About Amherst Writers & Artists Trainings
Writing transforms lives, and this training
can transform yours! Learn the acclaimed, time-tested writing group
method pioneered by Amherst Writers & Artists. AWA has taught over
600 trainees how to help writers express themselves more deeply and
naturally. AWA's comprehensive training program provides leadership
skills, hands-on experience, and practical information on how to form
successful writing groups for writers at all levels and from diverse
backgrounds. Whether you want to start a business leading writing groups
for the general population or want to work with specific populations
such as women in prison, low-income youth, or people dealing with cancer,
this training will give you the skills and information you need.
AWA Group Leadership Training
- Post-AWA-Certificate Training - Locations
Cost - Schedule - Trainers
- Download 2010 Application (requires free Adobe Reader)
AWA Group Leadership Training
The AWA Group Leadership Training is a four-day intensive course
in the AWA method. The guidelines and practices that shape AWA writing
groups are quite specific, and the leader's in-depth understanding of
them is vitally important to the effectiveness of the group. This training
will prepare you to lead groups for the general population and for traditionally
silenced people in places such as public housing, shelters, hospitals
or prisons. In addition to the specific AWA practices, skills that will
be taught include:
- Creating and maintaining a safe and hospitable writing
environment.
- Choosing effective writing exercises and prompts.
- Being a clear, supportive leader.
- Running workshops as a business.
- Understanding the transformative power of the method.
- Structuring the writing group to accommodate the needs
of diverse people.
- Understanding essential differences between writing
for healing and therapy.
- Inviting experimentation and growth in participants'
writing.
AWA Leadership is taught through writing sessions, talks
by experienced leaders, group discussion, role playing, film, and guest
speakers, giving participants a full experience of the AWA method in action.
Upon completion of the training, participants will have a thorough understanding
of the AWA method, our practices and guidelines, and will be able to convey
them effectively to their workshop members.
For further information about the trainings and an application,
please write to amherstwriters@gmail.
You may also download an application here.
Post-AWA-Certificate Training
The Post-AWA-Certificate Training is led by Pat
Schneider with Kate Hymes. This
event provides trained leaders with the opportunity to further their knowledge
of the AWA method. Each Post-AWA-Training Retreat is built around the
individual concerns and questions of the attendees; topics may include
the teaching of craft, manuscript review, publicity, dealing with emotionally
charged writing, and many others. This is an extraordinary opportunity
for leaders who have taken the training to have their questions answered
by, and to write with, the founder and director emeritus of Amherst Writers
& Artists. In addition, attendees will have the opportunity to have
a private conference with Pat Schneider.
Email us at amherstwriters@gmail
for further information about the training and check
the schedule below to see upcoming dates.
Training Locations
AWA trainings are held in self-contained retreat locations
conducive to a good group experience, with quiet for writing and lots
of outdoors space for exploration and exercise. Please check the websites
listed below for this year's training sites. Most locations offer both
shared and single accommodations, and all have comfortable meeting space
and delicious food. Many offer silent space indoors and/or out, exercise
areas, and a walking labyrinth.
The Post-AWA-Certificate Training is held in Pat Schneider’s
home, a hundred-year-old farmhouse near the center of Amherst, and a short
walk to Emily Dickinson's grave and homestead.
Cost
The cost for the AWA Group Leadership Training is $1800 for shared accommodations. We offer no single accommodations. The cost includes tuition, training materials, accommodations for four nights, meals, and a six-month membership in AWA's Affiliate program. The non-residential program is $1300 and includes everything except a room for four nights.
Schedule
of Trainings
AWA Group Leadership Training
| 2010 |
|
| April 16 – 20 |
Amherst, Massachusetts - Pat Schneider’s home; non-residential: meals only
Cost: $1300
|
| May 19 – 23 |
Greensboro, North Carolina - The Sanctuary; non-residential: meals only
Cost: $1300 |
| June 2 - 6 |
Corvallis, Oregon - The Frank home; non-residential: meals only
Cost: $1300 |
July 7 – 11
|
Alamo, California - Westminster Retreat; all accommodations included
(SESSION FILLED) |
Post-AWA-Certificate Training
| 2010 |
|
| November 5 – 7 |
Amherst, Massachusetts - Pat Schneider’s home; non-residential: meals only
Cost: $700
|
Trainers
The AWA Group Leadership Trainings are led by two or more trained and experienced AWA writing group leaders including Maureen Buchanan Jones, Chris DeLorenzo, Celia Jeffries, and Kate Hymes.
Pat Schneider is the founder of Amherst Writers &
Artists and the author of Writing Alone & with Others (Oxford
University Press, 2003) as well as books of poetry and prose. For over
20 years, Pat has led writing workshops and retreats in her home in Amherst,
MA and at other sites across the country and in Ireland. Along with the
members of her original Chicopee workshop for low-income women, she developed
the training to teach people how to lead workshops using the AWA method.
As of this date, more than six hundred people from all across the U.S.,
Canada, Ireland, Denmark, Japan and other countries have taken the training,
and many currently lead writing workshops in a wide range of settings.
(For more about Pat Schneider, please go to www.patschneider.com.)
The Post-AWA-Certificate Training is led by Pat Schneider with Kate
Hymes, a long time AWA writer and writing group leader.
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