Tending The Threshold is an event happening in Ashland, Oregon, on May 26 and 27th, 2018. Tickets can information can be found at tendingthethreshold.com
It is a gathering of Change-makers, Bridge builders and Edge Dwellers, with no agenda other than to practice being together, and to learn how to take care of each other and the world, in these challenging times.
The container at this un-conference will be held by a group of ten co-facilitators from three countries and many walks of life. The group includes:
Poet and spoken word artist, Tannur Ali
Conflict Engagement and Resolution practitioner, Aftab Erfan
Equity and Inclusion Consultant, Desiree Adaway
Clinical Psychologist and Author, Bayo Akomolafe
Social Entrepreneur, Donnie Maclurcan
Artist and Death Doula, Rachael Rice
Educator, facilitator and Indigenous rights activist, Aaron Ortega
Videographer and artist, Bec Stupak
Therapist, ritualist and conference founder, Holly Truhlar
And myself, Carmen Spagnola.
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Rachael Rice is a full-time artist, musician, writer, educator and death doula. Her work lies at the crossroads of grief, radical togetherness, creative expression, death, learning, and magic. Her background is in critical pedagogy and constructivist theory where she specialized in differentiated instruction and educating for democracy with concentrations in Art and English. She spent over 20 years in the classroom as a certified, licensed public school art teacher, as well as in after-school and out-of-school community-based arts programs that serve primarily at-risk youth, folks with disabilities and low-income communities. She also worked in the social enterprise non-profit startup world implementing systems to support communities our current systems have failed.
Bec Stupak is an artist, musician and videographer who's work is based on visioning, magic, ritual and ecstatic play. Her focus has been on depicting liminal spaces and transporting the viewer into the non-ordinary through the experience of her work. She was a Deitch Projects artist, exhibited at the Whitney Biennial and has been a primary member of the Joshua Light Show. Most recently she has been exploring expressions of gratitude and the experience of ceremony through a series of drawings that are transformed into wearable prayers.