As cultural Spring arrived in Ireland with the turn of the celtic wheel, Imboc celebrates the returning light. We joke there is a grand stretch when we notice 3 minutes of day light gathering momentum. Beautiful sunrises and sunsets help with the noticing.
In Ireland our new Bank holiday was last Monday celebrating Brigid, St. Brigid our triple celtic fire goddess. So much has been written about her. I’ll not repeat it here. But it’s been wonderful to see how different communities are celebrating her. A Bank Holiday is a national day off for most workers.
I write this reflection, I don’t use an AI for this post. An AI would write something smarter, sharper, cleaner more precise. It might depend on the crafted prompt but it would never be as messy as this. So enjoy, stretch, as I try to figure out my process to these studio notes that are more like life notes. Anyways let’s craic on.
Reflection
What a week!
Monday night in Balbriggan experiencing the beauty myth and pageantry of a procession of fire & light down the main street and to the beach. I’m forever changed by the enthralling event in a subtle joyful contented way. Bravo to all involved you have created something really special.
It was amazing to watch a town on the street being together, not something I’ve experienced a lot of since Covid. Families, people of all ages just loving the spectacle. The crowd moved along with the procession the event dramatically finishes on the beach with blazing standards of a boat and a Brigids cross being walked along the beach. Followed by the group of women holding patterns lit from Brighid’s flame in Kildare.
I really noticed how quiet the crowd was, respectful, reverent being awed. Enthralling street theatre, no words were shared. It was a visual and in person gift I’ll treasure.
An amazing vision brought to reality by my friend, Treacy O’Connor, the light bearer and CEO of Corporate Wellbeing. That’s her in the centre, second row to the right of the woman in the pink jacket.
People are amazing!
My technical issues frustrated me some more this week but with some support I got through them. Thanks ye know who you are!
People are amazing!
This week brought the culmination of 6 weeks of work with clients, delivering a full days session on GHG and Net Zero Initiatives for Irelands largest carbon emitter. I brought my particular brand of practical and applied learning experience to the overall structure and delivery.
I was given carte blanche to design a bespoke toolkit based on work I did last year on Circular Economy & Circular Thinking. So for heavy duty subjects like Green House Gas Emissions and Net Zero Initiatives they presented a good design challenge. I created design-led artefacts, worksheets and experiential elements bringing learning into active knowledge. My principle of first step, next step in how participants use knowledge the next day in work is an important design principle.
The clients were very happy with the delivery. I’ve learned a lot from the design work all the way through to the delivery and unpacking of it with the client after the event. Being open to feedback has always been my default, I invite it. It’s how I improve. The day went well and the response was great.
Had some great networking conversations this week. I’m enjoying those of you reading my notes sending me emails and the conversations that are following on.
I finished the week supporting the city of Bacǎc, Romania as an EU Sector expert in Creativity and Culture for the Intelligent Cities Challenge and creating local green deals.
The difference between how people think about the creative business sector and how I see it as part of the cultural system of any place is significant. The potential for small makers, artists & musicians to create cultural capital should not be under estimated especially in cities with aging populations, where young people choose to leave to study and live elsewhere. I was delighted to be able to support the Municipality Lead and Thematic Lead, looking forward to working with them next week also.
Insights
It’s amazing when a piece of work builds so much credential with a client they open up a stream of work that’s really fulfilling.
People are amazing!
I design for all of who we are not just for the employee-self. The embedded economy is very alive in my work. When we bring our whole-selves into the room & that is welcomed we can access more of our abilities to learn & be generous with each other and to ourselves.
I make tools and thinking artefacts.
I think deeply about the experiences people have when they are learning.
I design learning experiences to bring depth, enquiry, discourse, knowledge & first step action.
Showing people they are learning can have subtle markers ensuring retention. Activation and practice using knowledge seems so obvious to me, making it more transparent what I am doing not so easy.
Hypercritical is my personal reflection default position, my own harsh realism lens. I deliver to a high standard and… as a recovering perfectionist I’m working on a bit of self compassion. I’ve made a long awful self critical list. But learning always.
The term scientific term Novel entities limits my understanding of what that Planetary boundary is. Why can’t they just call it manmade synthetic chemicals and substances?
Scientific language should not act as a barrier to understanding. It should enable not disempower. This is one of the issues I think with climate communication. Over intellectualisation of any topic creates barriers not bridges.
A question for you
What was the best learning experience you had? Why was it so good?
Resources
If you are organising an event of any sort this car pooling app is excellent
I’ve recommended it to several organisations that have used it to great success.
Roisin Markham 
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