It’s our 7th year, and we are taking a Magnify sabbatical
For six years in a row, we’ve had the great honor of holding space for social innovators from all over the world during our two-week annual conference. 2017 will be a sabbatical year for RecrearMagnify. We will be taking a year off to regenerate and pimp up our program.
Here is more on why and what to expect next.
What is Magnify?
RecrearMagnify is our iconic intercultural full immersion conference. Every year, we design the conference as a journey of transformation bringing together a group of 15 to 20 passionate young people from all over the world.
Every year, RecrearMagnify is a key moment in shaping our organizational culture. We use the conference to discuss our work, train new members on our research methodology, and connect with leading organizations around the world.
When we started seven years ago in Berlin, we never knew we would be running the conference every year. Nor did we know it would become one of the most energizing programs of the organization. With every year, we took bigger leaps in bolder directions.
Magnify history in review.
Berlin was our ‘Beta year’- ideas and excitement so high that a small group of inspired youth kept Recrear’s flame going. Year 1 of RecrearMagnify in Ottawa was about taking our legitimacy to the next level and in 2011 we decided to settle down as a non-profit in Canada. Year 2 in Quito was adventurous and eye-opening. We got to connect our social innovators to the young people we were working with on 100 Voices, our research on youth and civil society in Esmeraldas.
Year 3 in New Orleans was an ode to resilience and reflection. What better place to do that than in a city that is the definition of resilient community action. Year 4 in Yerevan, Armenia was a year for getting lost in mystery and unanswered questions. Immediately following our work in Cuba, this conference brought us back to our existential roots. Year 5 in Montreal was all about spontaneous play and exploration. It marked the beginning of a year filled with experimentation and inspired ideas.
This past year in Medellín we consolidated our methodology which allowed us to train our participants like never before while also connecting them more closely to our work on the ground in Colombia.
So why a sabbatical now?
It’s been a fun roller coaster, so why stop now?
Well, quite simply because we are action researchers, and if we don’t do the job of pausing to reflect after all this motion, then we’re not really doing our job.
We’ve dedicated six years to developing a strong, experience-based, program. We think the program is where it needs to be in terms of content. Yet organizing Magnify every year requires huge efforts from our team, and we now need to go out and build lasting partnerships to make sure we can sustain replicating the experience, year after year. Building partnerships is not only about raising our impact, it’s about ensuring that more people are able to attend.
In 2017 we want to meditate over the people, the Magnify experience and our own guiding role. There’s so much to take in, that we owe ourselves this pause. We want to open our eyes with even more excitement for Magnify in 2018.
What to expect next?
Expect a revamped Magnify set for launch in 2018!
Be ready to meet people working at all kinds of intersections related to youth-led development and research. Magnify will not only be a training space, it will be a space to join a community of like minded souls.
How do I get involved?
Sign up here and stay up to date on Magnify!
If you’re an organization interested in partnering with us by sending your staff to attend the conference reach out!
Beyond Magnify, there will be other ways to join our team in 2017. We are planning to host short courses on Participatory Action Research all over the world. So if you want the Recrear experience directly at your doorstep reach out and we’ll come to you!
The Recrear Team
