By DeAnna Martin
On April 16, 2009, we held a conference call for members of the Wisdom Council community of practice to learn about the practice of Wisdom and Creative Insight Councils in Austria. The call lasted about an hour and consists of a brief introduction by Jim Rough and Dr. Manfred Hellrigl then questions and answers by participants. Click here to listen online now!
Archive for the ‘Community’ Category
Conference Call on Austrian Wisdom Councils
Friday, May 8th, 2009Media Coverage of Creative Insight Council in Bregenz
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009From Manfred Hellrigl
Recently a randomly selected group of citizens in Bregenz met to figure out what to do with a piece of public land in town. The city had been divided about what to do, but the council created a new option that many embraced. They presented their conclusions to the Mayor and the town in a community meeting held Monday night, March 16th, 2009.
Here are links to:
- a TV news segment about the presentation
- a web-article about the council
- and, one more web-article about the council
And, here are some images of two other newspaper articles that were published in print…
Please note this media coverage is in Austrian German, not English!
Creative Democracy: Wisdom Councils at Work
Friday, October 17th, 2008By Caspar Davis
In a letter to Rececca Solnit, John Jordan wrote,
“Our movements are trying to create a politics that challenges all the certainties of traditional leftist politics, not by replacing them with new ones, but by dissolving any notion that we have answers, plans or strategies that are watertight or universal. In fact our strategies must be more like water itself, undermining everything that is fixed, hard and rigid with fluidity, constant movement and evolution. We are trying to build a politics of process, where the only certainty is doing what feels right at the right time and in the right place… When we are asked how are we going to build a new world, our answer is, ‘We don’t know, but let’s build it together.’ (more…)
Wise Democracy Oakland sets a date!
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008Message from Laura Wells
At a meeting on President’s Day evening, we SET A DATE for the Wisdom Council in Oakland, and we planned a second sidewalk conversation cafe for February 23. Here’s the who/what/when/where/how and why! (more…)
Wolfurt Wisdom Council | 2006 – Present
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007By Dr. Manfred Hellrigl
Manfred Hellrigl is head of the Office for Future-Related Issues, an administrative section of the State Government of Vorarlberg/Austria, which is dedicated to the subjects of citizenry commitment, social capital and sustainable municipal and regional development. He originally wrote this article in German. Manfred can be reached at manfred.hellrigl[@]vorarlberg.at.
The 19-year old Melanie stands and smiles in front of a flip chart, looking somewhat embarrassed. Again and again someone calls something out and she notes it down on a poster with a squeaky green marker pen. To the left and right there are further pin boards, all covered with bright posters full of writing. Why is Melanie spending the weekend in a stuffy, somewhat dreary festival hall, together with people, most of whom she did not know until yesterday, when the sun is shining outside?
Wise Democracy Victoria | 2006 – Present
Monday, April 23rd, 2007Beginning in November 2006, a growing group of local citizens and activists have committed to organize three Wisdom Councils for the city of Victoria. In November they held a Wise Democracy weekend event at which Jim Rough & Tom Atlee spoke about the Wisdom Council process. People were invited back the second day to experience Dynamic Facilitation and learn more about how to do a Wisdom Council. People interested in joining the convening team met again on the third day to begin planning. They formed Wise Democracy Victoria.
The first Victoria Wisdom Council took place March 30-31, 2007 with twelve members randomly selected from the community. It was an amazing experience for all involved, with Jim Rough providing his facilitation skills. This was the first Wisdom Council in Victoria, British Columbia, as well as in Canada.
Download Victoria WC#1 Statements delivered by the Wisdom Council members to the people of Victoria at a well-attended public meeting that followed. The members shared their experience of the Wisdom Council with enthusiasm and energized the entire group who gathered to listen. It has been a real privilege for the conveners to have been part of this historic event.
Two other Wisdom Councils were held in 2007. One convener, Caspar Davis, has written about the history, experiences, and results thus far. Click here to read it. In addition, the 17-year-old participant in the first Wisdom Council is running for Mayor of Victoria. Part of his platform is to incorporate Wisdom Councils into the neighborhood civic engagement process throughout the city. Download the:
Learn more by:
- Downloading the article Grassroots Democracy Takes Wing published 4/5/07 in Victoria’s The Capital newspaper.
- Visiting the Wise Democracy Victoria website!
Rogue Valley Wisdom Council | November 2003
Friday, April 20th, 2007Three citizens from Ashland, OR heard Jim Rough talking about the Wisdom Council on the local public radio station. They connected with each other and organized one for Jackson County. Seven citizens of the Rogue Valley — three women and four men, selected at random from the list of registered voters — agreed to spend an entire weekend doing something they’d never done before . . . to identify as members of the community and to see if they could work together, to share ideas and feelings, to find common ground, to give a voice to “We the People.” And they found that they could. They presented their statements to the community in a town hall meeting where they talked about a new plan for funding public education in Oregon and shared their personal transformation from experiencing the process, which empowered them to take on responsibility for holding elected officials more accountable.
While the Rogue Valley Wisdom Council was a one-time event, organizers, participants and people who showed up at the town hall meeting have continued meeting and using small group dialogue processes to re-write Ashland’s town charter! Learn more about Ashland’s “By the People” initiative.
Other resources on the Rogue Valley Wisdom Council experience include:
- “Innovations in Democracy: An Evaluation of the Rogue Valley Wisdom Council” a Master’s thesis by Elliot Shuford.
- A 22-minute documentary of the Rogue Valley Wisdom Council, called “Democracy In America” by Joseph McCormick.