Wellspring Living Arts Blog

Welcome to the first Wellspring blog.

My theme for today is beginning. It seemed apt for both the blog and myself as I have recently moved to Chestnut Ridge and am very new at Wellspring. To this end, I would like to start with a quote from Goethe.


Our vision is to begin a way of working in community with our youth.

We aim to meet young people as individuals in their learning, and engage them in activities to suit their learning style. They are met by educators, invested in their futures and mix with fellow students from a wide range of backgrounds. Hands on, experiential and vocational style learning completes this vision, with young people learning life and work skills from committed professionals with a vested interest in all of our futures.

The nature of beginnings is such that we meet a lot of obstacles while striving to reach this vision- ideas fail, things don't quite go to plan. I know that I certainly feel despondent some days, when what seemed like a perfect idea falls flat.

What has been important to me though is this idea of commitment that Goethe so eloquently describes. (You can read the whole piece here). When we go out into the world with the kind of commitment he speaks of in this piece, things do happen. The important thing is to take action- to keep picking yourself up and try again. There is a kind of magic to it, and this is what gives us the hope and energy to go out and do it again, and do it better!

This work is so necessary for all of us, and for so many reasons. We must be bold!