The Gathering
A Full Online Permaculture Design Course for Artists, Creatives and Cultural Workers
THIS COURSE WILL RUN AGAIN IN EARLY 2027 – PLEASE COMPLETE THE FORM AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE TO BE INFORMED OF NEW DATES AS SOON AS THEY ARE AVAILABLE
Welcome to The Gathering – a learning journey and community of practice for artists, creatives and cultural workers who want to slow down and explore how we can live well, now.
We are delighted that you found your way here!
This is the place for you if:
- You believe a better future is possible and would like to be part of a community that may help you instigate the change you feel is urgently needed.
- You feel deeply that different ways to relate to the world around us are called for at this time
- You recognise that we need to find new ways of doing things as the ways that we have been doing things are not working anymore.
- You would like to be part of community which generates understanding, connection and life.
- You are prepared to lean into an uncertain future with honesty and kindness and be prepared to unlearn in order to find new ways forward.
- You want to unleash all the untapped potential in role as a creative in relation to the place(s) where you work and live.
- You are would to leave a legacy for future generations that is more positive than the one that they currently face.
What is It?
The Gathering has grown out of our Full Permaculture Design Course specifically focused on artists, creatives and cultural workers which launched in 2023 and was the first course of its kind in the UK . This learning space is unique. and remains one of the only PDCs globally which takes this focus.
It takes the classic Permaculture Design Course as a starting point, but has been created with a specifically creative focus exploring how permaculture design can be used to deepen creative practice and to bring a new ethical basis to projects and the mechanisms that support them, particularly in relation to ecology, natural systems and regenerative cultures.
The next cohort of the course runs from Wednesday 10th September 2025 to Saturday 8th August 2026.
It comprises of 60 hours of live online sessions delivered as 1 x 3 hour session per month and 1 x 2 hour session per month. There will also be 1 x 1 hour filmed / self led design activity. These are supported by additional optional ‘homework’ activities, online resources, guest teachers, and virtual project visits.
What is Permaculture Design?
A set of tools, based around the ethics of earth care, people care and fairshare, which help us reconnect with the natural world and to create projects and work with a strong ethical, ecological and regenerative foundation.
What is a Permaculture Design Course?
For many people a Permaculture Design Course is a life-changing experience. A PDC is the main way to engage in formal learning around permaculture theory and practice. It covers all major permaculture theory and design processes and delves into a wide array of examples of how permaculture can be applied. What makes our course unique is that it takes this structure and develops it specifically to focus upon how artists and creatives can use the tools of permaculture, based around the ethics of earth care, people care and fairshare, to help reconnect with the natural world and to create projects and work, and the mechanisms that support this, with a stronger ethical, ecological and regenerative foundation.
How will the course work?
It will bring together a group of just twenty people as a learning community to explore how the concepts of permaculture can be used to deepen individual and shared creative practice and the mechanisims that support those practices. It will support participants to think about how they may bring a new ethical basis to their work, particularly in relation to ecology, natural systems and regenerative cultures. It is divided into seven different modules each of which will consist of a mixture of live face-to-face teaching hours and a mix of voluntary and compulsory assignments. It is very much a participatory journey including a balance of individual and group work. You will also create your own regenerative design on a subject of your choice, making use of the tools that you have learned during the course.
Who is it for?
Anybody working in the cultural / creative sector who would like to explore how Permaculture Design could help to develop and deepen their creative practice. Recent participants have included visual artists, theatre designers, graphic designers, architects, academics, researchers, producers, curators, illustrators and photographers.
What will I learn?
Module One – An Introduction to Permaculture: This module gives an understanding of the history and context of permaculture as a regenerative design practice. It also explores the ethics and principles of permaculture and brings them to life in relation to each participant’s personal context and experience. We will begin to explore and use our first design tools, and create our first designs.
Module Two – Listening to the Land: We think about our relationship with the land, particularly in terms of agriculture and cultivation. We also learn more about ecology and ecologies, and begin to explore tools that we can use to observe and relate to the land we live on more closely.
Module Three – Taking Inspiration From Nature #1: We explore our relationship with trees and water, and what we can learn from those relationships. We look at how we can have positive, restorative relationships with landscapes. We observe patterns in nature to better understand the way that different ecologies function.
Module Four – Taking Inspiration From Nature #2: We look to nature again to think about soil ecology, particularly thinking about how we can build and maintain healthy soil. We think about food cultivation and how this can be done in regenerative ways.
Module Five – People and Permaculture: We turn our gaze to the ways that permaculture design can be used specifically in relation to people and communities. We focus upon our part in the natural world, the resources that we bring as individuals, and the relationships that we have with other people.
Module Six – Community and Places: Here we think about cities, buildings and shelters. We focus upon how we can use permaculture design to reduce the impact of all aspects of our lives, and how it may help us to live more regeneratively, particularly in urban settings and in relation to the climate and ecological crisis.
Module Seven – Design Project: We end the course by creating our own designs using the tools and skills that we have learned during the course. We also come up with next steps so that we can continue our journey in permaculture beyond the course.
Previous course guests have included:
Gui Castro (Kew Gardens) – Understanding the value of trees
Pippa Chapman – Creating forest garden guilds
Lucy Wright – The role of folk tradition in regenerative creative practice
Roy Sean Parker (Fermental Health) – Permaculture as insipration for arts practice
Ann-Marie Culhane – The work that reconnects
Wilf Richards – Permaculture Principles
All sessions are recorded and can be watched back online by attendees for six months after the course has finished. All notes and slides from the sessions will also be shared.
Where and when will the course take place?
All sessions take place on Zoom. They run on one Saturday a month and one midweek session (Wednesday or Thursday) The Saturday sessions run from 9.30am until 12.30pm. The midweek session run from 6.30pm – 8.30pm.
In addition to this there is a one hour design activity that you will undertake individually during each month of the course.
| September | Wednesday 10th Saturday 27th |
| October | Saturday 4th Thursday 23rd |
| November | Saturday 8th Wednesday 19th |
| December | Saturday 6th Thursday 18th |
| January | Saturday 10th Wednesday 21st |
| February | Saturday 7th Thursday 26th |
| March | Saturday 14th Thursday 26th |
| April | Saturday 11th Wednesday 29th |
| May | Saturday 9th Thursday 28th |
| June | Saturday 13th Wednesday 24th |
| July | Saturday 4th Thursday 23rd |
| August | Saturday 1st Saturday 8th |
What is included in the course?
| A Community of Practice Join a dynamic and committed learning community that continues beyond the course as life-long friends and colleagues in the work of transformation. The time together on the course enables participants to connect more deeply and build supportive and lasting relationships. | A Library of Resources and Inspiration Each live session is recorded creating a library of resources throughout the course. Each month you will also have access to pre-recorded sessions to watch which are accompanied by assignments that you can try out in your work / life and share back to the community. | Live Sessions Filled With Reflection and Exploration Although the course is online it is still dynamic and participatory. Together we will dive in, exploring deeper and creating new knowledge and practice together. We will share our live experiments in our own contexts and work together on the challenges we face. |
| Design Projects These self-led projects enable individuals to bring a particular question to our community. Working together we will explore the individual and shared challenges that we might face, and possible ways forward. | Permaculture Design Toolkit During the course you will create your own toolkit of frameworks and practices that will help you explore regenerative practices in reality. The foundation of Permaculture Design Practice, these are the things that help make regenerative ideas into reality. | Guest Contributors We invite leading practitioners in regenerative creative practice from all over the world to share their work and approaches. This is done in a context of exercises and practices which you can use practically in your own context to develop learning and connection. |
Certification
The course is certified by The Permaculture Association. It follows the curriculum as outlined by the UK Permaculture Association and is accredited by the UK Permaculture Association with an internationally recognised Permaculture Design Course Certificate. Your main tutor on the course is a UK Permaculture Association Certified Educator.
To receive the certificate, there is a requirement to join 75% of the sessions and complete extra coursework to test understanding and assess learning. At the end of the course you will create a design for a project of your choice, putting your learning into practice. You will also need to complete a small related practical projects of your choice during the course and report on them.
Lead Tutor
“My name is Liz and I am a participatory artist and creative facilitator based in Bury in Greater Manchester
I am curious and inquisitive, and I love to learn so throughout my life I have continually diversified my skills seeking new ways to develop and grow. I have particular interest in the way that an open, creative approach can be beneficial in a plethora of different contexts. From imaginative adventures with the youngest children to artistic discovery with older people living with dementia at the end of life – I have a wide range of experience developing and delivering projects in theatres and creative spaces, but also in hospitals, schools, gardens, blocks of flats… Anywhere that the spark of imagination is given space to ignite endless possibilities.
I began my journey in Permaculture when I enrolled on a Permaculture Design Course with Angus Soutar in Lancaster in 2011. Since then I completed my PDC and also my diploma. The focus of my diploma was to explore notions of accessibility around permaculture, and also to explore how permaculture design could be used to deepen my own creative practice. I am passionate about the power of permaculture design as a tool to empower communities and individuals to instigate positive change.
I am one of the leading practitioners exploring ideas around permacultue design, imagination and art. In my day to day life I create zines focused upon ideas around permaculture and imagination, I convene a group exploring permaculture in the arts, and am involved in a community project using permaculture to manage and maintain a 120 acres of woodland and meadow by the River Irwell. I am particularly interested in developing projects which broaden access to permaculture and which make use of it in more unusual and unexpected contexts.”
Explore my profile on the Permaculture Association Website here.
How much will it cost?
The current course is priced at
- £900 (Organisation / Pay it forward)
- £700 (Full)
- £400 (Reduced)
There are also free places available.
We are able to offer payment by installment – please complete the booking form and select this option to find out more. Or get in contact via the form below.
People who have completed the Introduction to Permaculture for Artists and Creatives will receive a £50 discount on a FULL priced place
We choose to use sliding scale to encourage people to pay according to their available resources. It encourages those with greater financial privilege to contribute more, allowing those with less access, to pay according to their means. This allows us to run our courses while making accessibility as broad as possible. We invite you to use the image below, based on the Green Bottle sliding scale, to help you decide which price to choose.
If you feel that you would be able to make a contribution which is different to the outlined figures please let us know when you book your place.
Green Bottle is a Sliding Scale model that is inclusive of different financial experiences. Developed by community healing practitioner Alexis J. Cunningfolk, the Green Bottle Method is an economic justice tool that enables participants to adjust payment based on access to resources.
Feedback from previous course participants:
“The course was like a live experiment in collective learning on how permaculture can be applied to arts/creative practice. I enjoyed it when through our conversations we generated new knowledge about application in our contexts. Wonderful.“
“I completed this course this weekend and cannot recommend enough. It is enlightening, hopeful and really transformational for thinking about practice. To be honest it should be compulsory for all of us in the sector”
“The course was more far-reaching than i anticipated; when i began to think about regeneration it extended to every aspect of my life, not only my creative practice. The group quickly became support not only for the course but also my life.”
“A transformative course both on personal terms and professionally / work related too. I felt empowered through the learning of permaculture principles, ethos + frameworks and tools to see life and work and everything in between in a restorative and replenishing way.“
“A wonderful new vocabulary to articulate my ideas, values, challenges and aspirations within my own creative practice, the organisations I collaborate with and in my life as a whole. I feel so integrated and empowered to explore regenerative practices on all levels of my being.”
“It felt so rich and stimulating. Even though it took place on Zoom, it felt dynamic and collaborative. There were lots of chances to talk together, make notes and feedback, meaning I felt like a active participant in the course”
“This has been such an rich course, so much more than i imagined. Like a rich meal it needs time to digest.“
“I thought you illuminated the permaculture ideas and concepts so clearly and beautifully, in a way that made it accessible and relevant to artistic practice. I also loved the spirit of open enquiry that was fostered and sharing of discussions and ideas with a diverse and interesting community of artists.”
“Thank you for an incredible year. It so exceeded my expectations. I honestly think so many people would benefit from taking this learning journey with you; it is empowering in the face of powerlessness, builds community in a time of isolation and deepens our earthly, societal and cultural connections when we need it most.“
“What an empowering, inclusive, transformational and supportive year it’s been. The PDC changed my practice and life and I am in more alignment and truth in my every day than I could have imagined. I have become more resilient for myself, more mindful of my needs and more energised to participate, transform, collaborate and share my skills and ideas to contribute to the living world.”
Any other questions?