Hello! I’m Sophie.

I am an interdisciplinary facilitator, host, learning and programme specialist, researcher and artist. My work revolves around developing and strengthening a sense of deep curiosity and rich community in spaces of learning and inquiry. For me, learning together is one of the most beautiful, imaginative and critical practices for our times. I create accessible environments in which we might enter into shared curiosity, wonder/wander together, and engage in tender risk-taking as a community. I am deeply enchanted by the ‘beautiful risk of education’ (G. Biesta).

What I do

I am currently founder, co-ordinator and host of The Convivial, an intimate civic learning space for imagination, ecology and place-based research and arts, nestled in the heart of Penryn, Cornwall. Here, three questions hold the context for my work:

• How might a community teach ourselves?

• How might we co-create networks of mutual care and reciprocity?

• How might we fall back in love with the world around us?

This is a live inquiry/experiment in building wise, place-based networks grounded in a mutual sense of collective care and curiosity around what it means to live well in the world today. The Convivial offers fortnightly evening talks from local speakers, taught courses and facilitated workshops, and an ongoing hyperlocal, site-specific research and engagement. 

My approach

I draw from a range of modalities, disciplines and praxis in my work, all geared towards the surfacing and holding of paradox and co-existing truths. I don’t believe in easy answers to the complex questions of our times, but rather in capacity-building for doubt and uncertainty. We can learn to romance mystery in a way that opens up new possibilities. My central approach is to hold inquiry — essentially, a damn good and/or outrageously niggling question — at the heart of everything. I believe that if we can live the question well, then doubt, mystery and uncertainty can in fact become a deep and regenerative well of opportunity.

My offer

I am available to work with you in developing rigorous and imaginative courses, programmes, rituals, events and gatherings for collective inquiry and change. Get in touch to talk about collaborating with me on your offerings.