Everyone on the Train has a similar story.
At some point, we discover the Vision Train. We board a trip, meet a few fellow travelers, and before long we find ourselves inspired enough to invite someone else on board. In trying to explain what the Vision Train is, we often discover something surprising ourselves.
"So...what exactly is the Vision Train?"
The easy answer is that we're an online creative community. We host conversations, workshops, collaborative art experiences, and a non-stop global gathering where people encourage one another to bring their visions to life.
All true.
But it still doesn't feel like it fully answers the question.
Long-time riders know that Vision Train is mythical, magical, and metaphorical.
When we say we're"On the Train" we're talking about something that's difficult to describe. It's a way of traveling through life. A way of practicing presence. An invitation to shift our attention as well as our perspective. A commitment to living creatively, caring deeply, and imagining futures worth growing toward together.
One of the unexpected gifts of traveling this way is that we begin to recognize one another.
Of course, we don't all believe the same things or even use the same language, but we recognize fellow travelers. Neighbors. Friends.We recognize something familiar in the ways we move through the world.
Many of us set out in search of answers. How could we have known that one of the most beautiful things waiting to be discovered all along was simply
one another?
LINK YOUR TRAIN CAR HERE
With each new season, one thing has become increasingly clear.
The Train doesn't stop when our trips end.
It continues through the relationships we build, the gatherings we attend, and the communities we discover along the way.
It would be impossible to mention every artist, organization, collaborator, and community that has crossed our path just since the beginning of the year. We've already celebrated a nine-day CONNECTION gathering, welcomed showcases from the Art Nunz and Design Science Studio, hosted two beautiful Critical Mass Monthly Convergences, and watched friends from communities like Viriverse begin showing up alongside us. Beyond the Train, Amanda's recent travels from Xilitla, Mexico to Colorado with a couple colorful stops on the Future Town Tour. Then to Fly Ranch in Nevada for the Burners Without Borders summit, and now to Design Science Studio's regen*era summit at Hopland in California continue to reveal new synergy and unexpected intersections.
Taken individually, these moments might seem like separate stories.
Together, they reveal a pattern.
Whole communities are beginning to recognize one another.
Warm Cookies of the Revolutionis one of those neighbors.
Since 2012, they've invitedmore than one million participants into over forty imaginative community programs, each exploring what becomes possible when creativity, civic life, and human connection meet. Their Future Town Tour has spent the last three years in June traveling from town to town, creating spaces where people can imagine and actively participate in shaping the future of their own communities.
Perhaps what surprised us most wasn't simply discovering Warm Cookies.
It was realizing how familiar they already felt.
Long before our communities officially crossed paths, both of us had found ourselves reaching for similar symbols, asking similar questions, and creating spaces where imagination becomes something people practice together.
We're excited to see what might emerge as we continue along our own creative paths—together.Healthy ecosystems grow resilience through relationships.Every time we recognize another neighbor, the ways we travel become brighter, and the world becomes a little more like home.
As this newsletter was coming together, Amanda was returning from Fly Ranch, invited by Burners Without Bordersfor a gathering that honored the burning of the first Man 40 years ago on the summer solstice and to continue to envision what comes next. It felt like another reminder that the communities exploring creativity, regeneration, and participatory culture are beginning to recognize one another and link train cars for something big.
Christopher Breedlovehas spent years tending those relationships. In this conversation from our 6 year Anniversary week, he reflects on participation, culture building, and the role each of us plays in shaping the future, ourselves active participants in the communities we call home.
We hope it inspires you to keep traveling well, recognizing new neighbors along the way.
There is a lot moving through the world right now.
All the more reason to make time for creativity, connection, and the people who help us remember what matters.
Across the Vision Trainecosystem and all around us, artists and communities continue gathering, experimenting, and celebrating together.
Through the ups and downs, through it all, the journey of the Train continues, offering familiar spaces to return to and new invitations to explore.
SEE ALL OUR CURRENT OFFERING IN YOUR OWN TIMEZONE HERE
The journey doesn't end here.
We put together one post with all the links, details, and ways to get involved so you can follow whatever thread is calling you next. Whether you're planning your weekend, sharing your work, making an introduction, or simply exploring what's unfolding, we'd love to have you along for the ride.
What are you most excited to experience, explore, or contribute?
PLAN YOUR NEXT STOPS HERE
Are you interested in learning the method that Amanda Sage uses to create her paintings?
This updated introductory class 'Paint a Star' is only $33 and will give you a foundational approach to creating luminosity through the conceptual approach of in-direct painting based on the Mischtechnik.
In this step-by-step course you will find a helpful written guide to support integration. Keep an eye out for more classes being released soon!
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE
However you spend this season, we hope you carry the spirit of the Train with you.
May you recognize fellow travelers where you least expect them.
May your vision continue to evolve through the people you meet.
And may your journey remind someone else that they were never traveling alone.
Until next time,
Travel well.
We'll see you somewhere down the line.
