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!

Photo by Suzi Sadler (taken in Sophie Bolla's class-built-classroom-sized camera obscura)

What a beautiful 2 sessions we had this May! Season 2 episodes 1 & 2 were a truly impactful community experience. There really is a sort of indescribably magic to learning together in this sort of environment, and I feel really grateful to have lived that with everyone this May. THANK YOU to each of you who were a part of this community this year. Thank you for taking a risk in being a part of this experiment, thank you for being vulnerable while you were here, and for fully immersing yourselves in our SotA community! A few newsy items for you...

We have a new Board Member!

We wanted to keep you all in the loop, and to be transparent about the working structures of the school. As you may know, we have a 5 person Board of Directors, and last year we had a student member as a rotating member of the board, the unspeakably great Luan Joy Sherman. It was a total delight working with him, and having him as such an integral part of our community this year. We've now filled that position with an incredibly passionate, energetic, and tirelessly hardworking community member, Nelle Dunlap! Nelle and her uniquely brilliant mind were a big part of making 2017 happen, and we are beyond thrilled to have her on board!

We have a new Acting Director!

Another pretty major shift that we've made is that I (Heidi Gruner) will now serve as the Acting Director of SotA. I've been involved with this project since the first planning sessions, and have served on the board since December of 2015. I have worked as an organizer, a curator and gallery director, and a graphic designer, and am endlessly passionate about this school, and the experience both during and between sessions. I am so so thrilled to take this on and to continue helping our community evolve into an experience that is impactful and transformative. My hope this year at school was to be an effective but invisible facilitator, and an active and engaged participant. It felt really exciting to struggle with and begin to become comfortable with that balance in my own way, and I hope to keep serving this community in a way that makes the experience even richer for everyone involved.

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Right now we're working to form working groups for the time between sessions, to further expand the community of people making SotA happen, and to continue to expand the scope of what we can do! Please do reach out if you want to be involved in any way, big or small!

Sending love from the mountains,

Heidi