• an online gathering on 17 October 2020, with speakers, an open space and activities in groups to build connections and shared entry into the art of repairing
• learning groups thinking and working together on agreed tasks between October and April on chosen aspects of the Art of Repairing
• a closing online event on 10 April 2021.

In March 2020 the 2020 European Regional Meeting The Art of Repairing, originally scheduled to take place in Kraków on 2-4 April 2020, was postponed until 16-18 October 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The organising committee felt a sense of the damage associated with this decision and its cause, and initially was unable to address its task. But the group continued to meet regularly, with members sharing their experiences of the pandemic and their thoughts about the meeting theme of repair. After a while we began to feel that we were repairing our group and its task. We could see how the pandemic has highlighted the long-standing marks of old traumas: borders and boundaries take on new meanings, and the damage and trauma of colonialism and slavery is paralleled by the damage humans have caused to non-human species. 

This experience brought even more into focus for us how significant the theme of repair is to today’s world, and we articulated some central facts about repair: 

• Continuation : repair is only rarely a single act, but rather a continuing process over time.
• Responsibility : the broad concept of “leave no one behind” not only reminds us of the obligation towards the less privileged and the environment but also reflects the necessity for action.
• Relationships : the absolute necessity of relational experience as a grounding for the capacity to repair

Our new design brings together these insights.
We invite ISPSO Members to spend time together over time, in self-organised groups with common principles and shared purposes, and with a meaningful output that can be shared, shown and discussed in person and online, in Kraków. The output cannot be defined at this stage; nor can the exact shape of the crowning event – but we are looking forward to it as we believe our creativity will be the best answer for the uncertainty.