In 2018, after a successful pilot round, Emergence Foundation launched another round of grant-giving. This time seven projects were awarded funding, reflecting a diversity of forums dedicated to effecting social and cultural change. Below is the list of projects that were funded:
Creative Future
Creative Self-Development: Who Am I, Who Could I Be?
Creative Future provides writing and arts workshops for people who face significant barriers due to physical or mental health issues, identity or social circumstance. The grant will fund a programme of enrichment and development for people on society’s margins to use creativity to unlock potential. Working with professional tutors/coaches with extensive experience in a variety of fields such as practicing artists/writers with personal experience of issues beneficiaries face, the programme will empower participants through goal setting, problem solving, raising self-awareness and self-realisation. It aims to create an atmosphere of collective peer support.
Perspectiva: Perspectives on Systems
The Inner Life of Activism: a field inquiry into the relationship between spiritual development and societal change.
“The world abounds with calls for ‘action’ on everything from climate change to loneliness, from mental health to the decline of bees. But action can be deluded and harmful, or wise and helpful. The discernment and intentionality of the actors is often the key variable – qualities arising from embodied values and reflective practices rather than change-the-world righteousness.”
This project is an inquiry into the relationship between reflection, values and action. It seeks to reposition activism as the perennial human challenge to align actions with values; grounding bigger-than-self challenges in spiritual sensibility, going beyond a judgmental reactivity towards wise action at scale. This project will build a community of reflective practices through research, workshops and online outreach.
Well Balanced Kids
Yoga and Mindfulness for Children and Young People
Year 1 of this project will provide at least 100 children and young people aged between 5-21 with 150 sessions of yoga and mindfulness. Activity will be based in five of the most deprived areas of Brighton and Hove (UK). The sessions will teach yoga, mindfulness, meditation and include games that encourage empathy, compassion, responsibility, connection to nature & the interconnectedness/diversity of humankind. Group discussions will explore alternate view-points and encourage independent/critical thinking around consumer culture/social media. Through discovering positive self-image, self-belief, gratitude and care for others, participants will learn they have the resources within themselves to create change and growth in themselves and others
12 Characters in Search of an Apocalypse
A Research Project Based on Cross-cultural Dialogue
This research project has created a travelling performance group to visit towns throughout the UK and Ireland, hosting 3-hour gatherings for groups of mixed ages, beliefs, and backgrounds. Its aim is to provide an antidote to the lack of meaningful conversations within communities about the ever-growing rate of destruction of the Natural World and its affects. These include poor leadership and a growing sense of social alienation and fragmentation. Employing part ‘performance’ and part dialogue, the project uses monologues written by Andrew Boyd as a seed for conversations among the participants. These explore how the unraveling of the web of life that supports all life on Earth affects individuals, their families, and their communities.
Based on the experiences gathered, the project will create a set of materials to enable others to host these conversations in their own communities across the globe.
Kunstkloster Art Research e.V.
In The Fire Of Dancing Stillness – Film & Dialogue Workshops
The first part of this project will create a documentary film for cinema release profiling the teachings and work of Vimala Thakar, a 20th century philosopher and grass-roots social activist. Inspirational and educative, Thakar’s work was informed by a deep spiritual enquiry, and her insights offer holistic solutions relevant to many of the challenges facing us today. The second part the project will be will be in the form of workshops and dialogue circles offered to students and young adults. These will provide an in-depth study of the questions and issues raised by the film. Participants will also acquire skills and knowledge in communication and dialogue. This includes learning how to reflect, think critically and independently, about the deeper questions of life. The aim is to foster a foundation of deep confidence in participants to be able to effectively guide others through a process of dialogue and enquiry across diverse fields
Community Choice and Inclusion
NOSDA (No One Should Die Alone – Welsh word for Good night)
The main aim of this project is to address the emotional support needs of people dying alone with limited or no family friendship networks. The volunteer project will provide one-to-one compassionate support and companionship for people who have been identified as being in the last few weeks and days of life. Working collaboratively with hospice ward staff, district nursing teams, nursing homes, Paul Sartori Hospice at Home Charity and GP practices among others, the Compassionate Friend/Companion Volunteers can ensure those in their last days know they are cared for emotionally, valued, and will not have to face the prospect of dying alone and in isolation.
emerge bewusstseinskultur e.V.
Developing an Emergent Dialogue Network through evolve Magazine Salons
“In this time of polarization, nationalism, and division, evolve Magazine aspires to create a network of 40 reader salons across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland where participants can learn how to engage in dialogue and to integrate diverse points of view”. evolve, a quarterly German-language publication, is a resource for people who are seeking new answers, rooted in fundamental unity, to social and cultural problems. Each issue of the magazine focuses on a different topic (e.g. cultural healing, the soul of Europe, love and intimacy, new spiritual/sacred activism) and these can be explored in reader salons offered by volunteer hosts. The project will support the development of new salons and train salon hosts to lead an open process of dialogue. Through participants, the aim is to build a momentum of enquiry and skills in dialogue across this network.
