Creating a Free Cultural Space: Living the Principles of Social Threefolding

BY LAURA SUMMER, ARTIST, CO-FOUNDER OF FREE COLUMBIA AND DIRECTOR OF LIGHTFORMS ART CENTER

There would be a number of ways we could acknowledge and celebrate the 15th anniversary of Free Columbia, a local initiative for the arts, which grew out of Laura’s art classes in her home studio, developed into a year long training in painting, and further expanded to include initiatives in music, film, photography, pottery, puppetry, sculpture. In recent years, through on-line gatherings, there has developed a global collaboration of not only artists but includes anyone seeking a path of contemplative inquiry through art.

From the beginning, Laura was committed to Rudolf Steiner’s vision of the Threefold Social Order and had the courage to begin the Free Columbia programs without traditional tuition and fees, instead, she gratefully received whatever participants could offer on a self-determined sliding scale. With the fortitude to continue this practice through challenges and setbacks, Free Columbia now stands as a testament to the ideals of free access to cultural life.

“Recently, Laura was invited to the Netherlands to make a presentation at a conference of educators of young people and adults on the economics underlying her pioneering initiative here in the Berkshire Taconic region. We thought that we locals should have the opportunity to hear the inside story of this venture as well.” — Gloria Kemp for the Berkshire Taconic Branch

Sponsored by the Berkshire Taconic Branch of the Anthroposophical Society
For more information, contact Marc Clifton, marc.clifton@gmail.com, 619-251-1248