CURRENT
Stand of new trees at The Preserve at Vassar College
GROUNDWORK HAPPENINGS
Active examples of GW’s many manifestations.
GROUNDWORK: Interdisciplinary Cultivation Unit (ICU)
GW: ICU is an ideation and incubation program that cultivates researchers' and practitioners' activation of creativity as a core component in interdisciplinary endeavors. Co-facilitated by Rita Leduc and Chris Bodwitch, the program emphasizes opening pathways toward broader, reciprocal community relationships. Through questions, activities, and conversation, 3-4 selected, interdisciplinary teams shape their inquiries into interactive projects and/or offerings that place creativity as a necessary, core ingredient to thriving in any field. At the program’s conclusion, teams depart with expanded and refined program language, connections, activities, and resources.
With support from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, GW:ICU began at Rutgers University in 2025. Although the program was a rousing success, our intention to apply for a second, larger grant from NJCH was derailed due to national funding cuts. While we figure out how to continue at Rutgers, we are also eager to bring GW:ICU to faculty and students at other universities as well as interdisciplinary institutions outside of academia. Like our focus at Rutgers, we are homing in on the realms of leadership, health/wellness, and the environment, looking for spaces that recognize the value of disciplinary overlap, process-orientation, and creativity. If this sounds like you, please reach out!
For a longer account of GW:ICU, see our article in a2ru: The Process of Process: Piloting GW:ICU at Rutgers University
GROUNDWORK: Soil Plotting
Nutrient exchange: GROUNDWORK: Soil Plotting is a conversation group for edge-runners who are in the lonely, exhilarating business of ushering in the yet-unknown. This is a small collection of educators, creatives, and relational leaders who come together to bounce off, chew on, churn over, and lighten up. The undertow of the expected is strong; GW: Soil Plotting offers a collegial counterforce.
The BioGeoCreativity Cycle
Download coming soon!
GW’s BioGeoCreativity Cycle is a guide for growing an idea from imagination to implementation. The Cycle is geared toward anyone who is dreaming up a new idea, advancing a nascent project, or expanding an existing initiative. It can be used to assist in one’s own goal realization or as a teaching tool. It is structured around four sections which work cyclically so projects can loop back into themselves and unfold indefinitely. Through the Cycle, participants learn to shift their identities from goal-oriented technicians to embodied agents immersed in creative processes, freeing their ideas up to evolve and emerge in tandem with a changing world…and freeing themselves up in the process.
The four sections include:
IMAGINATION ACTIVATION: Breaking Out of Boredom
PROCESS PLUNGE: Identifying Accomplishments, Aspirations, and Obstacles
NAVIGATING THE NEW: Speaking the Language of Possibility
NONLINEAR WAYFINDING: Leading with Awareness and Adaptability
“The Zebra Tree” at Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest: a decomposing birch and thriving teacher
“GROUNDWORK is a remarkable opportunity for anyone trying to develop an idea into a reality. My experience was an affirmation of the work I was doing and an insight into new ways to introduce and share that work with others. As artists themselves, Rita and Chris bring a deep understanding of how to turn a process on its end and see it from another angle. I am indebted to them and to the other participants in the GROUNDWORK process. ”