Taking a four-point approach of Lifestyle | Design | Stewardship | Outreach, with workshop-based education to re-skill communities. The Lifestyle branch of classes will cover food preservation techniques, cheese making, sheering sheep and spinning yarn, and other community resiliency skills. Design will offer studios on design/build education, design for builders, and natural building. Stewardship will have a curriculum focus on holistic gardening, food, and permaculture. The outreach branch of the program will utilize instructional projects to give back to the local community.
In the first one to three years of the program, Transition will operate independently releasing a seasonal calendar of classes that are open to the public. The three to five year plan for growth seeks to expand and link with existing educational institutions to offer "for credit" courses, and a rural satellite campus to host students looking for an alternative to the traditional classroom learning experience.
"Think of it as Rural Studio, meets Black Mountain College, fused with the skills our country existed on only a few generations ago," says Kim Moody, the founding director. "There is a likely chance that in the next decade it will no longer be feasible for a tomato to travel 1,500 miles to get to our dinner plates. Gasoline and other resources may no longer be a "cheap" commodity, so Transition Studio is about re-educating ourselves how to take care of families and communities."
The educational institution will begin with it's first community event this summer, and it's first workshops this fall. In the meantime, follow their blog, become a fan on facebook, check the website, and by all means connect with them, they are all about community!
