How to organize a study week?

by Dylan Spencer-Davidson

• Assemble a team¹
• Define the basics: date, location, scope, concept, name, money, participants²
• Do the week³
• Process the week⁴

(1)

Start with a team of six people to spread the work around. Yay! Then, realise that there is actually a magic participant number for efficient online meetings—and it’s not six (it’s more like three). Meet every Friday at 11 and let the pleasure of this rhythm distract you from the fact that nothing really gets done in between the sessions. At 12, hop on a new link, at 1 again. Finally, resort to the group chat where complex decisions miraculously get made in seconds. Make sure the check-in at the start of every session is so brief that it’s only when you meet IRL that one of you shares that they’re six months pregnant.

(2)

It’s time to get practical. But debating the ethical dimensions of each pragmatic decision is so much more interesting: How to invite only some DAI alumni without offending others? How to avoid policing the borders of a new micro-institution? Do all participants host workshops, or do we also invite ‘teachers’? What are the politics and intentions behind open calls? Are well-written applications even a good indicator of whether someone is a good fit? How do you invite those who are rejected from an open call to still be present in some form? How do you reach communities outside of your own bubbles? How do you proportionally adjust the cost to make it fair for all levels of income? Is it cheaper to rent a car and do a big ingredient haul in Germany? Meanwhile, get sidetracked with funding applications. Make two parallel budgets, one for if you get the funding, one for if you don’t. Fill a doc with 50 pages of meeting notes, when you’re finally about to make some decisions, someone mentions they’ve been offered a job in a farmhouse residency that could host the project for free. At that point: rejoice! Now you can finally stop debating what the ideal number of participants is for maximized peer exchange and best group dynamics: it’ll be in Sweden, there are only 12 beds, the space is available for a week in July and that’s that.

(3)

Still no word on the funding, but you’re here, it’s finally happening! Of course, it’s different from how you’ve imagined. Really feel that cognitive split that occurs that moment when you start to see the reality of something you have planned for so long. Try and be present. Release yourself from your responsibilities as organiser and become one participant among many. Attend every workshop, even though the schedule is overpacked (despite everyone’s best efforts to schedule lots of rest time). Notice how clear themes have emerged by themselves. On the last day, escape on the farm’s e-motorbike for half an hour, and wonder why you hadn’t done that sooner.

(4)

As you step onto the bus at the end of the week, notice how you’ve barely had any one-on-one time with anyone, despite being surrounded by close friends. Were you subconsciously performing a fantasy of collective experience? Once everyone is back home, an email from the funders awaits you, explaining the jury meeting had been delayed and that they’re delighted to award you the money.