Program Details: Redefining Wealth

• Learn permaculture basics
  
• Foraging, nose-to-tail butchery, and felting workshops
• Learn about land management practices in the world's largest unfiltered watershed
• Dig into the complexities of rural economic development

Eco Practicum Catskills is an eye-opening educational experience for current college students and recent graduates passionate about ecology, economy, and justice. Redefining Wealth takes place on a rustic 125 acre campus two hours from New York City in a region that is home to the world’s largest unfiltered drinking water system, an abundance of land suited for agriculture, one of the newest casinos in New York State, as well as some of its most impoverished towns.

Our 2018 practicum will focus on some of the most pressing issues facing rural areas today: How do we create wealth without engaging in violence or extraction? What role does local agriculture play in a regional economy when it is overshadowed by the global food system? What are the systems that keep people poor? Part think-tank, part action-workshop, participants live on an environmental education facility in the heart of the Catskills and get the opportunity to farm, learn from peers, and meet with the foremost experts in the field.

PROGRAM DATES
June 10-16, 2018

LOCATION
Liberty, New York
Two hours north of New York City

APPLICATION DEADLINE
Extended to May 11, 2018!

TUITION
$895 if applied by May 11*
*Tuition covers all food, lodging, and program

SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION DEADLINE
Need-based scholarship applications due May 11
Need based scholarships are offered in addition to (on top of) the $605 scholarship available to all participants.

Apply Now

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Download our detailed itinerary here (.pdf) or click through the information below.

What to Expect: Schedule and Partners

What to Expect: Schedule and Partners

Download the full itinerary here (.pdf)

SUNDAY: Settling In and Reading the Landscape

• Arrive on site, settle in, and get to know each other
• Food foraging workshops and edible hike with Nathaniel Whitmore

MONDAY: Permaculture as Farm and Framework

• Spend the day working at Root N’Roost biodynamic farm, learning about their systems of food production, water management, and energy production.

TUESDAY: Water Water Everywhere

• Go boating on the Ashokan Reservoir with Catskill Watershed Corporation and learn about the New York City watershed, which makes up the largest unfiltered drinking water system on Earth
• Tour the Boiceville Wastewater Treatment Plant and learn about the technologies behind water management
  
  

WEDNESDAY: Development vs. Self-Gentrification

• Walk along two different Main Streets with the Sullivan County Department of Planning and Environmental Management and consider two very different paths for growing economic opportunity in depressed rural towns.
• Meet with staff from Catskills Mountainkeeper and learn about the grassroots efforts that defeated the fossil fuel industry and got fracking banned in New York State.  

THURSDAY: Pets, Pests, Livestock

• Witness a lamb slaughter at Snowdance Farm with owner Marc Jaffe, President of Cornell Cooperative Extension, Sullivan County.
• Nose-to-tail lamb butchering workshop and lamb barbecue with special guests
• Create own felted wool masterpiece with Woodland Weavers and Spinners Guild
• Pick up some raw milk directly from the Dirie family at one of the few remaining dairy farms in the county.

FRIDAY: The Art of Reflection

• Work on personal and collaborative creative projects to process what we’ve learned together.  
• Share your passions and expertise by running and participating in peer-led mini-workshops

SATURDAY: Evaluations and Farewells

• Provide feedback and let us know what resonated and how we can improve.  

*Please remember that with so many moving parts, the schedule may change in the days leading up to the program. We do ensure great alternates for all trips and partner visits if the need arises.

Methods

Methods

Meeting Experts
Every day, participants take a field trip to meet with an expert in the field, representing one of the partner organizations. Participants tour facilities, meet with staff members, and learn about how these organizations function on the ground. These encounters often include a hands-on component and always include a candid conversation with the speaker about the work that they do, relating to both their achievements and challenges.

Farming & Land Stewardship
Participants work on an on-site organic farm, an urban-style farm, and a forest garden. They learn techniques in permaculture, composting, and animal husbandry. In addition to farming, participants manage the water flows, rain catchment systems, and waste outputs, gaining holistic ecosystem and natural resource management experience.

Democratic Education
Through text studies, videos, discussions, and peer-led activities, participants share their knowledge, learn from one another, and analyze the dynamics of the Catskills bioregion. The place-based learner centered educational approach honors the different ways that people learn. Democratic pedagogy ensures a horizontal structure in which students and educators alike express their thoughts, feelings, and ideas.

Facilitators

Facilitators

Eugenia Manwelyan is an artist, ecologist, and educator. She is the co-founder of Eco Practicum, and a visiting professor at Columbia University. Eugenia holds a BA in International Development from McGill University and her MS in Urban Planning from Columbia University.  She has worked on environmental planning projects in India, Vietnam and Jordan, as well as a peace building arts project in Israel and Palestine. With a passion for democratic education and civic engagement, Eugenia is committed to taking part in the effort to reorient humanity toward sane and respectful coexistence with one another and the environment.

Tal Beery is a New York-based artist and educator. He is co-founder of Eco Practicum and founding faculty at School of Apocalypse, examining the connections between creative practice and notions of survival. Beery is a core member of Occupy Museums, a collective fighting economic & social injustices propagated by arts institutions. His curatorial research considers the relationships between art and epochal change. Beery’s works have been exhibited in museums and galleries in the US and Europe, including the 2012 Berlin Biennale, Brooklyn Museum, and the 2017 Whitney Biennial.

Tuition

Tuition

Program tuition is $1500, but we are able to offer a generous $605 scholarship to all who apply before our May 11 application deadline. That means participants pay only $895! Tuition includes housing, food, and transportation for the duration of the program. Fellowships and need-based scholarships that provide additional tuition reductions are available for select participants who apply. Contact us for details.

Scholarships and Aid

Eco Practicum strives for diversity among the program participants, and works to make the program accessible to everyone. We recognize that not everyone is able to cover program costs, so we offer multiple tuition assistance options. Click here for more information.

Eligibility and Application process

Eligibility
You must be over 18 years old before the start of the practicum to be eligible to participate.

Application Process
Apply online now by clicking here. The application deadline is May 1, 2018. Click here for more information about the application process.

Apply Now