These are peculiar and uncertain times. Dire situations are growing all around us, even as we find corners of undeniable progress. Personal and public aspects of our lives are so intertwined that a problem from one domain can suddenly pop up in another–wearing a confusing disguise. Other problems are plainly visible, but an idea of what to do about them seems out of reach. What to do?

Clowning creates flux in a situation, and opens a space where we can make change. Caring calls on us to attend to problems systemically, aim for long-term solutions that take everyone into account, and insist on humanism. Clowning unravels power imbalances through love, and reimagines the dialectic of strength and vulnerability. Caring apprentices us to each other as listeners and respondents, calling forth our uniqueness in service of systemic change. As clowns wanting social justice, we look to the arts to suggest fresh ways of thinking, and a spirit of experiment. We look to design to formulate social problems as unmet desires, so that we can work mindfully on solutions. Taking these notions to heart, this June the School for Designing a Society offers a three-week intensive in Clowning and Caring the world we want into being.

The three week session draws on insights and practices from experimental composition, epic theater, poetry, dance, 2- and 3- dimensional art, story-telling, critical theory, systems theory, and cybernetics. Situated in the beautiful natural and built environment of the Gesundheit Institute, the intensive combines seminar, group work, and assignments, with walks, clown trips, and other opportunities for engaging with the local environment. Gesundheit’s project-in-progress to build a unique model of holistic health care will serve as an inspiration for us to coax each other to dream big–in our personal lives, in our community involvements, in our contributions to global peace and justice.

Pedagogical Methodology

This three week course teaches social change through a methodology of braided formats: lecture, experiential, and project-based. Lectures explore the intersection of humanism and social change through theoretical underpinnings, analytical tools, and current and historical examples. Experiential learning calls for experiment, self-reflection, and response. Group projects require that students learn from and teach each other. Attention and feedback will be given to projects planned for students’ return to their home communities.

Themes

Desire and Design

• Consulting our hearts and imaginations, what the world we dream of look like?
• How can silliness and systems theory help us confront issues of scale and autonomy?
• Intervene in an existing system, or build an alternative? How do we choose?

Strength and Vulnerability

• How can we make humanizing our work dangerous to ableist, racist, patriarchal, imperialist capitalism?
• How to bring our human strength to bear on vulnerabilities in the systems we oppose?
• How do we decrease differences in power? How does vulnerability increase alternatives?

Performance, Listening, and Response

• How can we telegraph our intensions though our Performance in Everyday Life?
• How can we amplify the role of listening? What does virtuosic listening involve?
• How do we respond so that we protect variety and potential and avoid dismissal?