BRATTLEBORO — The Strolling of the Heifers Slow Living Summit announces that all of its plenary sessions featuring prominent speakers and artists will be open to the public, free of charge. Also included in the free sessions is the showing of a film, “Food for Change,” about the growth of the co-op movement.
Speakers and artists include local holistic health physician Samantha Eagle, writer and speaker Charles Eisenstein, Brattleboro cellist Eugene Friesen, and Guilford-based financial expert Amit Sharma.
All of these sessions take place at the Latchis Theatre. A voluntary donation may be made at the door.
The Summit is a conference about connections that make communities resilient, sustainable, and strong. It takes place Wednesday, June 4 through Friday, June 6 in downtown Brattleboro. Full schedule and registration is available at www.slowlivingsummit.org.
The Summit's plenary sessions feature unique collaborations between speakers and artists. There will be no PowerPoint presentations. Instead, every plenary speaker is paired with one or more artists - musicians, actors, dancers, visual artists - who will interpret and amplify the spoken messages and stories.
Artistic content will be woven into Summit - not as preludes or warm-ups, but rather as a seamless, natural part of the Summit's fabric.
The schedule is as follows:
• Wednesday, June 4, at 6:15 p.m. - “The Well Being: Health, Healing and Community” - Samantha Eagle, founder and medical director of Biologic Integrative Healthcare and the Biologic Wellness Center in Brattleboro, who specializes in lifestyle and functional medicine, with artistic collaborators Lindel Hart, performer, yoga instructor, and writer, and John Sheldon, guitarist.
• Thursday, June 5, at 8:30 a.m. - “Time is running out, let's slow down” - Charles Eisenstein, author of “The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible,” “The Ascent of Humanity,” “Sacred Economics,” and “The Yoga of Eating,” with artistic collaborator Eugene Friesen, cellist known the world over for his groundbreaking improvisational work and long-time work with the Paul Winter Consort.
• Thursday, June 5, at 1:45 p.m. - “The Free-co-system: Investing for personal and community wealth” - Amit Sharma, investment professional who works at the intersection of commercial enterprise, public policy, and the capital markets, with artistic collaborator Amy Johnquest, a.k.a. The Banner Queen, a painter who offers hand-painted sideshow banners reminiscent of old carnivals and traveling circuses.
• Thursday, June 5, at 3:45 p.m. - Also open to the public is the presentation of the film “Food for Change.” The story of cooperation in America, “Food For Change” tells the little-known story of the cooperative movement in the United States from the Great Depression to the present. This alternative economic model is experiencing a resurgence in response to the 2008 market crash, widening wealth disparity, and the consolidation of the food industry. Presented with the support of the Brattleboro Food Co-op and the Neighboring Food Co-op Association.
• Friday, June 6, at 8:30 a.m. - “Soil, Soul, and Society: A love story in three movements” - Martin Ping, executive director of Hawthorne Valley in Ghent, New York, an organization aimed at promoting the integration of society and culture with education and arts, with artistic collaborators guitarist Seamus Maynard, violinist Jonathan Talbott and cellist Jonah Thomas, members of the group Quiet in the Head.
• Friday, June 6, at 10:30 a.m.- “Lessons from a 10-mile diet” - Vicki Robin, co-author of the perennial best seller, “Your Money or Your Life” and author of the new book, “Blessing the Hands that Feed Us.”
• Friday, June 6, at 3:25 p.m. - “Arts, humor, love and story” - Linda McInerney, the Summit's artistic director, founder/director of Old Deerfield Productions, with artistic collaborator John Sheldon, guitarist.