Schumacher Center For A New Economics

Reinventing the commons - the reinventing the commons program conducts research into the commons as a paradigm of economic and social change, and shares it with scholars, policy experts, and the public. In 2024, this work was presented in many forms. The program director made in-person keynote talks at large conferences and public events and informal presentations to smaller audiences. The program director also hosted his own podcast show and online video lecture series. He published essays in print and web magazines, participated in online interviews and webinars hosted by educational institutions and nonprofit organizations, offered public endorsements for noteworthy books, and gave (no-cost) consultations to activists and organizations. More than 500 copies of a book published by the program were sold or distributed. The program's monthly podcast had more than 15,000 downloads and live-streams, and its eight websites (for common-related books and topics) had a combined visitorship of more than 50,000 people.

Du bois fellowship - the venter hosted a resident fellow for sixm months. The fellow organized a series of experimental gatherings including a public town hall, a three day carnival at multiple venues, and an invitational session discussing new approaches to philanthropy. In total, 500 persons participated in these events as presenters or audience members.

Community land trust - provides information about the role of land and natural resources in a new economic system. Working with our local berkshire community land trust, the schumacher center helped found and promote farmsteads for farmers as a way to support secure access to farmland and housing for the many small farmers providing food for the region. A 79 acre site is under contract to purchase, hold, and lease to a berkshire mobile chicken farmer supplying eggs to local markets and food pantries. Stories about the farmsteads for farmers appeared in local and regional print, online, radio, and tv media, reaching over 30,000 people. Documents for the farmsteads for farmers modeled on those of indian line farm are on the schumacher center's website where they are accessed by groups representing farmers facing similar land insecurity issues.

Library operations - the schumacher center's unique collection of books and papers, including fritz schumacher's personal books and papers, and those of other decentralist authors and activists are all catalogued and that catalogue is searchable online. Researchers searched the online catalogue and a number of researchers came in person to access the library and archives. In light of the climate and inequality crises, researchers are revisiting the contributions of thinkers in the period of 1950 - 1980 on contemporary social activism and bioregional economics. The schumacher center's library has focused on collections from this period, providing an important resource for activists and researchers. New collections received in 2024, include the books and papers of kirkpatrick sale, noted advocate of bioregionalism. The curated selections of john mcclaughry's decentralism file, featuring 115+ rare and overlooked contributions to this canon through history, was published to our website for the first time.

Lectures and educational events - the schumacher center convened four in-person lectures in 2024. The forty-third annual e.f. Schumacher lecture was a joint presentation by alex forrester and alfa demmellash titled the greatest migration: beloved community as ecological civilization. The talk was videoed and placed on the center's website where it has been seen 250 times. The inaugural annual robert swann lecture was delivered by kali akuno, founder of cooperation jackson. It has been watched 1,100 times on youtube. International intellectual bayo akomolafe delivered an in-person lecture in april in great barrington to a packed house of 250. The youtube posting has been viewed another 8,500 times. In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the publication of small is beautiful, the schumacher center convened a monthly series of online conversations around themes from the book with leading thinkers/activists in each field. The series averaged 200 viewers per each event plus cumulative of 8,000 views once posted on the schumacher youtube channel, in total reaching 10,500 people.

Publication program - the center maintains a publication program both in print and online. The publications include schumacher lectures, but also include the legal and operational documents for the organization's local currency, community land trust, and share micro-credit programs, as well as background texts to these programs. There were 134,000 visits to the website in 2024.