Wosonos 2012 first open space

Tue Nov 23 02:34:59 PST 2010

Hi Phelim

I said in the closing circle in London a few weeks ago that it would be
great to include the Bristol area in preparing for WOSONOS 2012. There's
lots of OS activity going on here at the moment - I've posted before about
the community project ' A Better Bristol For All' (4 OS events already
happened with new connections being made and actions emerging). In February
up to 1200 people will gather to have conversations around the theme of the
courageous changes needed to forge a fairer future.

So, in response to your call, there's an offer from here to work with
Improbable to host opening space in Bristol to take forward the planning for
2012. I remember you saying that you're working in Bristol in April next
year so perhaps this could combine in some way?

Best wishes

Liz

Liz Martins
01225 858406 or 07977932066
lizmartins2 at gmail.com

*A BETTER BRISTOL FOR ALL - BRISTOL OPEN SPACE PROJECT*
*European Year for Combating Poverty & Social Exclusion*
Sponsored by: The Lottery Fund, Bristol City Council, Bristol Legacy
Commission and The Pierian Centre.
*Project Managers: Vivian Broughton & Liz Martins*
Lead Partner: The Pierian Centre

On Sun, Nov 21, 2010 at 3:43 PM, Phelim <phelim at mac.com> wrote:

> Dear OS listers,
>
> As Jon Harvey has already reported on the os list, two weekends ago the
> first open space was held for our Wosonos 2012 event. The Improbable office
> booked the space for us and I opened the space. It was a great turn out
> considering we had limited time to drum up support and interest. Thank you
> for helping make that happen. There was a lot of enthusiasm and lots of
>  sessions called and of course the beginnings of the rumblings from the
> field that come up when one takes the initiative on starting an event like
> this. I got to meet some faces for the first time and also met some people I
> didn't know I knew.
>
>
> So here's my feedback on the whole event. On Sat/Sun we had a day and a
> half in open space.
> After the event there are a number of things that are "up" for me. One is
> Improbable's heart responsibility towards creating an event like this and
> ultimately what the nature of their involvement is. Improbable took the
> initiative on making this invitation happen at the 2010 Wosonos, thanks to
> Matilda with support from Jon and Romy, and it was as such that it was
> accepted in Berlin. With this we have been handed an ineffable something, we
> have been entrusted with it and we have responsibilities towards it. It is
>  like a gentle flame (a metaphor which came up a lot over the weekend) and
> We feel a onus to look after this and make sure it doesn't go out. We must
> honour its journey from Berlin and its previous historic invocations it will
> be coming to us via Chile and end up in the UK. So we are Honouring the past
> whilst looking towards creating a new space for it to burn brightly in the
> future. So at present we are cupping it in our hands trying to shield it
> from our autumn win!
>  ds here.  At the same time we mustn't hold it too tightly so that the
> flame gets smothered and loses it's oxygen and spirit.  So can we balance
> the fact that we made the invitation and are the trustees of this accepted
> invitation without controlling it too much?
>
> All these challenges seem like a perfect opportunity to use what OS is
> designed for. As a company (theatre not business although it of course is
> both) some of the benefits we have are  of being a very small organisation
> who has in the past facilitated some very big events so we have some
> experience here. We also have a pool of people in our own open space
> community (mostly but not wholly from  the artistic world) who have a
> passion for and interest in open space and it's divergent possibilities and
> uses.
>
> My personal interest is in finding out if we can use open space itself to
> unfold an emergent organisation/community/team who will help make all this
> happen. Can we learn how an organisation might create itself out of open
> space principles? At the crux of the process we hope to use this opportunity
> to hold a space where open space practitioners feel welcomed, where we are
> welcoming amongst ourselves and consequently in a good place to turn
> outwards to the world to invite people to the UK. We are creating a
> community that welcomes a wider worldwide community.
>
> In this first OS we did the minimum of  "organisation" hoping that the
> people who turn up will take responsibility for doing/changing things they
> want to make happen.
>
> So the tension we find ourselves holding in is looking after the trust that
> has been placed in us to host this event with the desire to not "control" or
> dictate how it happens. This is also important to us as we genuinely cannot
> do this alone and need the support of others in order to manifest this
> event.
> At the moment we are still negotiating the fact that some people are
> turning up and ask: "How are you going to be doing this?" Well ultimately it
> will of course be how are we going to do this?
>
>
> The idea for what the event should be included some of these criteria:
>
> It should be: An exciting party; Open to all; Have many by-products that
> are beneficial to the UK open space community & worldwide communities; Help
> build and coalesce the latent UK community which is "out there";  Ensure all
> the people who want to be a part of it are given the opportunity to do so.
> Welcoming people from the wider world to our Open shores. Transparency is an
> essential ingredient for the central host team.
>
>
> I also saw lots of the prime ingredients for the fertile compost open Space
> thrives on. This is a list of the criteria for OS to operate at a high
> performance level.
>
>
> #1: A real business issue:
> Yes we have it. A commitment to make this event happen in 2012 in the UK
> for the UK OS community and the world.
> #2: Voluntary self selection: so our invite has gone out and already a
> group of interested people have shown up. There is a commitment to do a
> number of open spaces which invite the UK OS community to take part. This
> has been flagged as hopefully not just being London centric so our reach has
> to go further but I imagine those who can and are interested in working with
> us will come to the next open spaces or stay in touch with us. We are aiming
> to do open spaces outside London to pick up other memebers of the community
> and widen the net. This continued activity of opening space in different
> spaces will unfold its own self selection process. Anyone who is interested
> in other parts of the UK who wants to host an invite in your area of the UK
> please let us know!
>
> #3: High levels of complexity: Already the challenges we face are I feel
> beyond the ability of one single "old style" directive organisation of
> encompassing or holding. The challenges we face in looking after the UK and
> world communities their demands,dreams and hopes for the event are
> incredibly complex.
>
> #4:High levels of diversity:
> This is an interesting one. I actually feel there was a good level of
> practitioner diversity at the event but feel the call to do further events
> really wants to engage with this. Ambassadors will be essential in
> fulfilling this criteria on all the potential colours and possibilities.
>
> #5:Presence of passion and conflict: Yes present and correct I feel: in the
> feedback on how we did the event, gossip and certainly present in some of
> the sessions and interactions I had. Hurrah!
>
> #6:Decision time of yesterday:
> People keep asking us when its going to happen on the OS list and also
> who's doing it so I guess we are already late by some peoples clocks!
>
>
> The reports from the first OS have already gone online as a blog for the
> people who were there to contribute to and comment on.
>
> Overall
> Speaking for Improbable I'd like to say what is important for us is our aim
> to ensure all the people who want to be a part of Wosonos 2012 are given an
> authentic opportunity to do so. At the moment I feel that as a core
> organisation unfolds or emerges we will be part of that or have a strong
> relationship to it. We aim to maintain the links with the world community
> and the world institutes. As this story tells itself Improbable must make a
> decision as to what level of responsibility we take in it. As this happens
> we will make an informed decision as to how central we are to that
> organisation either as a company or as individuals. It is all unfolding.
>
> In terms of actions, what needs to be decided and actioned on is: Where and
> when the next open space to continue creating this team happens? Who hosts
> it? We already have one offer which we need to say yes or no to soon. I'd
> like to know if there are more out there? Either from the people who came to
> the event or others who didn't come. So that would also include all kinds of
> offers from suggesting a good space, a good place in the rest of the country
> to go to or include, offers to host with or without our support etc..
> Etc..All variations considered!  Please put the word out and get in touch
> with us as soon as possible!
>
> Best wishes to you all out there in the world
>
> Phelim x
>
>
>
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> *
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