Strawman Proposal for the offer of Courses and Workshops via Cosmos

Commons
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Providers of courses or workshops: Cosmos Co-op is an artists collective dedicated to supporting the creative production of individuals within a collective space (a commons) with a goal to enabling a rethinking of our planet. The co-op operates in five distinct spheres - as a publisher, as an interaction enabler via its technologies (forums, online discussions, etc), as an education provider, as a collaborative commons for artistic endeavours and as a financial incubator for investors.

In addition to welcoming Creatives into its collaborative commons, the Co-op seeks to encourage members to offer courses and workshops in support of our mandate. The Co-op itself offers [will offer, technically, we are not quite there yet] some tutorials and mini-courses on the use of our technology interfaces. What we want, however, is the development of a marketplace where members access on the one hand, and offer on the other, courses, workshops, tutorials, etc.

Workshops and courses that have already been proposed include one on Writing Groups and their organization, one on Worldbuilding for scifi, fantasy, and historical fiction, and one on governance and stewardship. One could easily imagine other types of courses: in the past one member offered a hourse on the Dark Feminine, and I’m sure both writers and artists might be interested in the business side of promoting and managing their work. It might be interesting to come up with a list of desired subjects as well as subjects folks are interested in offering.

The Co-op would expect to take a (small) percentage of earnings (any ideas how much? Untimely Books takes 50%, but that is related to the high costs of publishing. I’m thinking 20%? 30%? 10%? There are costs involved for the coop to broker courses and also contributions will come back to co-op members via the co-op, so it’s not something with no return).

We also think that a contract template will need to be developed with some liability clauses to protect the co-op. We will need to think about this.

Also, maybe courses need to be offered with set times? By trimester, for example. A course vould be offered over more than one trimester, but this makes management easier. It’s not for nothing universities adopt such a structure.

What pedigree, if any, do we ask of our providers? The reputation of the Co-op is on the line, so some vetting may be important.

For promotion, I imagine the Co-op will do some things - put the class up on its website, include it in its newsletter, etc. We would need to think through limitations on what tge co-op coukd commit to doing.

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@Gennifrey_Edwards all I can say is, yes let’s!

Developing the capacity for Course offerings by our Creative Members is very much a part of our planned growth and platform development trajectory.

If we want to transform society towards a more effective planetary culture, perhaps courses/cohorts/retreats are one of the most important vectors for that, globally.

Indeed, from discussions I’ve had with @colinkarewa lately: Courses and cohorts might become the most visible & biggest draw of new customers/fans/members in all of the Cosmosphere. Imagine a “decentralized, cooperative Mindvalley” (Colin’s words) as the model.

To take it further: I think that a certain kind of thoughtleader that breaks from the individualistic molds of capitalism/western ideology… and is more rooted in COMMUNITY, and expressing ELDERSHIP… is desperately called for — and will become tremendously more relevant as legacy systems collapse irreparably.

What does thought leadership look like when it could actually save our lives?
And be a tangible bridge across the chasm toward liveable futures??
When it is grounded in matriarchal, indigenous, holistic, pluralistic praxis?
When it is flavored more like an encouragement of co-creative “power-with” than an unconscious reflection of “power-over” (dominance/superiority)?

Maybe we need an entirely new word or concept than “thought leadership”?
But it’s clear we aim to be a collective by & for some kind of “cultural vanguard” who is persistently, consistently, and insistently practicing a more cooperative, commoning, constructive way forward.
How do we organize that “collective genius?” How do we foster course development as well as collaborative salons and R&D working groups — and then how do we present and market those offerings to the world?

These are big questions, but if we apply ourselves to them, I think we’ll get big, bold, beautiful, bodacious results.