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AFFINITY GATHERING 2016
THE FESTIVAL
The Affinity Gathering is a celebration of polarities, an exploration of our brightest selves and all of our shadows. We provide meditative spaces for deep introspection and joyous containers for explosive expressions. We are an all-participatory event, with the principles of radical inclusion and radical self-reliance embedded in our execution and ethos. This is the fruition of brilliant performance ideas, refined workshops, and other experimental offerings after at least a staging or first run at our Spring event: Resourcery. From this event we ask how can we inspire the larger community?
DESIGNED TO CONNECT
Every morning and evening there is a communal ceremony or workshop that brings the entire festival (all 250 of us!) into the same space to meet new people, make lasting connections, explore our own minds, reveal our hearts, and have a jolly good time! No matter when you join our festival, within a few hours you’ll be swept up into our community vortex and made into an inextricable part of this web of Affinity.
DELICIOUS MEALS
The alchemy that takes place in our kitchen is masterminded, sourced, and prepared by the incomparable Alikat Rose and Landon Reinoehl, and of course assisted by our super sparkly volunteer kitchen staff. Since our gathering’s humble beginnings, breaking bread has been a quintessential foundation. Though recently published data suggests that information retention increases exponentially while eating, the founders have always felt compelled by Epicurus’ philosophy on meals as one of the regular behaviors necessary to living joyfully. Additionally, we recognize that our choices as consumers--particularly our eating choices--are perhaps the most impactful to this planet’s sustainability. For that vast and dynamic set of reasons we endeavor to have the most sustainable, organic and local food served at our events.
WORKSHOPS
So deeply ingrained in The Affinity Creation Team’s ethos is the cultivation and dissemination of knowledge, that we have gone so far as to fashion our annual spring event as an “Intellectual Summit.” And because we live by the credo “Be the change you wish to see in the world”, educational play is heavily weighted within everything we produce. With proud esteem we offer potent workshops in the areas of personal development, self mastery, self expression, and conscious being of mind, body and soul. The incredible variety of workshops that we offer range from communication to clown improvisation; from the power of words in our everyday lives to the connection between creativity and music; and from earthly stewardship to slacklining. In these metiers, the core Affinity family has roots through both career and academia, as well as hobby and play.
EVENING CEREMONIES
We understand the importance and the impact of ceremonies as unifiers of the community. Whether it be weddings or funerals, holidays or special non-holiday meals with friends or family, or simply a devoted group fitness practice--we recognize these moments of ceremony as shared culture that defines and magnetizes us. We take great care to not appropriate rituals that are not our own, but instead create ceremonies that match our culture of expression, fun, community and love. The nightly ceremonies we partake in are participation-oriented rituals that bring us together as a group and are key markers in the journey arc of the festival.
JAW-DROPPING PERFORMANCES & SCINTILLATING MUSIC
The Affinity family is dripping in mind-blowing talent. Our joie de vivre is displayed through the masterful performances and colorful expressions of the attendees. We have everything from musicians to jugglers, fire-spinners to dancers, Djs to oracles, tarot readings to intricate art pieces, and absolutely stunning visuals. We honor the sublime creator in all of us when we engage in artistic and musical expression.