work and travel to the mountains, and who can supply their own class materials. If we raise $25k, we will pay faculty each week to offset those costs, and will have a budget to pay for art supplies.

Fundraising starts in a week!

More scholarships
It is our long term dream that SotA be free or sliding scale. We aren't there yet. But increasing the number of scholarships we offer goes a long way. Hitting our goal would mean that our whole, half, and Black Equity scholarships could fully or partially pay for as much as 50% of our student body to attend SotA.

We start working towards that goal this Monday!

Physical accessibility
The SotA campus is in the Blue Ridge mountains, housed in buildings that were constructed 100 years ago. It's beautiful, but there are major physical challenges to moving from space to space. Adding resources like vans and ramps would help all of us have a more comfortable experience at school – and would make it possible for a new group of folks to join us who haven't been able to before.

June 28 is the day – are you ready??

💪 Calling on SotA Ambassadors 🙋

Artist-Supported & Artist-Supporting

It's no secret we're passionate about affordable arts education. This is our movement, our collective action, the space, place, and community we're building for a better tomorrow. And with any movement, we must understand funding to fortify SotA. We got dreams. A day when SotA can be 100% free, walk on our own campus and pay competitive wages to our staff and facilitators. Ain't that exciting?! Well, we are taking the first step towards those dreams with our 2022 season fundraiser. Members of our Board and Advisory Committee are meeting once a week to build fundraising, outreach, and engagement muscles. We're determined to double down on what "affordable" means at SotA. We're learning and understanding our own relationship to money. Our mantra: tiny steps as long as we are moving forward. We're eager to take SotA to the next level making it safer and accessible for all.

Read our article in Art and Education and see all the progress we've made in the last five years. The experience at the school “just flattens and deflates all of the things that the art world tells you you’re supposed to be: self-involved, an individual, totally not reliant on any help from anyone, wealthy. It pops all of those ideas. They’re not necessary in the culture that we’re trying to create,” Board Member Luan Joy Sherman explains. With collective movement and action, we can build SotA to become more affordable by offering more scholarships, higher wages for staff and facilitators, and an overall safer and more accessible experience. Now we need you to help us materialize the next five years at SotA.

- Maria Judice
SotA Board member

Calling on SotA Ambassadors

What's a SotA Ambassador?
A SotA ambassador is you! We have set a high goal for our fundraising campaign so that we can extend and open our SotA community to those who haven't previously been able to participate because of financial barriers. SotA ambassadors help us reach our goals. We will only reach our mountainous goal with a collective effort. SotA ambassadors work as our core street team uplifting the campaign and spreading the word to all the corners of the world.

What do I have to do as a SotA Ambassador?
You can engage at any level giving your energy, skills, networks, and influence to spread the word about SotA. We need folks to light those candles with those incantations too. 🕯️ We know everyone is under pandemic pressure so we hope you can find a way to integrate our campaign into your daily flow. Are you good at events, DJing, Tik Tok, or Bingo? Are you a blogger or writer? Do you work at a coffee shop? Do you have a parent group or an art circle? Here's the secret to fundraising –

You never focus on your dollars you always focus on your people.

The more people that know about the campaign the more money we raise - that's the simple secret. It works every time.

When you fill out the form below you will be asked to opt into an area as an Ambassador. Choose your area and we will reach out with suggestions and action items. Ultimately, a SotA ambassador is autonomous and basically can engage in any way they deemed fit, eager, and motivated. You can do one action on social, you can host an event, or a nice conversation with an Angel Funder to donate those necessary dollars to the campaign. Also, this is a great way to learn how to fund your movement.

Emergent Utopias:
Three Experiments in Alternative Art Education: The Black School, 2727 California Street, and School of the Alternative

Lauren Stroh, Art & Education
April 2021

Because the relationship between alternative schools and the communities they exist in are so tight-knit, they are organized with an ethic of care not found in most institutional settings. Alternative schools are meant to empower individuals: they disrupt the power dynamic between students and teachers, who take on roles more like that of coconspirators than followers and leaders. Outcomes are measured by community feedback and are often assessed according to principles such as pleasure, growth, and joy instead of the pass-fail binary. These schools account for the prospect that growth might be forthcoming, a possibility usually precluded by schools’ and universities’ standardized tests and degree requirements. Here, education operates as a system of mutual aid, which is a radical departure from present colonial and carceral models. Read More.

✨ Preparing for our most accessible session yet ✨

This season of spring has brought a lot of hope, and it's a beautiful thing to hold onto some light at the end of a really dark year. We are eager and hopeful to share that we are planning for a May 2022 Session. Over a year away, we know, but it still feels very life-giving to have that future gathering to look towards. We WILL be together AGAIN!

We know that it's more important than it ever has been for our sessions to be accessible, for them to be equitable. We are currently planning a fundraising campaign that we hope will ensure this happens this year more than ever. We are working towards a Future for SotA that includes additional access to our sessions through more scholarships, continuing to offer Black Equity scholarships, fair payments for faculty and staff, and an increased supply budget so that we can host a greater diversity of classes. We are on the path to creating the radical future for SotA that we've all been dreaming up together. 

Want to help? 

As we prepare to launch our fundraiser, we need your help expanding our reach! Will you help spread the word about SotA on your social platforms?

copy & paste the following image + text
or share via the 3 buttons below!

SotA holds space for radical, communal learning in a world filled with inflexibility. We need this. You need this. Each May in the mountains, we live and work together while attending wild and deeply thoughtful, creative classes. 

Since its beautiful opening in 2016, School of the Alternative has been wholly run by volunteers – from art faculty to kitchen staff to Director – equaling nearly 2000 hours of work each session. This has kept tuition accessible and built a community that is both artist-supported and artist-supporting. And SotA is ready for the next phase. Please follow to learn more, and share/invite the tender gems in your life to do the same.

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SotA Digital Programming: We're Out Here!

We are deeply missing holding space for and with you right now. As we move thoughtfully through this digital chapter of SotA, our priority is a communion that reflects our values and our commitment to holding a safe(r) space for all. Our hope is to continue to build and sustain a community of radical learning, together.

We are continually shifting our programming as the needs of our community + the world continues to change. Most recently we've offered 2 Instagram classes: How to Sew a Shirt with Sarah Myers (they/them) and  The Future of Education: A Futurist Theoretical Practicum with Khonsu Ra (he/him). Both classes are saved in our Instagram highlights: take a peek! We're also currently offering a 4-week class, Screenwriting Rooted in Decolonization and Abstract Thinking with Maria Judice (she/her/they/them) (this is currently in session but we hope to offer it again later this year), and we just wrapped up a 🌸Countdown to Spring 🌸 group thread/class led by Carolyn A'hearn (she/her/them/them).

We've loved sharing space with you digitally over the past 12 months, but would love to hear from you: what do you want to see in our digital programming? 

✨ Giving Tuesday + SotA Patreon: All perks, no hierarchy! ✨

School of the Alternative has joined Giving Tuesday, a global movement that harnesses the collective power of individuals, communities, and organizations to encourage collective action and to celebrate generosity worldwide. Right now, we are focusing our fundraising efforts on our Patreon page, and we are asking that you support this project through a monthly donation (starting at $1/mo) if you are able.
 

We have adjusted our Patreon tier structure to better align with our values. When we revamped our Patreon a few months ago, we set up traditional tiers, with each tier (based on how much you contributed per month) gaining access to different programming and benefits. While we worked to ensure that the most economical tier had rad benefits, it still felt off to create any barriers to access based on the amount of someone's contribution. SO, in the spirit of SotA, and in the spirit of equal access for all, we are now offering all tiers access to all of the same benefits, and we simply ask that you choose your monthly amount based on what you are comfortable giving.

 

Moving forward, all tiers will receive these benefits: 

 We are excited to continue sharing space through programming and extras with our Patreon community. We are SO grateful for the support we have received so far. As you know, SotA is a radical experiment in education and community, and our current budget, funded solely from tuition, only covers our most basic needs (to keep the cost of tuition as low as possible). Your support is helping our SotA dreams come true!

Your support is helping us create a more equitable
future for this project that we hope includes:

• Additional access to our sessions through more scholarships

• Our continuing to offer Black Equity scholarships

• Fair payments for faculty and staff, creating space for folks who couldn’t afford to come without compensation

• Increased supply budget so that we can host a greater diversity of classes

There are so many incredible projects to support right now, and we truly, madly, deeply, appreciate you lending your support to ours. 
 

Join our Patreon!

We are excited to share our revamped Patreon with you - complete with some ~ much-requested ~ incentives! Patreon is a membership-based platform that provides us with a subscription-style payment model, where our supporters can give a monthly donation towards our fundraising goals. 

We recognize that this project needs the support of consistent fundraising for long term survival, and we hope that you will consider helping to sustain this project by becoming a Patron. In an effort to create access for as many folks as possible, The lowest tier is priced at just $1/month and includes some of our most exciting + requested incentives (spoiler alert: GAS CLASSES!). 

We want to be transparent with you that asking for money isn't something that we do lightly, but that we know is now integral to our continued work. Right now this school is run fully on volunteer time, and with your help, our hope is to offer payment for both our staff + faculty, offer more scholarships and/or lower tuition, and have more funds to support our faculty through providing additional supplies. Our hope is that this Patreon can become a space for our digital programming to flourish, especially right now. Learn about all 3 tiers you can choose from below! 

*Khonsu's offering is coming soon: Khonsu recently moved to Ghana, and this series will begin once he has stable internet!

✨SotA Leaderships Transitions ✨

To our beautiful community and beyond,

I am writing this letter during a sublime summer storm, from a cloud inside my apartment. This note is from me, Heidi Gruner, one voice in a wonderful collective of folks. I am here to share some changes in our leadership at School of the Alternative: the natural ending of one season and the soft shift into another. This summer, the SotA board of directors said goodbye to Chelsea Ragan, Adam Void, and Velvet Panichelli. I sit in deep gratitude for all of the time, labor, love, and enthusiastic attention they have given to the school. With their stepping down, we have welcomed three new board members!

This July, Khonsu Ra, Maria Judice, and Luan Joy Sherman joined our leadership alongside Nelle Dunlap, who will continue to serve on the board for a fourth year, and me.

Khonsu is a powerful healer, and his voice has helped shape our growth in many ways. He taught a Dreamtime class his first year at SotA in 2017 that shook us all into deeper, more thoughtful versions of ourselves. Last year, this spiritual nourishment manifested into a staff position that would have included daily meditation, yoga, and holding space for our growth as holistic beings. Maria came to SotA for the first time last year, and skillfully taught a powerful class on decolonizing screenwriting. We all learned quickly that when Maria talks, you listen. She is wise, and her powerful voice and vast knowledge of arts nonprofits, grants, and fundraising will fill a space that has needed filling. From the classroom to the radio room, and every space in between, it always feels like a gift to have Maria’s voice present. Luan has been with SotA since our very first session, and he has grown so beautifully each year into an even more incredibly tender and aware healer, teacher, and friend to literally everyone at SotA, always making sure that we are creating access for ALL. Nelle is a kind and brilliant facilitator, whose eager wild brain has given endless labor to this project. She takes care of so much nuanced behind-the-scenes work, and she is a giving, smart communicator that everyone loves being around.

I have shifted from the role of Acting Director to Executive Director. I have been on the board since its formation and I took on the role of Acting Director shortly after our second session in June of 2017. I’m elated to continue shaping this school alongside so many of you. It’s been a long time coming that our leadership reflects the diversity of our community, and I’m so happy to step into this new chapter alongside Khonsu, Maria, Luan, and Nelle. I am incredibly inspired by this group of people, who will nurture the parts of SotA that make it great and give the light of our attention to areas that need focused growth.

Every year, we learn more about how to hold space and take care of our growing community. We will continue to foster a community of mutual care where we can experience freedom from competition and traditional hierarchy; where everyone is valued, and knowledge and resources are freely shared. I know that this is what feeds us, sustains us, and keeps all of us coming home each May. This community is guided by all of us, and as always, we welcome your thoughts on these internal shifts and our continued evolution.

As we step into this new chapter with a strong focus on equity, we will continue to work to be a radical space that nurtures the parts of you that white supremacy has worn down. We will exist as an alternative to the patriarchal, capitalistic systems that weigh heavy on us all. We will continue to prioritize access for those who have historically had barriers to entry into education and art spaces, including continuing to staff an Accessibility Coordinator position and offer our Black Equity scholarships. We will enthusiastically uplift and actively prioritize the voices of those who have been traditionally silenced. We are committed to doing the work to be an anti-racist organization, prioritizing the comfort & experience of those who are rarely given priority.

I think the most radical things that we practice at SotA are sharing knowledge freely, and prioritizing deep, nuanced care for ourselves and each other. As both Acting and now Executive Director, I have put a lot of focused energy into the community aspect of our sessions, and have worked alongside so many of you to nurture a collective where folks feel safe, heard, and cared for. It’s been beautiful to see SotA grow in these ways, and I’m proud of this magical universe we’ve created and shared together. It has been a privilege to serve this community; to hold space with and for you, to care and be cared for by you, and grow alongside you. I will always listen to you; as a friend, a fellow student, and as a leader in this community.

Sent with love from the mountains,

SotA & Covid-19

To our beautiful community,

It is with very heavy hearts that we write to let you all know that we have made the difficult decision to cancel our May 2020 session.

In the time since our last update, our perception of the pandemic has changed dramatically: it is clear it will not be safe for us to gather under one roof in only six weeks. We are making the decision to cancel now rather than our original timeline of early April. In this moment of great upheaval, we hope having this decision made will bring us all some peace in the face of so much uncertainty.

We, like you, feel devastated to lose our time together in May. It is an enormous loss to not see and share space with many of our returning SotA family, along with the many new faces. But we remain hopeful for future sessions together, in spite of the uncertainty of when that will be.

We hope you are all safe, healthy, and connecting with loved ones, and that you have the resources you need. This crisis has starkly illustrated the gross inequities within our culture, and the systemic privilege that allows some to have enough when so many others do not. SotA continues its deep commitment to breaking down the financial barriers to education and safe(r) spaces – even if that may look a little different this year. 

It’s impossible to say with certainty what the rest of this year will look like. We would be foolish to immediately reschedule. If there is a future where we can hold a session this year, we will work to do it. Right now, though, we are hunkering down and waiting. We’ll see what the next few months are like and continue to reassess as things progress.

Whenever our next session is: 

• Faculty and staff who have been accepted are still accepted for our next session. 

• If you have already applied as a student, your application will apply towards our next session.

• If you have already been awarded a scholarship, that will still apply towards our next session. 

While we don’t know when this next session will be, we are dreaming of a time when we can be together, laying in the sunshine, learning and living in community.

We do have something in the works for our community to stay virtually connected, which we hope to share in the next few weeks. We are giving ourselves space to rest, grieve, process, and work without impending deadlines. We want to be here for you during this time of isolation, and to remain connected as a community. We know that this community and the rich connections within it will remain active and strong during this time of unrest. We need each other more than ever. ️

Sending love from our corners of the world,

Heidi, Chelsea, Nelle, Adam, and Velvet

We wanted to also share some resources with you all that have been shared with us:

COVID-19 Resources for the Artist Organization Field from Common Field

Pirate Care, a Syllabus

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCE KIT

Apps Released + 2020 Black Equity Scholarships

Our student, faculty, & scholarship 
applications are now online!

School of the Alternative is an experiment in education and community. SotA offers a socially integrated experience with intimate classes, communal living, and emphasis on shared labor. Instead of a traditional classroom environment, our campus supports a collectively built, self-directed approach to learning, which gives opportunity for all participants to learn and teach. 

Students can apply to come for 1, 2, or 3 weeks, and faculty can apply to come for 1 or 2 weeks. We will learn, work, and live together on the same campus originally used by Black Mountain College, doing work service in the mornings (cooking meals, setting up classrooms, cleaning, working in the garden, maintaining our archive), and taking or teaching classes all afternoon.
 

OUR 3 WEEK SESSION WILL BE HELD: MAY 1ST-21ST
 

FACULTY DEADLINE:  February 1st
SCHOLARSHIP DEADLINE:  February 22nd
STUDENT DEADLINE:  March 1st *

*We will accept applications after 3/1 until all spots are filled, but we do encourage getting your application in by the 3/1 deadline for the best chance of joining us this May!

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School of the Alternative offering
five Black Equity Scholarships
 

School of the Alternative is a space where radical new ideas are born. Spaces that - actively or passively - exclude oppressed people cannot produce radical ideas. We are committed to lifting up and holding space for marginalized and historically oppressed voices, whose rights and access are constantly threatened.

This year, we are offering 5 full one-week scholarships to Black students for our 2020 session. Thanks to a generous donation, we are able to more fully realize our intention of increased access through financial support.

We see the undeniable financial, bodily, psychological, metaphysical, and myriad other effects that white supremacy has on folx of color. We strive to foster a community that offers an alternative.

We are still learning and have a lot of work yet to do. What we do know for sure is that we want to hold space, learn alongside, and listen deeply to folx who are traditionally silenced by higher education. One of the ways SotA actively dismantles systems of oppression is by making this space more accessible to Black students. In stating our aim, we hold ourselves accountable to build an inclusive and equitable community, where all feel welcome and safe(r) to create, dream, collaborate, discover, and breathe.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

THANK YOU to all of you who were here this year for our FOURTH (!) season of SotA. It was a joy to host you, to take care of you, to be taken care of by you. It’s powerful to see the community expand each year, to see new folx take the leap, and to see family return home each May. It’s magic to see your lives transformed, to see our lives transformed, and to see the community practice collective learning AND collective care, all in the same space. We talk more and more each year about how to hold SotA with us after the experience each year ends. For those of us who have been here every year, I think we do see it seep a bit more into our “waking” lives (let’s be real, SotA is a dream) each year, and I think a lot of that will happen if we work to bring the elements of this community into every day with intention. Host a gas class in your living room, share your resources, care for folks actively, listen deeply, activate the spaces that you are in in unexpected and engaging ways.

✨✨✨✨✨✨
LOVE YOU,
SotA

📸by Suzi Sadler

2019 Class List Released!

OUR 2019 CLASS LIST IS HERE!

At School of the Alternative, our curriculum each year is determined by the radical individuals who apply, and the skills, experience, and ideas that they hope to share. We are really excited about the wild range of classes that we are able to offer this year!​ 

This means that now is the time to choose which week(s) you'd like to join us this year, and get those applications in! As a student at SotA, you will not only be a part of an engaging, community-minded group of folks (like you!), you will also have the chance to both take classes and teach pop-up classes if you would like! The traditional student/teacher hierarchy is dissolved here at SotA, and we hope this non-traditional structure is just another great reason for you to apply this year!

Deadlines are coming up! 

SCHOLARSHIP DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 23RD
STUDENT DEADLINE: MARCH 1ST*

"SotA is the stuff of dreams! As someone who is not a trained visual artist or steeped in academia, it was incredibly freeing to be given the latitude to create, teach, explore, and just exist in such an incredibly nurturing environment. I feel reborn (no hyperbole here!) and propelled forward by oodles of love and acceptance. What a gift to have existed amongst such beauty and kindness."

Illustration in header by Andrew Haas, illustration in poster above by Erin Anderson-Ruddon

*we will accept applications after 3/1 until all spots are filled, but we do encourage getting your application in by the 3/1 deadline for the best chance of joining us this May!

FACULTY APPS DUE 2/1!

Faculty Applications for our May 2019 Session are due NEXT FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1ST! At School of the Alternative, our curriculum each year is determined by the radical individuals who apply, and the skills, experience, and ideas that they hope to share. Join us! The only requirement for applying is that you be 18+, no other pre-requisites or experience needed.

Our intention is to remove traditional hierarchy as much as we can at SotA, and this means that not only do faculty teach classes while they're here, they also participate in work service to maintain our community, stay in the same lodge alongside students + staff, and attend as many classes as they'd like that don't conflict with their own. We hope this non-traditional structure encourages you to apply to teach here! We love seeing class ideas that you wouldn't see elsewhere, especially in traditional institutions. Go WILD. 

We look forward to seeing your applications this week! We're here to answer any questions you may have - reach out and we are happy to help clarify anything + have the opportunity to talk with you about teaching at SotA!

"It's a rare project because of how emphatically it encourages experimentation, and believes in the possibility of creative practice supported by community self-determination. As soon as you arrive you feel like anything is possible as long as there is the will to do it. Everyone can teach a class, propose change, do something new, and in a different way. Creative practice is taught as a continuous expansion of possibilities, in which we can always do more by creating alternatives to what is fixed or limited." 

-Alexander Chaparro, past faculty + SotA family member

Illustration in header by Andrew Haas, illustration in poster above by Erin Anderson-Ruddon

Support SotA this Giving Tuesday

School of the Alternative has joined #GivingTuesday, a global movement that harnesses the collective power of individuals, communities, and organizations to encourage collective action and to celebrate generosity worldwide. Occurring this year on November 27, Giving Tuesday serves to inspire people to collaborate in improving their local communities and to give back in impactful ways to the causes and communities that they support. 
 

We are very excited to have received our official 501c3 status this year, meaning that all of your donations are tax deductible!

We are asking that you give. At SotA, our current budget (funded through tuition from paying students) covers the cost of food, lodging, transportation (gas to and from airports to pick folks up), and operational expenses (storage unit, PO box, email, and website expenses). 

All else will be funded through generous donations both inside and outside of our community. Many of our class supplies in the past have been donation based, and every contribution, from a few dollars to your time helping spread the word, is immensely helpful to our incredibly bare bones, DIY budget. Click the link below to donate, or to learn more about non-monetary ways to support SotA!

2019 Apps are OUT!

Our student, faculty, and scholarship applications for our 2019 session are now online!

School of the Alternative is an experiment in education and community. SotA offers a socially integrated experience with intimate classes, communal living, and emphasis on shared labor. Instead of a traditional classroom environment, our campus supports a collectively built, self-directed approach to learning, which gives opportunity for all participants to learn and teach. 

Students can apply to come for 1, 2, or 3 weeks, and faculty can apply to come for 1 or 2 weeks. We will learn, work, and live together on the same campus originally used by Black Mountain College, doing work service in the mornings (cooking meals, setting up classrooms, cleaning, working in the garden, maintaining our archive), and taking or teaching classes all afternoon.

OUR 3 WEEK SESSION WILL BE HELD: MAY 9TH-29TH


FACULTY DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 1ST
SCHOLARSHIP DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 23RD
STUDENT DEADLINE: MARCH 1ST *

*We will accept student applications after the deadline, and they will be reviewed on a rolling basis until all spots are full. We do recommend submitting your applications on or before the initial deadline. 

We aim to be accessible to anyone who wants access. We want to share our programming with all–regardless of race, sexual orientation, gender, income level, educational experience, or background. We value reciprocal education, wherein dialogue between peers, students, teachers, and community members creates space for all to learn. We are thrilled that you are interested in joining us this year!

Student Apps Still Open! + Help Us Meet Our 2018 Needs

Student Applications for our May
2018 Session are STILL OPEN!
 

We are still accepting applications on a rolling basis for our session this May! We are so excited about our fantastic class lineup, and we would love for you to join us for 1, 2, or 3 weeks! At School of the Alternative, we aim to provide a passion-driven model of education that encourages greater possibilities for thought, creation, and collective action. As a student, you will even have the opportunity to teach pop up style classes, and tuition includes all meals,+ 9 radical classes to choose from each week. We'll all live together in a lodge on a beautiful campus in Black Mountain, North Carolina, the original campus of Black Mountain College!

At SotA, our current budget (funded through tuition from paying students) covers the cost of food, lodging, transportation (gas to and from airports to pick folks up), and operational expenses (storage unit, PO box, email, and website expenses). All supplies are donated, and all faculty and staff are working as volunteers. Monetary donations are prioritized for our deposit for 2019, stipends for faculty and staff, and class supplies. 

$$$ is not the only way you can help, though! We are also in need of basic art supplies, as well as additional kitchen supplies. Can you help us meet our 2018 needs? We are so appreciative of any donation, from $5 or a few packs of markers to $500 or a food processor, every donation is massively helpful!

2018 Classes Announced!

We are beyond thrilled to announce the class lineup for our session this coming May (11-30)! At SotA, we value passion-driven learning, and our curriculum each year is determined by the applications submitted.

 

If you're interested in being a part of our community, we would love to see you apply as a student! At SotA, the line between student and faculty is blurred at best, with students even having the opportunity to teach pop-up classes, and faculty attending classes as students. Won't you join us for 1, 2, or 3 weeks in May? 

Application Due Dates:
Scholarship Deadline: Feb 15th |  Student Deadline: Feb 25th*

*We will accept student applications after the 25th, and they will be reviewed on a rolling basis until all spots are full

 

Support SotA this Giving Tuesday!

School of the Alternative has joined #GivingTuesday, a global movement that harnesses the collective power of individuals, communities, and organizations to encourage collective action and to celebrate generosity worldwide. Occurring this year on November 28, #GivingTuesday serves to inspire people to collaborate in improving their local communities and to give back in impactful ways to the causes and communities that they support. 

We are asking that you give. Currently, all faculty, staff, and administrative positions are unpaid. At SotA, our current budget (funded through tuition from paying students) covers the cost of food, lodging, transportation (gas to and from airports to pick folks up), and operational expenses (storage unit, PO box, email, and website expenses). 

All else will be funded through generous donations both inside and outside of our community. Many of our class supplies in the past have been donation based, and every donation (even just a few dollars!), is immensely helpful to our incredibly bare bones, DIY budget. 

This year, our top fundraising priorities are:
Deposit for 2019
Staff + Faculty Stipends
Class supplies
 

If you can't financially support SotA, there are other ways to support us! You can donate supplies, time, and support us by spreading the word! To learn more about the many ways to support this project, we hope you'll reach out!

CLICK HERE to SUPPORT SotA TODAY

Photo by Suzi Sadler, illustration at top by Erin Anderson-Ruddon

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For more details about the #GivingTuesday movement, visit the #GivingTuesday website, Facebook page, or follow @GivingTues and the #GivingTuesday hashtag on social media. 

2018 Apps are OUT!

                                                                                               Poster by Bud Ries

Our student, scholarship, and faculty applications for our 2018 session are now online! School of the Alternative is an experiment in education and community. We will all live, learn, teach, and work together for three weeks this May, in the magical mountains of Black Mountain, North Carolina.

At SotA, through a system of co-education, learners and educators cooperate in actively producing knowledge and forming new aesthetic experiences. Faculty are free to plan their class according to their own instruction, and are encouraged to join other classes as students. Students are expected to design their own curriculum but are also given the opportunity to teach. All members will participate in the school’s physical maintenance through gardening, cooking, cleaning, and will contribute to the gradual and continual transformation of the educational objectives, essential values, and political concerns bracing School of the Alternative.

We value experimentation as both an aesthetic drive, and as a way to push new ideas and old traditions to their limits. This radical power is one that allows for significant change – within us, our respective fields, our society, and our relationships with others.

OUR 3 WEEK SESSION WILL BE HELD: MAY 11TH-30TH
 

FACULTY DEADLINE: JAN 25
SCHOLARSHIP DEADLINE: FEB 15TH
STUDENT DEADLINE: FEB 25TH*

*We will accept student applications after 25th, and they will be reviewed on a rolling basis until all spots are full

LEARN MORE + ACCESS APPS HERE! 

We aim to be accessible to anyone who wants access. We want to share our programming with all–regardless of race, sexual orientation, gender, income level, educational experience, or background. We value reciprocal education, wherein dialogue between peers, students, teachers, and community members creates space for all to learn. We are thrilled that you are interested in joining us this year!