Our course is unique. It takes the classic Permaculture Design Course as a starting point, but has been created with a specifically creative focus exploring how permaculture design can be used to deepen creative practice and to bring a new ethical basis to projects, particularly in relation to ecology, natural systems and regenerative cultures.
The course takes place from Wednesday 24th April 2024 to Saturday 5th April 2025. It includes 72 hours of live online sessions delivered as 2 x 3 hour sessions per month. These are supported by additional online resources, guest teachers, and virtual project visits.
What makes our course unique is that it takes the classic PDC structure and develops it specifically to focus upon how artists and creatives can use the tools of permaculture, based around the ethics of earth care, people care and fairshare, to help reconnect with the natural world and to create projects and work with a strong ethical, ecological and regenerative foundation.
How will the course work?
It will bring together a group of just twenty people as a learning community to explore how the concepts of permaculture can be used to deepen creative arts practice and to bring a new ethical basis to projects, particularly in relation to ecology, natural systems and regenerative cultures.
It is divided into seven different modules each of which will consist of a mixture of live face-to-face teaching hours and a mix of voluntary and compulsory assignments. It is very much a participatory course including a balance of individual work and work in groups. You will also create your own design on a subject of your choice, making use of the tools that you have learned during the course.
What will I learn?
Module One – An Introduction to Permaculture: This module will give an understanding of the history and context of permaculture. It will also explore the ethics and principles of permaculture and bring them to life in relation to each participant’s personal experiences. We will also begin to explore and use our first design tools, and create our first designs.
Module Two – Listening to the Land: We will begin to explore our relationship with the land, particularly in terms of agriculture and cultivation. We will also learn more about ecology and ecologies, and being to explore tools that we can use to observe the land more closely.
Module Three – Taking Inspiration From Nature #1: This module will explore our relationship with trees and water, and think about what we can learn from them. It will also look at how we can have positive, restorative relationships with landscapes. particularly through observing patterns in nature to better understand the way that different ecologies function.
Module Four – Taking Inspiration From Nature #2: We will look to nature again to think about soil ecology, particularly thinking about how we can build and maintain healthy soil. We will also think about food cultivation and how this can be done in regenerative ways.
Module Five – People and Permaculture: This module will focus upon ways that permaculture design can be used in relation to people and communities. It will focus upon our part in the natural world, the resources that we bring as individuals, and the the relationships that we have with other people.
Module Six – Community and Places: Within this module we will think about cities, buildings and shelters. We will focus upon how we can use permaculture design to reduce the impact of all aspects of our lives, and how it may help us to live more regeneratively, particularly in urban settings and in relation to the climate and ecological crisis.
Module Seven – Design Project: We will end the course by creating our own designs using the tools and skills that we have learned during the course. We will also come up with next steps so that we can continue our journey in permaculture beyond the course.
Previous course guests have included:
Tim Redfern (Timberlina) – Using patterns in nature to inspire creative work
Gui Castro (Kew Gardens) – Understanding the value of trees
Pippa Chapman – Creating forest garden guilds
Lucy Wright – The role of folk tradition in regenerative creative practice
Roy Sean Parker (Fermental Health) – Permaculture as insipration for arts practice
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