And then there were 7: Rhizome expands

Rhizome started small. We always had plans to involve new people but times are hard and we wanted to offer them a living. Well, we changed the offer and instead offered a place in an interesting co-op doing interesting work with interesting groups and organisations (and a very modest contribution towards a living).

Emily Hodgkinson, Hannah Clayton, Jo Melzack, and Maria Franchi found the offer enticing enough to join Carl, Perry and I for 2 days of discussion and play on Friday and Saturday. We explored topics related to facilitation and Rhizome’s place in the world.

For example one conversation explored what it means to be radical in today’s world. Is that just a political analysis? Is it about the way we might interact with each other as a co-operative? Is it in the way we approach our facilitation work? Whatever it means, we agreed that it was OK to mean different things to different people and that it almost certainly meant different things in the different groups and organisations with which we work. Diversity, tolerance, and supportive criticism rather than judgement were important themes for us. We’ll update our Thoughts on Rhizome’s organisation and structure and Values, ethics and practice pages in due course to reflect the conversations we had.

I’m delighted to say they all decided to get involved and we are now a more diverse, exciting, experienced and skilled organisation than ever, which we hope will become apparent in the quality of the work we do with and for you. Their biographies will be added to our Who we are page over the next few days and weeks.

And of course you’ll start to hear their voices through the blog from time to time.