Author Archives: Alison Nihart

Save the dates for Epic Skill Swap(s) 2016!

Dearest friends,

We’re thrilled to share that there will be not one, but two Skill Swaps at Camp Wilmot in 2016! They will happen on the weekends of June 3-6 and June 10-13. On both weekends, we will have the camp from Friday afternoon through Monday.

A bit about this change: Skill Swap has been growing quickly in the five years that it’s been in existence. This is a thrilling thing of course, and points to a real need for more connection and more joy in our lives. At the same time, the organizers have been conscious of trying to keep the event filled with a sense of meaningful community.

We considered the possibility of continuing to have just one festival and capping participation at the size of last year’s event, but we worried that spaces would sell out so quickly that there would be no room for community growth. Our core organizers deeply value the ability to welcome new people into our community. We want to be able to nurture more skills, more sharing, and more love-filled tentacles that keep stretching farther into the world.

The decision to hold two consecutive events comes from a desire to keep each gathering small enough to feel cozy, inviting, and meaningful, and also be able to accommodate our expanding community. The decision to do consecutive weekends, but neither on Memorial Day (the weekend that we have historically held Skill Swap), was intended to prevent one weekend from feeling like “the original” skill swap, and the other like the afterthought. Both are Skill Swap, and people will be welcome to attend one or both events.

We are very excited about taking this next step as a group. We are also thrilled to welcome six new core organizers to our team: Annie, Marvin, Dana, Ben, Ethan, and Eric! You’ll be hearing from all of us as we move into our skills submission and voting period and June gets closer.

In the meantime, enjoy winter, your holiday(s) of choice, and time with those you love.

With epic end-of-the-year cheer,

The 2016 Skill Swap(s) Organizing Team
Meghan, Jamie, Alison, Onnie, Annie, Marvin, Dana, Ben, Ethan, and Eric

Epic last-minute details: directions! food! packing! skills!

Dearest and Most Epically Skilled Swappers,

We’re a little more than a week away from Skill Swap 2015, and we are so tremendously excited! This email has some final logistical details. It’s a long one, but everything in here is important (including information about the site, food, transit, packing, alcohol, etc.), so bear with us.

First, our site! Camp Wilmot, our home for the last three years, is a wonderful place, boasting a pond, cabins, camping areas, a wonderful barn, a spacious dining hall with a commercial kitchen, and beautiful woods. A few things to remember:

  • It is located on N. Wilmot Road in Wilmot, NH. Here’s a map.
  • It is a summer camp. That means rough surfaces, shared bathrooms, etc.
  • There’s no ATM in the vicinity, so bring cash with you
  • It’s a bit of a hike to the nearest grocery store, so if you anticipate needing snacks, be sure to provision before you arrive

Continue reading →

ESS 2015 Waitlist Link and Preliminary Schedule

Dearest and Most Skilled Swappers,
We’re blown over by the interest in Skill Swap this year, and we’re writing to let you know that ESS 2015 is sold out. If you didn’t have a chance to register and you still want to come, we do have a waitlist. We sometimes get cancellations, so if you get in off the waitlist, we will let you know as soon as possible.
As a reminder, our cancellation policy is as follows:
  • Please let us know ASAP if you’ve registered and decide not to come.
  • If you let us know by 2 weeks prior to the event (May 8), we will refund your registration fee.
  • After May 8, we cannot guarantee a refund of your registration fee, but we’ll do our best.
A further note that the preliminary schedule is now posted. This schedule is still subject to some changes as we work out final details.
With epic love and anticipation,
ESS 2015 Core Organizing Team

Registration is open for Epic Skill Swap 2015!

Dearest and Most Epic Swappers,
It’s that time: registration is now open for Epic Skill Swap 2015! Registration opened last Friday and we’ve been amazed by how quickly people have been signing up!
Space at Epic Skill Swap is limited to 120 people. This is for two reasons—we want to maintain the intimate, community-based orientation of previous Skill Swaps, and Camp Wilmot cannot comfortably hold too many more visitors than that. We anticipate that there may be more demand than we can accommodate this year, and we encourage you to sign up as soon as possible.
Here’s how it works: go to our Brown Paper Tickets page here. You’ll be guided through the registration process. We are asking for a $15 deposit to reserve your space. Epic Skill Swap operates on a sliding scale price model, out of a recognition that folks have different abilities to pay. At the event, we will let you know the cost per person with as much detail as you’d like (last year actual costs were $54 per person). When you check in, you may pay any remaining balance in an amount of your choice. If the $15 registration fee is a hardship for you, please contact the organizers at EpicSkillSwap@gmail.com.
Cancellation policy:
  • Please let us know ASAP if you’ve registered and decide not to come.
  • If you let us know by 2 weeks prior to the event (May 8), we will refund your registration fee.
  • After May 8, we cannot guarantee a refund of your registration fee.
The preliminary schedule will be forthcoming in the next few days, so keep your eyes peeled. We are epically and lovingly yours, and so much looking forward to May 22!
Meghan, Alison, Charis, Jamie, and Sue
ESS 2015 Core Organizing Team

Epic Updates: An anti-oppression training, organizing help, and a timeline of what to expect in the next few months!

A very happy 2015 to all of you! We are looking towards this year’s festival with great anticipation, and to that end we have a couple of Very Exciting Things to share:

The first Very Exciting Thing is that the Epic Skill Swap Organizing team and some other skilled swappers are putting together an anti-oppression workshop on February 28th in the Boston/Providence area. We’re doing this in an effort to keep our community as open and welcoming as possible for folks of all backgrounds, and to make sure that our festival reflects our values of inclusion and safety. Lisa and Chloe will lead us through core ideas and practices for working to dismantle race, gender, and economic oppressions. We would like to share this opportunity with the broader ESS community, and so we invite you to join us. We have a limited number of spaces available on a first-come, first-served basis. Email Meghan at epicskillswap@gmail.com if you’re interested. Continue reading →

Registration is open for Epic Skill Swap 2014!

Dearest Swappers,

It’s almost that time, and registration is now open for Epic Skill Swap 2014! We’ve got a new system in place for registration this year:

Space at Epic Skill Swap is limited to 120 people. This is for two reasons—we want to maintain the intimate, community-based orientation of previous Skill Swaps, and Camp Wilmot cannot comfortably accommodate too many more visitors than that. While we don’t necessarily anticipate filling up completely, we encourage you to sign up as soon as possible so that we get a better idea of our numbers, and to ensure participants that they have a spot. Continue reading →