2019 Org Retreat Summary

In January, the five-member Org Team, along with one outgoing Org, met for a 2½ day working retreat in Victoria. The team: Synnove (teacher liaison), Jade (financial/facilities), Russell (registrar), Prism (fundraising) Laura (outgoing – communications), and Marie (incoming – communications) covered many topics. Here’s our thematic summary:

Taking care of camp’s financial well-being:

• We set fees for 2019: minimum $725, maximum $995; early bird $695 minimum/ $965 maximum
• We brainstormed fundraising approaches and ways to involve the BCWC community

Fostering the culture we celebrate in our Principles of Unity:

• Inclusivity: camp financial and physical accessibility; communication and culture at camp, ranging from the language we use to where and how we hold ritual; and more
• Non-hierarchical power structure: “all campers are their own authority, in community”—recognizing that replacing overculture conditioning with this ethic takes ongoing work

Decolonizing:

• We (enthusiastically) agreed to invite Aline La Flamme, who attended camp for one day in 2018, to 2019 camp as an honoured guest.
• We support the initiative to decolonize our name and will ask the visioning committee to anchor this work
• We added “knowledge of, and willingness to learn about political implications of language; ability to bring a decolonizing, anti-oppression lens to BCWC communications” to the Communications Org job description and agreed to add similar wording to all Org job descriptions

Taking care of the Org:

• We reviewed and recommitted to the Org decision-making process and ground rules
• We considered succession—discussing who has shown interest in stepping onto the Org when Synnove and Prism step off next year
• We brainstormed ways to keep the Org workload sustainable

Ensuring sustainability for teachers:

• We receive consistent feedback regarding demanding workloads. How to support teachers? Offer more flexibility in the job structure; encourage more local teachers; encourage campers to treat teachers in supportive ways

Huge thanks for Captain and Medwyn for providing such wonderful meeting space, Hawthorn and Ruby for accommodation, Lisa, Hawthorn and Ruby for delicious meals, and Ruby for sharing wisdom!

– The Org