Let’s Get Together!
A brand new festival and retreat for women of all ages, cultures and walks of life
Hello! My name is Laura, a graduate student in clinical psychology, and the founder and CEO of a brand new women’s initiative called The Get Together. Based in Toronto and working with a highly motivated management team and a legion of volunteers, our ultimate goal is to redefine what a community can look and feel like.
For the last five years, I have run women’s retreats, which led me to the realization that positive social relationships and the development of purpose are two vital aspects of self-esteem. Both elements are also cornerstones for the framework of successful communities.
Designed to eect meaningful change for women at both the personal and community level, The Get Together is an annual four-day festival for women of all ages (19+) and backgrounds that launches this August. One of the central themes is for participants to connect around a concept we’ve coined, “wisdomsharing.” This
unique approach to the festival platform means that every single woman who attends will contribute to the betterment of others in a meaningful way—by choosing to lead a 45-minute workshop, perform live on our main stage, submit art for our onsite art gallery, or volunteer. If none of those “ways” resonates, you can also suggest a way you’d like to contribute!
Early on in my career hosting women’s retreats, I began to realize that the traditional model of knowledge exchange, in which expert teachers disseminate information via a top-down approach, was rarely noted by participants as the most impactful experience of the retreat. In fact, what seemed to be most influential were primarily the opportunities provided for participants to share their own life experiences, vulnerabilities, passions and skill sets. It was in these moments that participants felt a sense of love and belonging, of meaning and purpose, mainly because they were being seen and heard as individuals in a welcoming group setting. The end result was that the experience left participants feeling changed, for the better.
Above and beyond my personal experiences, there is solid research that links the presence of “purpose and meaning” to well-being. For example, the research of Nansook Park and Christopher Peterson (2010) found that “Individuals with a sense of purpose and meaning report greater life satisfaction, more positive emotions, higher levels of optimism, and better self-esteem.” As this trend towards viewing participation as a mechanism to enhance self-esteem became increasingly apparent, I not only realized that providing a platform for all women to share their wisdom was a meaningful way to enhance self-esteem, but also that we are conditioned to believe that only experts have
wisdom worth sharing, when truthfully, we all do. This is how the idea of wisdom sharing and The Get Together was born.
Together with my co-producers Taylor Wild and Maxine Shifrin of Brainfood, Heather Allen, and our incredible core team of volunteers and advisors, we aim to help all women recognize that they have something unique and worth sharing. As a society, it is our responsibility to provide women with more opportunities to be seen, heard, elevated and celebrated! “You are enough, together we are infinite”—that’s our motto.
Realizing the costs associated with putting on a festival and that going on a retreat is simply not aordable for many women, we launched an ifundwomen crowdfunding campaign that raised $37,500! Through that initiative, we created our Wise Women Scholarships, making it possible for women with financial barriers to attend the event.
Over the next few years we aim to grow The Get Together into the largest annual gathering of women across North America. We want to break down barriers between women, recognize and honour the beauty in the diversity of “woman-ness,” so that together we can evolve individually, collectively and globally.
Along with wisdom sharing, The Get Together also sees the value in expert knowledge. And so our lineup includes a diverse array of keynote speakers and workshop leaders, including Sarah Britton of My New Roots, Vanja Vukelic of Merakilabbe, Tracy Komlos of Pangea Dreams, Meghan Yuri Young of The Sad Collective and Chidiogo Akunyili-parr of She Roars Africa, to name a few.
The four-day event also brings together an incredible lineup of Ontario-based musicians including Ayo Leilani (known as Witch Prophet), and Amai Kuda et Les Bois, as well as a varied and delectable menu of locally sourced vegetarian food, a marketplace for artwork, crafts and items of special interest, a healing centre with massage, reiki, acupuncture and more, and plenty of outdoor activities. It all takes place on a 150-acre farm in Plattsville, Ont., a small village outside Kitchener, less than two hours from Toronto. Given the rural locale, accommodations come in the form of a selection of comfy camping options including “glamping” for those whose traditional camping days are over! The setting is fresh and alive with a spring-fed river and pond, an apple orchard, tall grasses and forest trails. The farm is home to an eagles nest, horses, diverse flora and fauna, and, for four days in August—us. And hopefully you, too! For more details, check out www.thegettogether.ca.