Retreat destinations are usually held in the community of one of our members. Each GIC retreat has an overarching theme. Our 2016 retreat, on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington, focused on “Expressing our Intercultural Journeys.” This retreat featured workshops on creating a journal and writing or illustrating reflections on our intercultural journeys. These journals, bound by hand, became repositories of reflections from which to draw for future gatherings.
- To read more about the 2016 Retreat — Click Here
- To learn about the 2017 Retreat
Beginning with our 2018 retreat in Des Moines, Iowa, we embraced a sub-theme of “global intercultural dynamics.” Our goal is to understand the historical and recent cultural influences shaping the intercultural dynamics of a given location. In Des Moines one dynamic is the multiple waves of immigration. Prior to the retreat, we read about former Governor Robert Ray’s leadership in positioning Iowa to welcome refugees from Southeast Asia in the 1980s. In preparation for meeting new people, we developed and practiced a protocol which included “Story Telling” and “Story Catching.” For our retreat, we invited Japanese, Bulgarian, Chinese, Indian and Sudanese immigrants to be our guests for dinner and to share part of their global intercultural journeys with us. Each of us was deeply moved to hear the immigration stories of struggle, sacrifice, and joy.
- To read more about the 2018 Retreat — Click Here
We engage in a co-creative process in selecting the locations and developing our retreats each year. For 2019, we brainstormed several US locations: Pacific Northwest, Southwest, Northeast. We decided to return back to the Pacific Northwest where we had held our first 2016 retreat. Going back to the Puget Sound allowed us to dig more deeply into the historic, intercultural dynamics of that region. It also presented members of the virtual Group to connect up with members of an emerging Puget Sound local group. Our 2019 theme, “The Transformative Potential of Global Intercultural Relationships” built on our exploration of how each of us are impacted by our global intercultural relationships. We wished to be even more deliberate in preparing ourselves for coming to the region and for considering the complexities of global intercultural encounters.
- To read more about the 2019 Retreat — Click Here
After two years of not being able to hold our annual retreats due to the COVID pandemic, we eagerly came together for our 2022 retreat in Northern New Jersey. We revisited the theme of “The Transformative Potential of Global Intercultural Relationships” and continued with exploring how immigration has plays a powerful role in shaping the intercultural dynamics of a given region. This time we learned about immigrations impact on the past and contemporary communities of Jersey City/Bayonne, the Oranges, and Newark. Among the the spaces and activities on our agenda were visits to Ellis Island and the Newark Art Museum as well as a gathering in Bayonne with recent Immigrants and discussions with representatives from Immigrant advocacy organizations.
- To read more about the 2022 Retreat — Click Here
Our 2023 retreat was held again in the Puget Sound and was continued with the theme of “Deepening Understanding of Intercultural Dynamics in the Pacific Northwest.” The retreat included a network gathering during which members of the GIC Leadership Circle and Puget Sound Circle experienced a UNESCO Story Circle together. We also revisited the cultures of Bainbridge island, this time, learning about the Indipino culture. Many of our workshops and event during this retreat featured learning more about the first peoples of the Kitsap and Olympic Pennisula. We had the opportunity to learn from leaders of the S’klallam Tribes and visit the Makkah Tribe Museum.
- To read more about the 2023 Retreat — Click Here
The theme for our 2024 retreat was “Working towards Mutual Understanding, Social Justice and Equity in Intercultural Relations.” We explored of the unique historical and contemporary forces which shape the cultural undercurrents of the Southern Tier of New York State. We learned about the Underground Railroad, factory industrialization in the 19th century which attracted waves of European immigrants, the original home of IBM, and Binghamton University, one of four research centers in the SUNY System. A unifying theme for the retreat was the intersectionality between gender, race and positionality as white people and people of color interact. We teased out this theme during our conversations with the African American women we met during the week.
- To read more about the 2024 Retreat — Click Here