communal futures: designing new programs as radical act of community care

How can we design new programs that connect communities in profound ways and make us stronger together?

• 7. July - 11. July 2025
• In Berlin at School of Machines!
• Daily, 10AM-4 PM CET
• Small class of participants
• Certificate of Completion

Artist (Full Time)
€2250*

Freelancer
€2375*

Professional
€2525*

Generous Supporter Ticket
€2650*

*Payment plan options available

course
description

You have brilliant ideas for events or programs you’d like to see but no real clue how to practically take one of them from inside your brain out into the world so others can experience it too. That’s what this is for.

As the world around us becomes more confusing by the hour, we want to keep close those we hold dear. Do we let uncertainty and politics fracture us, or do we build the kinds of spaces where people can think, feel, and act freely together? On the surface this course is about program and event series design in the context of community building, but at its core, it is more than that. It is about creating conditions for collective courage.

How do we create opportunities to nurture our communities in times of crisis? How do we build the kinds of connections we long for, and spaces where people feel seen, challenged, and inspired? It begins with an idea, a hope for something new, and a deeper understanding of what we, and in turn our community, truly stands for.

For over 20 years, I have been a community and program organizer, the last ten of which as founder and creative director of the School of Machines, Making & Make-Believe. After consulting privately with individuals and groups throughout the years, and after being frequently asked about how I do what I do, for the first time I am offering a course to share how I organize programs and events and nurture humans and communities in hopes of helping others find their own unique ways of doing the same.

In Communal Futures: Designing New Programs as a Radical Act of Community Care, a one-week intensive program, you will make space to connect deeply with yourself and others through a mix of collaborative exercises, deep discussion, and hands-on prototyping.

By program’s end, you will craft a blueprint for a meaningful program, event, or initiative tailored to your community’s needs, whether you’re currently supporting an existing community group or boldly starting from scratch. You will then be able to use this blueprint as a way to find collaborators, apply for funding, and attract your ideal community.

In this program, you’ll explore

• from idea to action: How to go from dream to conceptualization to realization, and the practical tools to get this done.

• your unique role: Who are you? How does your community reflect who you are and what you care about?

• the DNA of your community: Who is it for? What values define it?

• diagnosing the gaps: What does your community lack? What’s missing from existing offerings?

• designing with care: How to go beyond just organizing and create programming and events that support your vision and the needs of your community?

• role of artistry and imagination: Using creativity as a tool for connection, not just passing time.

• money: Learn how to breakdown the finances of your project and how to create a budget plan for a project with funding or without.

• planning for friction: Because no meaningful community survives on good intentions alone.

• your self: confidence, self-care, and self-appreciation for your mission and the important work you are doing towards helping others and achieving your goals.

course
outline

Day 1: Who are we?
Introductions and getting to know each other deeply, understanding what drives each other and our motivations for joining the program. Sharing past experiences with community and playful collaboration, we will experiment with what creates meaning, and what it means to bring humans together for purposeful connection.

Day 2: Who are our communities?
Defining our communities and the people we wish to reach. What are their wants, needs, hopes and dreams? What has defined the level of connection within your previous interactions? How would you characterize your met and unmet goals as it pertains to your community and how they engage with and perceive the work that you do?

Day 3: Designing for the dream
What are the possibilities for design? What is out there? What models are we inspired by? What is possible within the scope of the organization we work for? This is the day we begin to dream up new programs and event series based on bigger visions of connection and creating opportunities for a shared sense of belonging.

Day 4: Logistics and Sustainability
On this day we explore all the practical things to consider when designing the programs that will serve your community. Topics include all things logistic, such as space, money, funding possibilities, and what is sustainable for your community and practice, as well as codes of conduct and ways to handle conflict.

Day 5: What we have achieved together
We finalize and share our program presentations, receive constructive feedback on our community blueprints, and discuss where to go from here.

who is this
program for?

This program is for organizers, educators, artists, curators, consultants, restless community-builders, arts collectives, motivated groups of friends, and anyone who craves more than transactional gatherings; for people who want to get started but also for experienced organizers who might want to reset or recalibrate. It’s for those who want to design spaces where people leave changed; where whispers are amplified, not drowned out. If you’re ready to stop asking permission and start building the community that will create the world you want to see, come join us! <3

in-person classes and fees

Classes are 'in-person' meaning that it will take place at School of Machines in Berlin, Mitte.
Payment plans are available. Please get in touch with us to inquire. For specific questions, please email us and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

meet the
instructor

Rachel Uwa
Artist, Organizer, Educator

Rachel Uwa is founder and creative director of School of Machines, Making & Make-Believe (Make-Believe Foundation gUG (haftungsbeschränkt)), a non-profit which provides one-of-a-kind hands-on learning experiences in the areas of art, technology, design, and human connection. Students learn new tools and skills while critically engaging with their surroundings and with themselves. Over the last ten years, she has designed, curated, and facilitated over 30 four-week full-time programs across six countries, and organized and facilitated over 60 five-week online courses with participants from over 52 countries.

Rachel is also an artist, educator and organizer with over 20 years experience organizing for social justice and tech communities and events big and small. She feels compelled to help bring these two worlds together and make the tech world less daunting and more diverse, inclusive, thoughtful, and fun. Her public programming experience includes developing educational and experiential events within a variety of formats, including lectures, panels, conversations, presentations, conferences, workshops, performances, live action role play (LARPS), escape rooms, and installations in both white cube galleries and public spaces.