HAUMEA ECOLITERACY ONLINE
THE ESSENTIAL ECOLITERACY ONLINE COURSE–FOR ALL ART FORMS. April. 21 - June 16, 2021
is delivered as a supportive, SELF-PACED in-depth online course over a 7-week period. Guided by ecological artist Cathy Fitzgerald, Phd (Ireland) and philosopher Nikos Patedakis, Phd (California) with a small cohort (max. 20 participants) you can learn from home in your own time.
Ecoliteracy is a big topic! It encompasses ecologically expansive values and knowledge, not currently prioritised in the creative sector, but which are needed to help modern society toward sustainable and equitable living. Informed creativity can contribute to a more beautiful, just and sustainable culture. So, if you join the Haumea Essential Ecoliteracy course you can:
This course is for creative practitioners and art professionals who are seeking a comprehensive foundation in ecological knowledge for their work. The course
Please note: this course is NOT for experienced ecological art practitioners who will already be familiar with introductory ecoliteracy course material.
This course is also not a course about making an environmental-themed artwork, NOR is it a course that reviews others' ecoart work in depth.
Instead, the primary focus is to offer you accessible knowledge and resources to enable you to confidently frame and communicate your creative work in a ecological context that is relevant to your situation and place.
Our instructors offer a diverse set of perspectives that will empower your understanding of creativity for these urgent times. We share ecological perspectives from leading voices in ecophilosophy and ethics, environmental science, economics and activism, and from the world's wisdom traditions. We introduce you to the UN Sustainability Development Goals and the Earth Charter and share why these matter in the creative sector too.
Duration: 7 weeks. Time Commitment: 2-6 hours/week. The Heart of the Course is joining in with others in Weekly Online Group Meetings on Date tbc. You are, however, also very welcome to take this course, without joining the weekly live meetings. When the course starts you will gain access to the WELCOME ORIENTATION MODULE. Each week a module is released on DATE tbc.
ZOOM MEETING DATES: We offer weekly Online Group Meetings (via ZOOM) on DATE TIME tbc: pm Irish / UK time as follows: Date tbc (WELCOME MEETING), Date tbc (WE DISCUSS MODULE 1); Date tbc (MODULE 2); Date tbc (MODULE 3); Date tbc (MODULE 4); Date tbc (MODULE 5); Date tbc (MODULE 6); Date tbc (WEEK 7: FINAL SHARING/FAREWELL MEETING)
– The first 'Getting to you know you' Live Group Meetings is at 7 pm Irish / UK time ON ZOOM.
MODULE 1 RELEASED: UNDERSTANDING 'THE BIG PICTURE' - WHY EVERYTHING HAS TO CHANGE AND WHY CREATIVITY CAN HELP (ZOOM MEETING FOR MODULE 1 IS ON Date tbc)
Date tbc – MODULE 2 RELEASED: PSYCHOSOCIAL & PHYSICAL SUPPORTS & PRACTICES (LEARN WAYS TO DEAL WITH OVERWHELM, AVOID BURNOUT AND MAINTAIN YOUR SENSE OF HUMOUR) (ZOOM MEETING FOR MODULE 2 IS ON Date tbc)
Date tbc – MODULE 3 RELEASED: NAVIGATING ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE WITH EASE, UNDERSTAND ANTHROPOCENE & SYMBIOCENE FRAMEWORKS, and WHY & HOW TO EMPLOY THE UN SDGs (ZOOM MEETING FOR MODULE 3 IS ON Date tbc)
Date tbc– MODULE 4 RELEASED: EXPANDED EARTH ETHICS – DEVELOP MORAL REASONING TO GUIDE YOUR WORK; UNDERSTAND THE EARTH CHARTER, & DEVELOPING ECOCIDE LAW (ZOOM MEETING FOR MODULE 4 IS ON Date tbc)Date tbc
THURS. MAY. 27 – MODULE 5 RELEASED: EXPLORING HOW OTHERS’ DEVELOP EXPANDED ECOLOGICAL ART PRACTISES (ZOOM MEETING FOR MODULE 5 IS ON Date tbc)
Date tbc– MODULE 6 RELEASED: BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER. APPLYING YOUR ECOLITERACY LEARNING TO TELL YOUR STORY (ZOOM MEETING FOR MODULE 6 IS ON Date tbc)
FINAL GROUP MEETING Date tbc. WEEK 7. A TIME TO SHARE WORK, REFLECT AND SAY FAREWELL
answers to your questions below
2-6 hours per week. A total of 7 weeks of content, connecting and sharing. It is a self-paced course – you can dive deep or skim the surface and still find great benefit. WEDNESDAYS (7 PM IRISH/UK TIME) are when the course instructors host the live group learning sessions. You will also get so much more out of the course by joining us for the weekly Live Group Meetings—that is when the learning will really come alive, and you will get a chance to meet new friends and colleagues who can expand the ecology of mind, bringing mutual insight and inspiration. We highly recommend setting aside a specific time each week, after new material becomes available each THURSDAY, to go through the weekly module lesson. The course material is also available to access for TWO monthS after the course ends.
You will be notified each week by email when next week's module lesson is available. You will have a week to view videos, read and listen to other resources and time to complete short and simple exercises. That means there is plenty of time to do your homework and to prepare yourself for the Live Group Meetings a week later! The course material is also available to access for TWO months after the course ends.
An Internet connection, and a computer with a camera and audio to join the online (Zoom) meetings and to view the course video material. It is not advised to use a mobile phone to take this course. Also, your presence and commitment. You will gain more if you participate more. The group meetings, where we can listen and hear how others interpret the learnings, are the special magic sauce for appreciating the value of ecoliteracy. We tend to develop an ecology of mind among participants as we move through the weeks. Please note, 'The Essential Ecoliteracy' course can be taken without joining the weekly live Zoom meetings but the experience is somewhat reduced.
Each weekly module contains videos, reading resources, practices and occasional, optional written exercises. The weekly LIVE Group meeting will be done over Zoom. A supplementary private Soundcloud playlist complements each week's module for learning on the go. Topic sharing will happen in a private SLACK group that respects your data. A weekly email will sent to keep you up to speed. At the end of the course, you can submit a short piece of writing that incorporates some of the course ideas– either an artist's statement, ideas in process, creative writing etc., and receive written feedback from the course instructors.
Because we want you to be completely happy with your decision, we will let you test-drive and evaluate the Haumea Essential Ecoliteracy course for 14 days. Enroll today. If the course doesn’t suit, let us know before the 14 days are up and we'll return 100% of your money back—no questions asked (although because this is a unique course, we'd really love feedback).
Our Haumea Online course tuition fees are much lower than what you would have to pay a traditional educational institute—if you could find such courses elsewhere. Our students have found this material to be both rare and valuable. As with any good educational experience, you will get tremendous benefit from our expertise. Education is not a matter of information exchange. From that more limited perspective, our courses contain a great deal of information that would require a lot of time and many headaches for you to gather alone. But, more than that, we offer experience—not only our experience of working with these ways of knowing, being, living, loving, and creating, but also our experience at fostering insight and inspiration. You will find our courses an empowering investment in yourself and your creative work.
Check the time of the Live Group Meeting in your region– see worldtimebuddy.com. Please check to make sure the Live Group Meeting time will work for you, before you book!
dr cathy fitzgerald
ecological artist | educator | researcher and student of forests
[email protected]Hear more from Haumea Ecoliteracy course founder and ecological artist Cathy Fitzgerald
Megan Best, of Dublin City FM's Green Room interviews Cathy Fitzgerald on Why ecoliteracy matters to the Irish Creative sector. Cathy talks about the challenges and rewards of her forest-focussed ecosocial art practice, that inspired her advocacy for new international law against ecocide crime and the Earth Charter and her founding the Haumea Online Ecoliteracy learning platform.
“Do artists have the right kinds of tools to imagine new ways of living for the earth and its inhabitants?” Luke Clancy, RTE Lyric FM Culture File, 11 November 2019.
Listen to an interview with Cathy Fitzgerald about her Haumea ecoliteracy course with writer and radio journalist Rachel Andrews, RTE Lyric FM.
Read more about Cathy's ongoing ecosocial art practice, The Hollywood Forest Story (from 2008) here
A priority at Haumea Online is to give places to those who cannot easily access learning. Also, given the urgency of the ecological emergency, we are also interested in developing relationships with education and cultural institutions where our courses could be implemented in full. Ecoliteracy represents a momentous shift in education priorities and is still little understood - the Haumea curricula is a contribution to the creative sector to advance a life-sustaining cultural shift.
Haumea ecoliteracy course values are inspired by:
Do you want to support the arts? Help creatives in any art discipline become more wise and confident in engaging in the most pressing ecosocial issues of our time? We welcome donations to help creatives in need join our courses. A generous donation of €170 would mean one creative practitioner could take a course although any amount is welcomed. Thank you!
Photo by Shane Rounce on Unsplash