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Journeying Into
the Common Good


Journeying Into the
Common Good

JULY 1-11, 2022 • ISLE OF PATMOS, GREECE





Come Join Us on Patmos in 2022!

For ten days in July 2022, we’ll come together for an extended conversation that asks: how can we speak to each other in a way that moves us all, individually and collectively, to growth, learning, creativity and change? During this Salon we will delve into eternal spiritual questions and sacred stories and tap into the wisdom of poetry & song. We’ll consider what it means to stay deeply attuned to our world today, while remaining active and consciously aware of how we can best nurture one another and ourselves for the times ahead.

In reflecting upon how an inner life needs to pivot in order to contribute to an engaged outer life of justice and equity, we will look for language that is strong enough to encourage and enable a journey of change; a journey deeper into the common good.

During our days & evenings together, we will consider spiritual and human questions such as: What does it mean to be human on this planet today? Who do we need to be to each other? What stories have guided our lives? Have they been good enough? How do our songs & poems connect us to a deeper sense of history and our humanity? What does it mean to be spiritual within or outside of formal religious thought and traditions?

We’ll gather to share and celebrate how the power of narratives and verse remind us of what can be so easy to forget: that the flourishing of one community has often happened at the expense of each other in this world; that there is no other; that change is possible; that conversation can deepen change.

“Taking in the good, whenever and wherever we find it,
gives us new eyes for seeing and living.”

Krista Tippett


We will use the lens of language and the gifts of music to explore the human condition as the world struggles to emerge out of the Covid pandemic, and continues to face the persistent pandemic of racism and the ecological crisis.

We will share tools and practices for the art of living and learning. For all this our souls will be generously fueled by powerful poetry and inspiring music. We’ll also need good food, and each other. We will have those in plenty.

To guide and inspire our time together, we are thrilled to welcome five wonderfully talented, wise thought leaders and creative artists:

Krista Tippett is the founder and CEO of The On Being Project, a nonprofit media and public life initiative making a multiple-award winning public radio show, podcasts and providing tools for the art of living. With over 400 million downloads of On Being’s episodes, Krista’s work is in the art of listening, learning, changing and re-imagining a re-oriented world with timely and timeless wisdoms.

Pádraig Ó Tuama is a poet and theologian and the host of On Being’s Poetry Unbound podcast. Working for many years in conflict resolution — both in his native Ireland and further afield — he brings the intuition of an artist to the questions of religion, power and conflict. While Pádraig’s interests span arts, poetry, conflict and religion, it is primarily language that compels him: what is the surprise of language that might help its users move toward creativity, in life, in art, in politics and community?

Rhiannon Giddens is an acclaimed musician who uses her art to excavate the past and reveal bold truths about our present. A MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient, Giddens co-founded the Grammy Award-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops, and she has been nominated for six additional Grammys for her work as a soloist and collaborator. She has recently been named the new Artistic Director of the Yo-Yo Ma founded Silkroad Ensemble, and her opera Omar will debut in Charleston at the Spoleto Festival USA in 2022.

Joe Henry, whose career spans more than 35 years, has left an indelible and unique imprint on American popular music. As a songwriter and artist, Henry is celebrated for his exploration of the human experience. A three-time-Grammy-winning producer, Henry has made records for Bonnie Raitt, Elvis Costello, Joan Baez, Rodney Crowell and Rhiannon Giddens among many others. His latest album is The Gospel According to Water.

Francesco Turrisi is a Grammy nominated multi-instrumentalist who has been defined a “musical alchemist” and a “musical polyglot” by the press. He collaborates with Rhiannon Giddens on a duo project that seamlessly combines music from the Mediterranean with music from the African diaspora in the Americas. Their latest album, They’re Calling Me Home, is a twelve-track album, recorded in Ireland during the recent lockdown.

We’ll meet with these five luminous cultural creators near the slow rhythms of the Aegean Sea, take time to explore the sacred island of Patmos, swim (and float) in salty waters, venture on the sea by boat, share bread around common tables, and build & bond a community of enriched souls for the journey ahead. There will be plenty of time to be on your own to reflect and explore, as well as moments to connect with a diverse range of other wonderful humans.

And what better place than Patmos to examine the perennial challenge, depth and complexity of the ancient spiritual quest?




10 Night Island Stay & Program

$4,250 per person, double occupancy.

$1,450 for Single Room Supplement (limited number available).
$150 discount (per person) for friends/spouses sharing a room.

* Airfare & transport to/on Patmos not included.
* A limited number of 'non-participant' fee options offered for spouses/partners.

* A limited number of scholarships are available through an application (as noted in the Reservation Request Form)

Traveling Wisely In These Times

GoodWorld Journeys prioritizes the health and safety of all GWJ Staff, Teachers & Salon participants. Therefore, proof of full vaccination for COVID-19 and on-site rapid COVID-19 testing will be required to participate in all our 2022 Salons.

For more info on our COVID safety & booking policies, as well as a personal message from our founders — please visit our COVID Resource Page.

What's Included

10-Night Hotel Stay (with breakfast)

Opening Welcome Reception & Dinner

6 Morning Literary Craft Salons

5 Evening Q & A / Conversation Salons

Dance Party Under the Stars

Day Boat Excursion to Nearby Isle

Guided Tour of the Patmos Monastery & Cave

Closing Farewell Reception & Dinner

Transport to Salon Events & Excursions

"Music gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind,
flight to the imagination."

Plato

Salon Co-Leaders

Krista Tippett

Krista Tippett is a Peabody-award winning broadcaster, National Humanities Medalist, and New York Times bestselling author. She hosts the On Being public radio show and podcast, curates the Civil Conversations Project, and founded & leads The On Being Project, a non-profit media and public life initiative that pursues deep thinking and moral imagination, social courage and joy, towards the renewal of inner life, outer life, and life together. Krista grew up in a small town in Oklahoma, attended Brown University, worked as a journalist & diplomat in Cold War Berlin, and later received a Master of Divinity from Yale University. Her books are Speaking of Faith, Einstein’s God, and Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living. President Obama awarded Krista the National Humanities Medal at the White House for “thoughtfully delving into the mysteries of human existence. On the air and in print Ms.Tippett avoids easy answers, embracing complexity, and inviting people of every background to join her conversation about faith, ethics, and moral wisdom.”



Watch another video with Krista Tippett here.

Pádraig Ó Tuama

Pádraig Ó Tuama is a poet and theologian whose work centres around themes of language, power, conflict and religion. Working fluently on the page and in public, Pádraig is a compelling poet and skilled speaker, teacher and group worker. Pádraig presents Poetry Unbound with On Being Studios and in late 2019 was named Theologian in Residence for On Being, innovating in bringing art and theology into public and civic life. From 2014-2019 he was the leader of the Corrymeela Community, Ireland’s oldest peace and reconciliation community. A profoundly engaging public speaker, Ó Tuama has worked with groups to explore story, conflict, their relationship with religion and argument, and violence. For Ó Tuama, religion, conflict, power and poetry all circle around language, that original sacrament. In the context of public theology, he takes the received form of biblical texts and explores the civic and artistic dynamics of language, narrative and impact in these stories. His latest books are In the Shelter (Broadleaf, 2021) and Borders and Belonging (Canterbury Press, 2021).



Watch a video written by Pádraig Ó Tuama here.

Rhiannon Giddens

Rhiannon Giddens is an acclaimed musician who uses her art to excavate the past and reveal bold truths about our present. A MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient, Giddens co-founded the Grammy Award-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops, and she has been nominated for six additional Grammys for her work as a soloist & collaborator. She was most recently nominated for her collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi, there is no Other (2019). Giddens’s latest album, They’re Calling Me Home, is a twelve-track album, recorded with Turrisi in Ireland during the recent lockdown; it speaks of the longing for the comfort of home as well as the metaphorical “call home” of death, which has been a tragic reality for so many during the COVID-19 crisis. Giddens’s lifelong mission is to lift up people whose contributions to American musical history have previously been erased, and to work toward a more accurate understanding of the country’s musical origins. Pitchfork has said of her work, “few artists are so fearless and so ravenous in their exploration,” and Smithsonian Magazine calls her “an electrifying artist who brings alive the memories of forgotten predecessors, white and black.”



Watch more videos of Rhiannon Giddens here and here.

Joe Henry

Joe Henry has left an indelible and unique imprint on American popular music in a career spanning more than 35 years. As a songwriter and artist, Henry is celebrated for his exploration of the human experience. A hyper-literate storyteller, by turns dark, devastating, and hopeful, he draws an author's eye for the overlooked detail across a broad swath of American musical styles — rock, jazz and blues — rendering genre modifiers useless. Henry has collaborated with many notable American artists on his own body of work, from T Bone Burnett, Daniel Lanois, and Van Dyke Parks on one side of the spectrum, to Don Cherry, Ornette Coleman, Brad Mehldau, and Bill Frisell on the other. A three-time-Grammy-winning producer, Henry has made records for Bonnie Raitt, Hugh Laurie, Lisa Hannigan, Elvis Costello, Rhiannon Giddens and Solomon Burke among many others. As a solo artist and a producer alike, Henry’s records are marked with a consistent sonic depth, attention to narrative, and emphasis on the beauty of spontaneity.



Watch more videos of Joe Henry here and here.

Francesco Turrisi

Francesco Turrisi is a Grammy nominated multi-instrumentalist who has been defined a “musical alchemist” and a “musical polyglot” by the press. He left his native Italy in 1997 to study jazz piano and early music at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, where he obtained a Bachelor and a Master’s degree. Since 2004 he has been working successfully as a freelance musician. He has released five critically acclaimed albums as a leader and two as co-leader (Tarab — a cross boundary innovative ensemble that blends Irish and Mediterranean traditional music, and Zahr — a project that looks at connections between southern Italian traditional music and Arabic music). His latest piano solo album Northern Migrations was described as “delicate, wistful and wholly engrossing” by the Irish Times. Since 2018 Francesco has collaborated with Rhiannon Giddens on a duo project that seamlessly combines music from the Mediterranean with music from the African diaspora in the Americas.



Watch another video with Francesco Turrisi here.