Choices at Sessions: Submit a workshop or worship sharing proposal
Are you led to offer a workshop or reflection group at this year's Annual Sessions? Our 90-minute workshops and worship-sharing options provide an opportunity for adult and teen Friends to grow in their faithfulness and make meaningful connections through the facilitated exploration of a specific topic or activity.
While workshops may take many forms, facilitated worship sharing opportunities gather Friends around a shared theme, topic, or experience (e.g. “Parents of younger children,” “Friends called to climate witness”).
The format for these opportunities varies. Some are on-campus at Mt. Holyoke and some will be offered online via Zoom. We do not have the capacity to offer hybrid choices at this time.
We are accepting proposals until June 14th. Please review the criteria below before submitting your proposal.
Criteria for workshops and worship sharing opportunities
We look for opportunities which:
- Support Friends in their pursuit of faithfulness
- Connect Friends more deeply with the Quaker faith and Quaker movement
- Have an impact on daily life after the gathering
- Create spaces that can’t be easily created in local meetings (the opportunity should be something that it makes sense to have with a smattering of Quakers from different meetings engaging in on a single occasion)
- Clarify “who” the opportunity is for
- Are facilitated by people able to connect with and respond to the needs of participants; facilitators should be aware of learning needs (for example: visual learners) and potential group dynamics (for example: different ages or backgrounds of participants)
- Offers participants a way to meaningfully connect with each other
Priority will be given to proposals that:
- Encourage leadership development (for example: are co-led by a newer leader and more experienced facilitator; are a space for building leadership capacity of individuals or meetings)
- Are interactive, experiential, and/or hands-on (not merely presentations with a Q&A)
- Are a rare opportunity or won’t be available at other times
- Help us provide a balance of topics, facilitators, and modes of engagement
- Provide opportunities to explore aspects of the Sessions theme (“Spring Forth O Well, and Make Us Whole,” from Numbers 21:17).
Other notes about selection
Because time and space is limited, we do not accept multi-day/multi-part workshops. All proposals should be for a single 90-minute session (which may organically spill over into informal continued conversations for interested participants). We also will only be offering one opportunity per facilitator in order to give the greatest number of facilitators an opportunity to serve.
Questions? Want feedback on an idea before you submit? Contact Program Director Nia Thomas.