Campfire-Turning Challenges into Development via Place-Based Inquiry

„The best way to know another is to understand your experience.” – Stephen L. H. Murphy-Shigematsu

Addressed to yet not exclusively to coaches, organisational and learning specialists, instructional designers, multicultural projects coordinators, wellbeing experts and supporting women leadership.

Context

The Campfire Program offers an opportunity for acquiring Artful Communicators’ toolkit:
connect to oneself (self-actualisation),others and place.

Participants will engage in embodied action and experience-based processes. Will focus on Marginal Spaces as a source of innovation and bioregionalism wisdom.

We will concentrate on exploring ‘Marginal (liminal) Spaces’ as a key medium for fostering effective communication with our bioregionalism . This involves understanding how the areas between established frameworks, cultures, or ideas can facilitate imagination, expression and dialogue, ultimately a set of practices that honor and sustain relationships with place, others, and ourselves, as up-to-date leadership.

Place Based Inquiry Experience

Throughout this program, emphasis will be placed on developing self-leadership competencies, which are essential for navigating the complex problems of the 21st century ecosystems organisations. By utilizing self-leadership tools (Agency), participants will cultivate the ability to think critically and make informed decisions all the time.

Additionally, these tools foster WEQ, or “collective intelligence,” enabling individuals to collaborate effectively and make sense of challenges alongside others. This approach empowers participants to take on their roles as global actors while performing local actions.

The Campfire Program ultimately aims to equip professionals with the skills necessary to thrive in a rapidly changing world through collaborative and experiential learning. Through own experience have an accesible toolkit for transformational self in finding solutions to the challenges in our community of organisations (Robert Kegan, Harvard University).

Hannon;

At the end of the course...

Participants will be able to engage via multiple perspectives moving organisations through levels of attention and listening to where people and organisations matter; stewardship as artful communication of connecting to oneself, others and place; integrative leadership as time of “lonely geniuses is over”; embodied practices for intangible knowledge; tapping into critical creativity with paradoxes game.

Campfire provides a structure for new actions moving through paradoxical problems and engaging the community in collaboration and critical creativity.

“Awareness invites fresh possibilities for co-creating a healthy, sane and compassionate future.”

Arawana Hayashi, MIT Presencing Institute

Logistics & Place Based learning

The course is organized in a Art &Wellbeing hotel in center of Helsinki, Finland. We will be steps away from Mental Health Museum and Park by the sea. This program is a residential program, once you registered as participant, proceed to make your reservation at the hotel. The place hosting us was founded by one of the oldest women’s organizations in Finland. Built in the late 1920’s, offered safe place for women to live or visit. The program is offered during Helsinki Biennali 2025, and the theme is “Shelter”.

Accommodation: Participants of this residential program will stay in the hotel of the venue, Helka Hotel. Rooms have to be booked and paid at the hotel. Click here for reservation. Location: Pohjoinen Rautatiekatu 23, 00100 Helsinki, Finland

Rates: Smart twin/double room & meeting package 156€/person/night; Smart single room & meeting package 210€/person/night (price include breakfast, wellbeing breaks snacks and lunch). Program: 11th August, ideally till lunch time, late lunch is available till 3 pm and will start the program 11th August 4 pm for a check-in process till 6 pm.

12th-14th August 9 am to 5.30 pm

15th August 9 am to 14.00, will finish with lunch.

Departure on 15th after lunch time.

The place-based approach aims to create a contextual experience that empowers participants to develop a deep understanding and act with stewardship (Mary Tucker, Yale University) for their organisations ecosystems and community.

Previous edition: 24-26th March 2025 (Oddience2030 cohort).

“Everyday practices and tools to be back in touch with what matters. Being back in touch allows us to be present and engage with what is in front of us.”

(on Social Arts for Ecological Leadership, PhD Carol Williams)

Team

Andreea Gatman – ICF Certified Coach, U Lab (MIT) practitioner systemic thinking and social arts, Humphrey Alumna Vanderbilt University “Thriving Communities” with PA at Wond’ry Center for Innovation on Climate and Systemic Thinking, MBA in PGM Modul University Vienna, MES Graz University and BA in Political Science (Bologna University). Coordinated the GOGreenGOExtinct Social Arts part of Helsinki Design Week.

Sofia Sfakianopoulou–People and Organizational Development Specialist, with a BA in English Language & Literature from the University of Athens and MSc in Human Resources Management from Heriot-Watt University. An InnerMBA alumna and certified Immunity to Change consultant, U Lab and Awareness Leadership (MIT) practitioner. Member of the IDGs Hub in Athens. Sofia brings over 20 years of progressive experience across diverse business sectors, dedicating her career to fostering sustainable, people-centered change within institutions and organizations. Her work emphasizes placing people at the heart of transformational change, supporting lasting organizational impact and growth

Alexandra Sargent (TBA hybrid presence) has been on the Vanderbilt University Theatre faculty since 2001. Currently, she is the director of Vanderbilt’s Wond’ry Center for Innovation Fiber Arts Build (FAB) Lab , serving the Vanderbilt and Nashville community through sewing and design prototyping and programming that allows people with all skill levels to develop their creative ideas. Alex holds a B.A. in Theatre from Middlebury College, and an MFA in Costume Design from Northwestern University. Alex has designed the Social Arts Textile concept with the GoGREENGOExtinct part of Helsinki Design Week.

All our experiences influence our work and we try to adapt it just like our prototype. Every time I work on my prototype I find that there is always place for improvement, it seems like it is never completely finished.

"Learning is becoming"; to allow myself to let it go and to take time to breack. I plan to take breaks during the school year to do something other than academic contents, in order to be more aware at what is really happening in the climate in class.. Il est rare que l'on ait l'opportunité de prendre du recul sur notre pratique pour la faire évoluer. Ce travail m'a permis de me souvenir de ce qui est vraiment important dans ce métier, et que l'on oublie parfois. Le travail en cercle de coaching m'a beaucoup apporté ainsi que la découverte de nouveaux outils (3 voix par exemples)

J'ai trouvé le travail extrêmement enrichissant. J'ai aimé le world café. J'ai eu le sentiment de faire réellement avancer ma pensée grâce aux retours de chacun. J'ai aimé l'exercice des pailles qui a mis en lumière la difficulté du travail d'équipe. Par contre, une fois le travail collaboratif réalisé, c'est tellement satisfaisant de voir le résultat !