Today I changed the background picture on my facebook profile. Great, big deal! In fact, why do I even mention this, and out of all places here on Hive? Normally I don't even care about fb! Only in random moments of boredom do I succumb to a bit of scrolling, usually to kill time when waiting for something. In fact, I haven't even changed my background image since the first time I posted one, a scenic shot I took on the Routeburn Track in New Zealand, back in 2010. So in case you were wondering what it used to look like, here it is. But if you want to know about the structure in my current background image, you can find all the details of its construction in the links at the end of this post.
Back to the WHY
So if I don't care about legacy social media, why do I still bother with fb? And what was wrong with this beautiful background pic? The answer is a campaign I am organizing with my friends from Mazunte, in order to raise funds for the next step of the natural building (and theater!) project, I have been documenting from almost the beginning. Admittedly all on Hive, and almost nowhere else, but now it seems like I have to go back to the mainstream. After all, we need to dig in our heels, and mobilize all of our social networks to get this campaign going. And since this is the first time either of us is engaging in a crowdfunding effort, we are trying to do all we can to be on top of things, way before the actual campaign starts. If you are not familiar with this project, feel free to browse through the numerous links at the bottom of this post.
Kickstarting the Kickstarter
We decided to schedule the Kickstarter campaign for November. But in order to maximize our social media exposure, we have planned a pre-campaign: a series of online encounters with a number of people involved in natural building, as well as performing arts projects. - Both areas are what Itínera Theater is all about! This means, over the next month we are hosting a number of live encounters on Zoom, with a different guest each week, introducing their project in an interactive presentation, complete with photos, stories, and an opportunity to ask them questions. If you're interested, check out the event CONFERENCES FOR A BETTER WORLD!
All talks will be bi-lingual, in English and Spanish, with live translations provided. (At first we were thinking about including German, French, and Italian as well, but that would exceed our technical skills.) After eight of these talks, and the subsequent online activity we are hoping for, there should be an even stronger response to our campaign. At least, that's the idea. And yes, I am planing on documenting each step right here on Hive as well, just like you would expect me to. What's less typical, is that I am planning to share everything on fb too! I know, I know, it's mainstream and centralized, but it's there, and one should make use of it for something decent, right?
Schedule of Topics and Presenters
The first four encounters are mostly geared towards natural building, though many presenters also include Permaculture related aspects in their projects. The second set are mainly theater themed projects. Our first guests will be my friends from Canada, Tony and Susan Doig from the Doighouse project, whom I had worked together with during two Summers already, in 2016 and 2018. They are a retired couple living on Vancouver Island in Canada, and they are setting up a learning center for sustainable practices, including an Earthship inspired building, and a heavily community oriented Permaculture garden. I'm not including any links here at this point, because I want to introduce them in an individual post, just like all other participants. Though admittedly, I will have to publish their intro post soon, since the encounter with them is scheduled for this Sunday (8:30 a.m. Pacific Standard Time / 5:30 p.m. Central European Time).
The following presenters will be on Oct. 10th from a project called Eco-Circus in Colombia, then natural building architect Moein Nodehi will be our guest on Oct. 17th, and a week later on Oct. 24th Itínera Theater is going to give details on our own construction project. Following this, on Oct. 31st Cinzia Ciriamicoli from Colombia is going to talk about her puppeteering. Then on Nov. 7th the Berlin based Merlin Puppet Theater will introduce itself. Finally, on Nov. 14th Itínera is going to host Norwegian performing artist Else Marie Laukvik from the Odin Teatret in Denmark.
I really hope some of these events have sparked your interest. You can see the detailed schedule on the event page. Changes are always possible, so keep checking back to make sure you won't miss out on your favorite encounters. Ideally, we hope that all of these talks will be full of exciting information for a wide range of our followers. Of course there will be a separate announcement for each encounter, after all, we want to maximize exposure. So if you feel like lending a hand, please spread the word on our encounters, and later on about the campaign. We appreciate any help we can get, and sharing only costs you a second of your time!
Take a Look at my Previous Posts on this Exciting Construction Project:
2020:
Creating Conditions to Work and Live
The Challenge of Scoring Tires
Working at Night for the Perfect Level
Bending Rebar Like a Mexican
An Impression of Hyper-adobe in La Boquilla
Waiting for the Man
The Diverse Cars at Itínera
Hay Pase, Got the Permit!
The Ceremony of a Minka
Zome Building Workshop in Mazunte
Machines Taking Over Work: The Day Everything Changed
Earthship Build in the Time of Hive and Coronavirus
Concrete Plans and Concrete Actions
Starting The Long Finish
The Circle is Complete, We're Pouring Tomorrow
Pouring the Bond Beam
Visual Concrete Pour by @redhawkrising
Talking About Logs
Moving Logs Around in Practice
Mission Accomplished!
A View From a Bird’s Eye
Epilogue
2021:
Lost and Found: The Promotional Video for the Theater on the Beach
Back in the Circus of Mazunte
Up on the Roof Again
Teaching a Reciprocal Roof Workshop
Green Mazunte
Yoga for Construction Work
The Quickest Tent Structure: Building a Flex Yurt
Vegan Days with Fabiola
Mission Completed ... Without Me