Invitation and call for proposals
 2008 theme: Ecology
July 27–August 17, 2008
Earthdance, Plainfield, Massachusetts
www.earthdance.net/seedsfest

SEEDS Festival invites a diverse group of artists, movement practitioners, architects, scientists, spiritual leaders, and activists to creatively research ecology and experiential arts. At SEEDS, we will explore how physicality, practice, and science-based inquiry inform one another, through collective experimentation. The festival, itself an ecosystem, will provide a rich nexus for dialogue, reflection, and action.

Our hope is that the questions that emerge through this project will cultivate regenerative and innovative practices to steward our environment. SEEDS Festival asks: What does experiential study offer our understanding of ecology? What questions are relevant for the interaction of art, science, and healing? How can new interdisciplinary forms enliven creative research? In working with global concerns, how can we both utilize and honor indigenous practices and gain greater understanding about the movement of lineages?  How can we learn through our behaviors, experiments, and art making to cultivate the planet?

The festival will host workshops, collaborative design projects, panel discussions, live performances, films, and interdisciplinary investigations. You can participate in the whole festival, attend a portion, or create a proposal based on the calls that follow our festival mission below. Everyone who comes to SEEDS will offer his/her unique perspective to the collective inquiry, so we hope you chose to attend even if your proposal is not accepted. Please come!

Single Workshop. We welcome a limited number of single two-hour workshops within the container of SEEDS. These will either take place during the weekend of August 8–10, or during a free space throughout the Festival.

Presentation or Panel Discussion. We invite topics that provide understanding on the nature of ecology. Propose an entire panel or an individual presentation. The panels will be curated based on themes that emerge and ideas submitted. Some examples of topics:
- What is ecology? A cross-disciplinary perspective.
- Future leaders: youth envision a sustainable society through poetry & songs.
- Polyculture: interactive growing techniques in Western Massachusetts.
- Tracking techniques: how we trace in nature and in improvisational dance.
* These presentations would take place in the evenings, or during the public weekend events of the festival.

Weeklong Interdisciplinary Project.  Apply to lead a collaborative and interdisciplinary project, open to all festival participants. Ideally these projects would include an interdisciplinary collaboration between movement-based research and science. In the final week of the festival, several projects will occur simultaneously, and there will be time at the end of the week to show research findings. There will be scheduled studio time and full access to the expansive outdoors. These projects will take place during the final week of the festival, August 11–17, or could become a workshop in the week proceeding.

Land Project. We are looking for architects and builders to apply their creative research to projects that will support the durability and enhance the beauty of the Earthdance landscape.  Selected applicants are invited to work in collaboration with body-based artists and in dialogue with Earthdance's long-term vision to create sustainable, resourceful, and whimsical projects.  The time period of this project will be co-determined. Please contact Margit for more details about the land and specifications: margit@earthdance.net; (413) 634-5678, ext 2.

Video. The Festival will host three evenings of video showings, ranging from dance videos that relate to the environment to scientific/ecological/historical materials that will enrich the Festival dialogue on ecology. There will also be a resource space on site where videos may be viewed at any time. Please send us submissions of any length.

Resource Library.  Earthdance will host a resource space throughout the SEEDS Festival. The space will grow through the findings of the festival. Please send us materials and references that you think will enrich the space.

Web Links, Community-Based Group Associations. We will be gathering links and connections with local and global organizations up until the start of the festival. These will be posted on our website and also available in our reference library. Please send us any information about groups we can connect with to enrich the festival conversation.

Archival Support. We are looking for people to creatively support the festival through archiving. Particularly, we are looking for people to help with their skills as videographers, video editors, writers, and scribes. If you have experience in these areas, please contact us through the application below

Financial Support. We are seeking financial support for the various projects and the festival as a whole. We welcome donations and are grateful to receive resources. You can sponsor someone from your community or someone beyond your scope to participate in the festival. If you are interested in offering support, please contact Jen Harmon at Earthdance: (413) 634-5678 ext.6, or seeds@earthdance.net.