Why hosting? Why now?
“Gathering—the conscious bringing together of people for a reason—shapes the way we think, feel and make sense of our world…. And yet most of us spend very little time thinking about the actual ways in which we gather.” —Priya Parker, The Art of Gathering
As hosts of this project, we’ve experienced what a difference inspired hosting can make. We’ve left some meetings feeling energized, connected and engaged, and others feeling drained, invisible or excluded. After the slowdown and isolation of COVID, it seemed even more obvious that well-hosted spaces are important for our own well-being and the well-being of our communities.
We also saw a rising need. The climate emergency didn’t go away during COVID, and now our earth is approaching dangerous tipping points. The question of “how we thrive” has taken on new meaning. While innovation continues to be important, there is also a critical need for restoration, both social and ecological. As legacies of colonialism are laid bare and the future becomes less certain, we need spaces that nourish and connect, while also holding us as we restore our relationships and maintain our humanity in the face of grief, loss and potential overwhelm.
Even these words can be triggering, given the underlying anxiety many of us already feel. As we write this, a natural sense of care and concern kicks in. We are aware that we aren’t sitting in a room or outdoor space where we could check in with each other and listen for signals about where we are and aren’t ready to go. This is what hosts naturally do.
As we set out on this learning journey, we built on the learning and relationships from How We Thrive gatherings, which over the past few years brought together multiple streams of hosting practice, including those grounded in Indigenous knowledge, social innovation, community development, performing arts, story-based culture, spirituality, embodiment, social justice and psychotherapy.
We realized we wanted to get closer to the core or “nature” of hosting within all these streams. We were also keen to uncover alternatives to some dominant narratives—for example, that hosting is just everyday, peripheral and unimportant. Or at the other extreme, that it is so complex that it should be confined to the domain of trained facilitators. Or even that there is one “right” way to meet and gather, based on the norms of a particular culture—whether defined by whiteness, institutional agendas, or the well-meaning strategies of ourselves as social innovators.
Our goal was to listen, learn, and then share some of what we heard. As we embarked on this journey, we hoped to spotlight the everyday wisdom of some of the hosts in our network, dive into some new research, weave meaning and connections, spark curiosity and insight, and point to some useful resources.
Our wildest dream was that something would grow organically from this project—something that would connect, complexify, and deepen a grassroots hosting movement in our region. We can’t wait to hear your thoughts about what that “something” could be.
In the meantime, we hope you enjoy listening to the conversations and podcast series, and to diving in to some of the resources that have informed and inspired us.
Amanda Bostlund, Mark Coffin, Susan Szpakowski