The 11th annual Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference is next May 31st – June 2nd; there will probably be additional programming on the 30th and 3rd. I’m a member of the PTHC Spirituality Advisory Group, and I’m co-chairing the Jewish Working Group (J-WoG? J-WorG?) with Shelley Kapnek Rosenberg (in Philly); we organize the Jewish programming for the con. Here’s the Spirituality Call for Proposals (and the other Calls), also available at http://www.trans-health.org/2012specificcallforproposals#spirituality and as a Word document.
*******
11th Annual Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference
May 31st-June 2nd 2012 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center
(Philadelphia, PA)
a program of the Mazzoni Center
Please forward/spread the word to friends and colleagues!
*Call For Workshop Proposals in the area of Spirituality*
The *11th Annual Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference* (PTHC) will be held*
**May 31st-June 2nd 2012* at the *Pennsylvania** Convention Center
(Philadelphia, PA)*.
The Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference hosts over 175 workshops each year. In this fourth year of extended *spirituality programming* at the Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference, we continue to embrace the power of spiritual practice, reflection, and community as tools that can support personal health and wholeness.
Our programming includes a wide range of spiritual perspectives, reflecting a diverse range of spiritual and religious paths. Through multiple programming approaches, we will nurture personal strength, explore transgender experiences of the sacred, build community, and create
opportunities to (re)claim religious traditions in a transgender-friendly environment. We will also work to support spiritual and religious leaders in making the world a more supportive place for transgender people, our family, and friends.
*Leadership*
If you have never presented at PTHC in the spirituality track, then we would love to hear from you! PTHC emphasizes grassroots empowerment and we put together a variety of non-sectarian and multi-faith offerings in addition to religiously specific workshops. We are particularly eager to hear from transgender people who are willing and able to talk about their experiences in faith traditions or spiritual practices outside of Christianity, including spiritual practices that may not even be considered "religious." We would love to hear from you, if you have a perspective to
share. Please contact chris@trans-health.org or 267-507-5507 to explore possible opportunities for leadership and representation -- OR if you can help to put us in touch with other relevant people.
Meanwhile, please help us expand the circle by sharing this call for proposals with others you know who may want to participate or have gifts to share.
*Spiritual Opportunities*
We need your ideas for creative affirmations, spiritual practices, and religious observances that facilitate exploration and/or rediscovery of spiritual vitality beyond the workshop schedule. Traditional examples of spiritual opportunities at PTHC have included meditation practice (e.g.
guided or Buddhist), yoga practice, Pagan ritual opportunities, Jewish prayer service, and Christian worship and/or prayer. In past years, we have also offered non-sectarian opportunities like 12 step meetings, naming ceremonies, a celebration/gratitude table, and an artful meditation room.
With your help, we can expand our offerings to even better represent the breadth of religious experience -- as well as opening further to the amazing spiritual strength of our communities. Join in the existing conversations about Eastern traditions, Indigenous traditions, Judaism,
Black Church contexts, Islam, and Catholicism -- or help us to better represent additional traditions like atheism, ancestor worship, African traditions, Hinduism, New Thought, and more! We embrace and affirm the incredible diversity of spiritual paths and practices among transgender folks, our families, friends, and allies. We need creative conversation partners as we look at new ways to facilitate the sharing of wisdom and strength in our communities in ways that transcend religious institutions. Please contact chris@trans-health.org or 267-507-5507 to share your ideas.
*Workshops*
In the area of spirituality programming, we are seeking workshop proposals and faculty that nurture spiritual strength and expression in and around transgender communities, including:
§ Spirituality and our bodies (e.g. ritual and spiritual practice, sacred significance of body modification, how spirituality supports personal health, etc)
§ Uniquely transgender experiences of the sacred (e.g. gender-giftedness, insights from beyond the binary, etc)
§ Safe spirituality (e.g. finding your spiritual path, new transgender-friendly spiritual practices, finding/building alternative spiritual communities, etc)
§ Transgender-friendly perspectives on religious traditions (e.g. exploring Christian Scripture or Jewish texts, gender-giftedness in pagan traditions, gender diversity in Buddhism, etc)
§ Strategies for making change (e.g. how spiritual practice supports activism, how to connect with adversarial religious types, the role of moral authority in trans-activism, equipping transgender leaders to impact local religious communities, etc)
§ Innovative efforts to address transgender spiritual and religious issues (e.g. Black Church town hall meeting, seminarian caucus, transgender clergy networking, etc)
§ Your other creative ideas, nurturing spiritual strength and expression in transgender communities
We are also seeking proposals that will equip religious and spiritual leaders to better serve transgender people, our family, and friends. Examples of workshop topics include:
§ Pastoral counseling with the transgender community
§ Experiences of family and friends of transgender people in religious communities
§ How to make your religious community more trans-inclusive
§ How religious communities can make a difference for transgender people, our family, and friends
§ Your other creative ideas, nurturing cultural competency and trans-advocacy among religious leaders
*Special Events*
We are also looking for organizations that are interested in partnering with us to provide additional opportunities and impact. If your organization would like to explore opportunities for partnership or invite PTHC participants to attend a special event hosted by your religious/spiritual community during or around the conference, please contact chris@trans-health.org.
Also, please check back for more details on a pre-events being planned for Wednesday, May 30, 2012. Opportunities are also in development for Sunday, June 3, 2012.
*How To Submit Your Proposal*
At www.trans-health.org/propose-a-workshop, you can propose your own workshops as well as review a list of topics and past workshop descriptions. We are eager to hear your creative ideas!
*The workshop proposal deadline is January 15, 2012.* However, earlier submission is strongly encouraged!
There is no registration fee to participate in the Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference, but if travel expenses would prevent you from offering your workshop idea, please be in touch with the planning committee about your needs. A limited amount of funds may be available to provide travel and lodging assistance for presenters with pressing need. Go ahead and submit your workshop proposal in the online system and also contact jacsen@trans-health.org with information on what kind of support you would need to be able to attend.
*General Call for Proposals*
In addition to this specific call for proposals, we are seeking proposals in many other areas of programming. Please see the website www.trans-health.org/2012generalcallforproposals for more details about this.
*For More Information*
Please watch http://www.trans-health.org for more conference developments as plans are finalized, including details about sponsorship, advertising, and vending opportunities, as well as housing options, pre-registration, and more program details. Jacsen is the logistical coordinator on staff at the Mazzoni Center and can be reached at jacsen@trans-health.org or on the phone at 215-563-0652. Jacsen is available to answer questions as well as help people submit workshops who do not have regular access to or the ability to use computers. For questions specific to *spirituality programming* *or to volunteer with spirituality programming* please contact
Chris Paige at chris (at) transfaithonline (dot) org (chris@transfaithonline.org).
No comments:
Post a Comment