SotA aims to provide a learning space that is equitable and caring and radical in response to a world that is not. 

School of the Alternative is a space where radical new ideas are born. We are a radical Artist Residency - with a focus on collaborative learning and community. Every May we build and sustain a community of experimental learning where artists learn, work, and live communally in Black Mountain, NC, on the historic first site of Black Mountain College.

Faculty, staff, and students live communally in one lodge, and we all help sustain the community through some kind of work service. Instead of a traditional classroom environment, we support a collectively built and self-directed approach to learning which gives opportunity for all participants to learn and teach, where faculty and staff attend classes, and students teach pop-up classes. Anyone over 18 can apply, there are no prerequisites or requirements.

Much of SotA’s shape and pace has formed in relief of the restrictive and oppressive tendencies we’ve all experienced in institutional learning, and we create a different kind of experience. We are hosting a community that aims to be equitable and safe(r) for those most marginalized in institutional learning spaces. We work to foster a community free of traditional hierarchies, where we can collectively nurture our imaginations, and learn, teach, create, and grow together.