In preparing for the ISC of 2024 the desire arose to create something cohesive and interconnected. How could we prepare a student conference where all the activities and aspects somehow related to one experience or picture? There was also a question of how we could create this feeling of interconnection with the greater society, and not just the conference community. How could we make an offering to the many people who live in the area around the Goetheanum?

This is how we came to the idea of preparing a participatory story telling event for a public space on the last full day of the conference. Many of us are used to storytelling events that take place in theaters, auditoriums, in cinemas or on videos, but there are also ways to tell stories that involve the participation of everyone. One example can be found in open air puppetry and pageantry.

Not only did we want to have the event involve as many students as possible, and to take place in a widely accessible and public place, but we also wanted to find the right story for this conference. Gradually we arrived at a vision to bring together song, movement, imagery, procession, and performance to tell “Excerpts from the Journey of the Peacemaker”. This story relates the watershed transformation that led to the Haudenosaunee confederacy in North America over seven hundred years ago. It unfolded in an area in perpetual war, dominated by a culture of cannibalism and dark magic, and culminated in a constitutional confederacy built around the power and spirit of peace. It is an event and story deeply related to our theme “Taking Heart: Finding our way together” and immediate challenges around the world.

Between February and April much preparatory work will be taking place as well as opportunities to help (which will be shared in this newsletter).

The first of our four main lectures at the ISC is entitled “Melting the ice in the heart of men”. This sounds beautiful and describes an image that I think all of us can relate to, a metaphor that can have a meaning for everyone, as one of the properties of ice is coldness, and we don’t want to carry that in our hearts.

November 30th, 2023, we had the pleasure of meeting Kelley Buhles in Basel. After sharing a bit about our conference, some thoughts on our theme and the connections to her work, and then hearing from Kelley, we conducted a short interview. We’re sharing it with you below.

Questions by Noël Norbron, Gabriele Nys and Nathaniel Williams
Transcription by Freya Knierim

We warmly invite you to the February Days at the Goetheanum!
This event will take place from the 1st till the 4th of February, 2024.
The conference is organised by members of the Youth Section from around the world and will take place at the Goetheanum.

Over the last few years, while working with young people internationally, and notably after the Youth Section co-workers' gathering in June this year, we have become aware of how questions related to technology, particularly digital technology, and spirituality, are becoming more and more relevant for young people. During our “February Days” conference in 2024, we want to work on understanding the relationship between these aspects of our lives and to try to orient ourselves through a search for deeper knowledge.

We kindly ask you to register by Wednesday January 17, 2024 for logistical reasons.

As we want to be conscious of the ecological footprint this event will have, we have decided not to send printed posters to all Waldorf schools worldwide in order to save paper and mailing.

The full resolution of the poster as well as the postcards is available for download on our website.

If you wish to receive printed posters and postcards via mail, you can request them through the website.