Welcome to October 2006!

Two global Pioneers of Change programmes have taken place in the past months. One is the Arts for Social Change Learning Journey, which is the In Focus topic of this newsletter. The other is Summer School 2006, the general Pioneers of Change gathering. In beautiful Nova Scotia, Canada, Pioneers from Europe, North America and South America gathered for a week. One of the participants, Greg Judelman from Canada, shared his reflection by making a list of "20 Lessons learned at Pioneers of Change Summer School 2006" of which we share five with you to give you an impression:

Play guitar for others, have others play guitar for me. Cook for others, have others cook for me. Music, food, and shared experience are nourishment for the body and soul. What we usually lack is authenticity. Conversations that are authentic, sincere, playful, open, vulnerable, and direct lead to transformed individuals and enlivened communities. Let processes go, even if you don't know the outcome. Creativity, spontaneity and a sense of adventure can lead to outcomes that far exceed expectations. Talk when it's my time to talk, but listen most of the time. It takes a hell of a lot of courage to take the path less travelled. But there's inspiring people out there who are actually doing it, and they're doing great. For the on-line community we have uploaded some interesting videos to the website. At http://pioneersofchange.net/library/videos/ you can now download five interviews where different Pioneers are talking about what the Pioneers of Change principles mean to them. A great resource to explore and share what the network is about!

Finally we would like to say good bye to all of you as the Cultivation Team. Our one year term will end this month and we are opening up the space for new Pioneers to step into the new Cultivation Team. We are looking back on a wonderful year, full of growth, connections and contributions to the network. We are looking forward to handing over our learnings and experiences in order for the new team members to have an equally amazing experience by serving the network as best as they can.

It has been a pleasure,

Danielle, Felix, Femke, Moraan, Pablo, Sean and Sera

Si deseas recibir el boletín en español suscribete con Roger Granada a este correo e: roger@pioneersofchange.net ¡Gracias!

In Focus: Arts for Social Change

A group of 20 pioneers gathered in Johannesburg September 22-October 1 for the third Arts for Social Change learning journey. Through the encounter with the wild and creative city of "Jozi" and our encounter with each other, we explored how the arts can be applied to create social transformation. We visited six different South African arts organisations, working with drumming, theatre, storytelling, waste creations, visual arts, music, and dance. We had dinner around the fire with South Africa's legendary jazz musician Hugh Masekela, and toured the Constitutional Court with Justice Albie Sachs who was instrumental in integrating arts to create a rich symbolism of this inspiring building. We hosted an "Arts Day" with 70 participants mostly from South Africa - a bonanza of sharing different techniques and approaches to arts and social change. We jammed, created, talked, sensed, experienced, played, and learned together.

"I felt the fire of courage was lit in my heart again. I hope I can continue this learning spirit within me and inspire other people to see and utilize the arts more for social transformation." - Adisorn Juntrasook, LJ participant, Thailand

"I am touring a place where the transformation of the soul is happening. Where it is alive. It is not a thing to watch. The project that we were visiting was called SKY. There was a show. We all shared in a show, a sharing of what is happening there. There are some magnificent artists, and storytellers, drummers, dancers. Whew. My spirit soared." - Nadia Chaney, LJ participant, Canada

Read more at Nadia's blog http://www.beatboard.org/members/nadia_chaney/nadiasblog.html

and at the Pioneers of Change website http://pioneersofchange.net/communities/arts

For more information, contact Nicole Antonie nicoleantonie@tiscali.co.za

Events

How to thrive in an uncertain environment
The Hub, London
4 November 2006

This is a scenario planning workshop that aims to give some introductory insights into the scenario planning methodology/process. You should attend if: 1) you are curious about scenario planning and organisational learning; 2) you want to know more about the art of developing a long term view; 3) you are keen to learn how to recognise risks and opportunities in an uncertain environment; and 4) you are prepared to be highly interactive and open to different and sometimes challenging views. For more information about the event, see http://pioneersofchange.net/localnetworks/london

Workshop Meaningful Questions and Visual Tools
London
29 November 2006

Ole and Carsten, Pioneers from Denmark are inviting you to a workshop, where participants collectively explore and investigate how meaningful questions and visual tools can be used to meet the leadership challenges.

Place: London, further info via email. Time: November 29th - all day Price: tbd.

The main questions being explored are:

How can visual dialog and questions be used as a tool for leading change in organisations? How can using visuals and questions as tools for leading change increase continuous engagement and dialog within the organization? How do I start now? These questions are based on the hypothesis that images and questions are strong carriers of essential knowledge and messages and thereby able to improve internal communication. The new challenges, however, also require a shift in leadership style, moving from communicating answers and complete images, to raising important questions and sharing incomplete images in order to engage the organization in a process of co-creation and ownership.

By creating visual sketches and frameworks for facilitating a process, which involve everybody in shaping the next steps of changing the organization, visuals and questions can help leaders also in making a shift in their leadership style. Thus the process offered will not only assist leaders in developing an individual framework with relevant questions for their organization, but it will also increase the facilitation capacity of the individual leaders owning the change process.

Send an email to: carsten@pioneersofchange.net if you are interested

Summer Open University: School of Warriors Without Weapons
Santos, Brazil
5 January to 5 February 2007

In the beginning of 2007 – from January 5th to February 5th, there will be a third session of the School of Warriors Without Weapons (Universidade Aberta do Verao: Escola de Guerreiros sem Armas) in Santos, Brazil (on the coast near São Paulo).

The School of Warriors Without Weapons is a 30 days program that gathers youth from around the world to awaken their social entrepreneurship. The program’s goal is for participants to return to their homeland with inspiration and tools to take action to restore their social, cultural and environmental realities. The program emphasizes cooperative, rather than individual, effort and transformation.

The application form (the game The Way of the Warriors) should be returned to the organizing team by the 15th of October, 2006. Learning how to change the world! ... Together! You can register now to participate. Find more information at: http://www.institutoelosbr.org.br/uav/ua2007e.htm or at: www.institutoelosbr.org.br

Invitations & Announcements

Escape Guide Are you unhappy and disillusioned with your job, but not quite sure how to get out of this situation? Satu Kreula has recently put together a free ebook called the Escape Guide. She now worked with over a 100 clients on these issues, and has put together 7 steps that she has found useful for somebody wanting to begin their escape into more meaningful work. You can get a free copy at www.escape-club.org – or read through previous issues of Satu’s monthly e-newsletter: Escape Stories.

Leadership in Sustainability-Pioneers of Change in Ecuador Dania Quirola (PoC, Ecuador) and Naia Oliveira (Fundacion GAIA, Brasil) co-hosted three workshops with around 90 participants in the capital city Quito, the entrance to the Amazon Basin in Rio Verde and Puerto Baquerizo Morento in the Galapagos Islands. The topics included "Women and leadership: Awakening our potencial", "Ecovillages as a feasible alternative for a sustainable living"; "Women, Culture and Nature". As a result new learning circles have been formed and partners will support the follow-up of activities, including Brahma Kumaris in Quito, grass-roots groups in Rio Verde, and the Ministry of Social Welfare in Galapagos." For more information, please contact: dania.quirola@gmail.com

Activating the Sustainability Dialogue Susana Muhamad invites you into an active on-line dialogue on the sustainability network (to join email sustain-join@lists.pioneersofchange.net)

"I am very interested to know more about the sustainability work of different PoC members around the world and find synergies and possibilities of cooperation. I currently work for Shell as sustainable development consultant and the most important initiative I am working on, is the development of sustainable settlements for Shell capital projects. I am learning and working on the technical issues: such as integrated eco-design, green buildings, sustainable energy systems, sewage systems, water conservation and social aspects of sustainable settlements. In PoC I participate in the Amsterdam and The Hague Personal Sustainability networks. I will be interested to know more about Pioneers work on sustainable living in different parts of the world."

"I am suggesting we introduce ourselves and plan a sharing agenda during 2006. "Sharing agenda" means to explore together different sustainability themes and make connections among us based on our work."

For more information email Susana Muhamad susanamuhamad880@hotmail.com

Financial Matters

Pioneers of Change is an independent network that believes it is critical to retain a free and unbiased position. We also believe that financial barriers should not be a constraint to learning and engaging. As such we work hard at ensuring that our learning is available to as wide and diverse an audience as possible.

We invite you to make a donation to support us in our work. We encourage you to think of this donation as an investment into learning that has the potential of enriching all of our lives. If you have any ideas of individuals or organizations that might like to support us, let us know, sera@pioneersofchange.net

SMALL PRINT

What is Pioneers of Change?

Pioneers of Change is a global learning network supporting practitioners in their mid-20s to mid-30. Founded in 1999, by a group of people from 16 countries and now includes participants from around the world.

Pioneers are people who questions underlying assumptions and move into new territory in order to create the change we want to see in the world. We include social entrepreneurs, member of the business, government and non-profit communities, as well as artists, teachers, and free agents from a variety of cultural and social backgrounds.

When you join Pioneers of Change you explicitly commit to the following principles: Be yourself Do what Matters Start now Engage with others Never stop asking questions

For more information on Pioneers of Change, see http://www.pioneersofchange.net

To have something included in an upcoming Newsletter contact femke@pioneersofchange.net

------------------------------------------------------ Si deseas recibir el boletín en español suscribete con Roger Granada a este correo e: roger@pioneersofchange.net ¡Gracias!

If you would like to help translate this newsletter into your own language and make it available to others, please email femke@pioneersofchange.net

Thank you!

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