Hopes for a Walking Bookclub

The hopes for a Walking Book Club ?
Collaborative Research
October 1st 2020

What ? A mobile peer led curriculum concept? De-institutionalised learning? Reclaiming public space as places for educational/artistic engagement? Reclaiming connection - with ourselves, with one another and with the rest of our living environment? Anti - profit participation with local place? A mode of resilience and resistance in the face covid 19 and its effects on the arts/arts communities? As a means of deriving wellbeing from communal, sustainable, safe, meaningful practices engaged with the outdoor environment?

My own hopes for an outdoor walking book club:
as a means of creating a structure of meet up opportunities for our artist/friendship community
as a means of continuing to share, discuss and discover topics and areas of interest / peer-led learning
as a means of experiencing the outdoors (land and weather) and bringing awareness to the ways that environment affects our engagement with the written/discussed material and with each other.
as a means of establishing a safe/covid conscious social practice that is also cost-low
Long term hopes for this research project might be; to suggest templates or models for other communities to initiate also; to expand collective learning processes through sharing of documentation, feedback and reflection.

Covid in Ireland has affected the ways that artists/friends may learn/share and inspire one another. Studio spaces and cultural organizations/diy spaces and the organic communal environments they offer us are virtually gone from our lives. The potential for crossover, collaboration and stimulating conversation has moved almost entirely online, in multiple virtual, text based environments. This kind environment imposes lots of limitations on communication and thought processes as well as physical/bodily participation and wellbeing . I am hoping to organise a short term sustainable bookclub practice that responds to some of these issues affecting us.

The hope is that the book club would run from October to December, as a bi-weekly set up. Text may be chosen by a different member for each meet up (rotating basis) and can be pretty open format (essay, poem, interview, script, book chapter, etc) Ideally the reading or listening time for a chosen material would be 20 mins - 40 mins, to keep it manageable for anyone who may be time poor. You may also choose your own work if you would like? Each meetup would involve meeting in a different outdoor location (not high density urban environment for covid safety purposes). Meet up times would be approx 2 hours and walking at the beginning and end of the meeting would be a feature of the meet up (keep warm, etc)

Transport and time tabling can be organised in the coming week. 14 people have been included in this email in keeping with the Level 3 outdoor pursuits restriction numbers of 15 people per group. Social distancing and mask wearing will be a key part of the book club that can be discussed in line up to the meet up

This is just a beginning ~ please add your hopes