Facilitation for the Future
Tending to a culture where Power-With powers Us All
Founding Members of Culture Tending Commons and Co-Founders of Tree of Change, Crystal Mason and Jason Wyman, sit down and talk about their upcoming workshop, Facilitation for the Future, happening on Saturday, December 6 from 10am to 2:30pm PT via Zoom. Spots are still available, so sign up today.
CRYSTAL MASON:
One of the reasons we chose Facilitation for the Future as the title is because we believe that that many, if not all, of our institutions are or are beginning to fail us. We believe that we need to dream in this moment because we know we have to be looking towards the future. We want to create a future where we can get together across differences and actually be able to discuss important things that help move our movements and the things we feel are important forward. And we think it’s important that people be able to gather in ways that are not depleting, that are not demoralizing, that don’t make people’s ass hurts. Because we truly believe that solidarity is an important concept, especially in this day and time.
JASON WYMAN:
Facilitation for the Future starts now, not in the future, with finding ways for us to gather that cultivate futures we where We All are cultivating Power-With. In order for us to do that, we need to find, sustain, connect, and grow tactics, strategies, activities, practice and praxis that shift us towards Power-With in the here and now. We need Power-With to become more powerful than Power-Over, which is currently the system of capitalism, oppression, white supremacy, cisheteropatriarchy.
CRYSTAL MASON:
We need to feel like we have the tools that will take us into the future we see and want and dream about. That’s what Facilitation for the Future is about. One of the reasons we came up with this is because we’ve been in different meetings and and finding that the subject matter and what people wanted to do was right on, but that the facilitation left me feeling like I don’t know if I want to return.
We need a lot of people to be able to lead and to feel like they ARE leaders. We need people who have the skills to to guide people in meetings and gatherings in as many ways as possible. At the end of the day, facilitation is a bridge.
JASON WYMAN:
Facilitation for the Future is a radical, visionary praxis space aimed at generating Power-With in the face of our failing institutions and structures that too often are not working for Us All. Our workshop offers practical tips for relating, organizing, and leading that emphasizes collective agency, shared decision-making, and co-creation, rather than domination or control. It focuses on building relationships, collaboration, and mutual support, where everyone is seen as both a teacher and a learner. Power-With values each person’s lived experience and expertise, and seeks to gather Us All so We All can act together, feel ownership, and invest in autonomous collective actions.
