DEEP PLAY RESEARCH NETWORK
a virtual affinity network of practitioners experimenting with deep play practices in community
ONGOING / MONTHLY
(apply by the 25th of each month)
The Deep Play Research Network is a pilot project to create a virtual affinity network of artists, therapists, facilitators, coaches, philosophers, and healing arts practitioners who are invested in experimenting with deep play practices in community. At the end of each month, anyone interested in hosting a virtual relational experiment will have the opportunity to submit a proposal. Proposals will undergo a brief review process, and then selected experiments will be published on DPI’s calendar at the beginning of the month, and an email will be sent out with information about these offerings to DPI’s network.
For facilitators this is an opportunity for relational experimentation. Perhaps you have an idea for an activity that is a bit too edgy, or risky, or experimental? Perhaps you want to play with a new technique you are learning but you don't have access to a group of willing and curious participants? For participants, this is an opportunity to play with the unknown, and try on creative, experimental structures and forms. This is a chance to dive into ways of being that are a bit rough and undeveloped, but which are nonetheless aimed towards playful transformation.
Research & Iteration: Unlike the countless other brilliant experiments happening constantly that sadly are lost in the sands of time, we want to fill what we see as a gap in the experimental play community by cataloging and iterating on the experiments in an organized and searchable way. Our intention is to be an ever-growing database of recipes that helps deep play researchers design, iterate on, and hone their programming according to their values and dreams. Facilitators will be responsible for conducting a “research report” after each experiment to document their findings. These will be published on our website as general recipes for others to continue experimentation.
Details
Applications are due by the 25th of each month. All experiments will run for 90 minutes, cost $10 for participants, and facilitators will receive 80% of the income made from their experiments. Facilitators will be required in the application to select 3 possible days & times for their experiment to run, and must be available for all 3 time slots. Facilitators are required to use their own video conferencing platform for the event (i.e. Zoom, Google Meets, etc).
Timeline: Facilitators will be emailed by the 28th if their experiment will run in the following month, and will need to be responsive to email around this time. All experiments will be published on DPI’s website by the 1st of the month.
Marketing: For marketing DPI will: 1) publish the workshop on a calendar on our website 2) send out a “Deep Play Research Network Events” email at the beginning of the month, which explains all the events offered in a given month 3) send 1 more general reminder email of these offerings sometime midway through the month. All other marketing is the responsibility of the facilitator. And we recommend facilitators do some amount of work to market and promote their experiment (see cancellation policy).
Cancellation Policy: All experiments will require a minimum of 4 paying participants necessary to run. An experiment will automatically cancel if it doesn’t receive this amount of registered participants by 3 days prior to the event. For example: if an experiment is set to run at 1pm on Wednesday, then by 11:59pm Sunday if there are only 3 participants, the event will be canceled.
Safety: All facilitators and participants are required to agree to the following agreements: Honor Self: I agree to honor myself. This entails setting my own boundaries, and not participating in any activity that crosses my threshold of consent. Honor Other: I agree to honor other. This entails respecting the other person to set their own boundaries, and not pushing anyone to cross over a boundary that they set. Explore My Edge: I agree to explore my edge. This entails assessing where I am in a given moment (between emotional risk and safety) and taking a step in the direction of emotional risk, with the understanding that this brings growth and transformation. Confidentiality. I agree to not share any name-identifying information from the program I attend with anyone outside of it.
For facilitators this is an opportunity for relational experimentation. Perhaps you have an idea for an activity that is a bit too edgy, or risky, or experimental? Perhaps you want to play with a new technique you are learning but you don't have access to a group of willing and curious participants? For participants, this is an opportunity to play with the unknown, and try on creative, experimental structures and forms. This is a chance to dive into ways of being that are a bit rough and undeveloped, but which are nonetheless aimed towards playful transformation.
Research & Iteration: Unlike the countless other brilliant experiments happening constantly that sadly are lost in the sands of time, we want to fill what we see as a gap in the experimental play community by cataloging and iterating on the experiments in an organized and searchable way. Our intention is to be an ever-growing database of recipes that helps deep play researchers design, iterate on, and hone their programming according to their values and dreams. Facilitators will be responsible for conducting a “research report” after each experiment to document their findings. These will be published on our website as general recipes for others to continue experimentation.
Details
Applications are due by the 25th of each month. All experiments will run for 90 minutes, cost $10 for participants, and facilitators will receive 80% of the income made from their experiments. Facilitators will be required in the application to select 3 possible days & times for their experiment to run, and must be available for all 3 time slots. Facilitators are required to use their own video conferencing platform for the event (i.e. Zoom, Google Meets, etc).
Timeline: Facilitators will be emailed by the 28th if their experiment will run in the following month, and will need to be responsive to email around this time. All experiments will be published on DPI’s website by the 1st of the month.
Marketing: For marketing DPI will: 1) publish the workshop on a calendar on our website 2) send out a “Deep Play Research Network Events” email at the beginning of the month, which explains all the events offered in a given month 3) send 1 more general reminder email of these offerings sometime midway through the month. All other marketing is the responsibility of the facilitator. And we recommend facilitators do some amount of work to market and promote their experiment (see cancellation policy).
Cancellation Policy: All experiments will require a minimum of 4 paying participants necessary to run. An experiment will automatically cancel if it doesn’t receive this amount of registered participants by 3 days prior to the event. For example: if an experiment is set to run at 1pm on Wednesday, then by 11:59pm Sunday if there are only 3 participants, the event will be canceled.
Safety: All facilitators and participants are required to agree to the following agreements: Honor Self: I agree to honor myself. This entails setting my own boundaries, and not participating in any activity that crosses my threshold of consent. Honor Other: I agree to honor other. This entails respecting the other person to set their own boundaries, and not pushing anyone to cross over a boundary that they set. Explore My Edge: I agree to explore my edge. This entails assessing where I am in a given moment (between emotional risk and safety) and taking a step in the direction of emotional risk, with the understanding that this brings growth and transformation. Confidentiality. I agree to not share any name-identifying information from the program I attend with anyone outside of it.
image credit: Remedios Varo, Creation of the Birds, 1957