This is a real ‘web’, just like a spider’s – a place of connections – ideas – information – of dreams!
Our aim is to make it a Web of Hubs for alternative and free cultural spaces and people
The idea is to provide a loose-knit, non-hierarchical, web-based resource network for a wide range of what we are calling ‘Free Cultural Spaces’ (FCS). They wouldn’t necessarily use that term to describe themselves, but we need a simple, non-threatening term!
UK intellectual, natural historian, eco-activist, broadcaster, social commentator and writer.
He says in his on-line blog: “I still see my life as a slightly unhinged adventure whose perpetuation is something of a mystery. I have no idea where it will take me, and no ambitions other than to keep doing what I do. So far it’s been gripping.”
Always challenging…see links to his own website and a link to a TED video of one of his talks about ‘going wild’. Re-wilding. Back to nature, if you like.
Not the festival…but a link to variety of street buskers, musos, nomads and more, performing around the historic Somerset, UK town. Enjoy!
Global Communities started out in the USA as the Foundation for Cooperative Housing. It works on sustainability in a ‘bottom-up’ way valuing the views and energy of communities. The agency currently works in more than 20 countries around the world.
The Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) is a good place to search for information and links to world-wide ‘communities’. Lots of articles providing food for thought.
GEN-Europe promotes the development of sustainable settlements in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
“We realised that we wanted to inspire people to seek out enriching experiences that would stay with them for life. We realised that when travellers visit a destination in a responsible way, not only are they helping that destination but that destination is also helping them in return.
And so a new meaning and a new mission was born for globalhelpswap.
We’d love it if you joined our tribe of responsible travellers and shared this journey with us. Will you?”
It is an alternative to WWooFing for both hosts and volunteers. The ‘work’ is more varied too. But the internet shows that there is a diverse range of experiences that have come from the scheme, not always entirely positive.
Like other similar schemes, it is essentially a database, for both hosts and volunteers.
Much-mythologised Swedish musicians. Proto-type hippies, mask-wearing, commune-dwelling Psycho-Nauts. Making a lot psychedelic waves round the world festival circuit.
A couple of links to their strange worlds…the second being an official video of the band…
Jonathan Downes is the editor of Gonzo Weekly – a UK (free) online alternative music magazine. Mostly retro stuff – for instance, a lot of Hawkwind-related material.
Jon is also the co-ordinator of the Centre for Fortean Zoology. That website is dedicated to the search for hitherto ‘unknown animals’. They play host to the annual ‘Weird Weekend’.
Perhaps the ultimate free cultural spaces band so far known to the world. They evolved out of the Californian scene of the mid 1960s to become the nexus of the free-festival, love-ins, be-ins and all that was the ‘hippy’ evolution. And their exploits on the Magic Bus with the Merry Pranksters gave birth to the never ending gigs that are the stuff of legend. Millions of Deadheads worldwide still believe that the Grateful Dead will live on for ever...as does the artwork associated with them.
Links to the official Dead site. And to a vast archive of their music.
The Green Gathering was formerly known as the Big Green Gathering in the UK . It has an environmental and social justice focus. It includes talks and workshops on permaculture, politics, ecology and crafts, as well as music, spoken word and art. The first Big Green Gathering was held in 1994 and the festival is currently held in Chepstow in Monmouthshire.