The Serenbe Institute presents, promotes, and facilitates a wide range of programs and events that complement its mission to cultivate our community’s creative, intellectual and ecological qualities.

• Mid-career and senior artists are invited to Serenbe to spend time working and interacting with residents and our environment.  Painters, potters, glass artists, photographers, sculptors, writers and playwrights are given a chance to enjoy the beauty and creative solitude of the land, and the hospitality of our residents.
  
  
• With support and underwriting by the Institute, classes and workshops in a wide range of media are presented by professional artists and educators for young and old alike.  Artists-in-residence also offer workshops and master-classes for more accomplished participants.  The Institute’s Visual Arts Committee presents life drawing and other classes through out the year.
  
  
• Serenbe residents enjoy monthly film series chosen and hosted by their neighbors.
  
  
• The Institute’s Performing Arts Committee, in cooperation with Serenbe businesses and others, presents local and regional musicians, and assists in the annual visit to the Chatt Hills by the Atlanta Symphony.
  
  
• Annual residencies by New River Dramatists, underwritten by the Serenbe Institute and the Mary E. Haverty Foundation, bring to Serenbe working playwrights, actors, and directors for intense work sessions and public readings, all designed to strengthen the storytelling skills of both established and promising writers.
  
  
• The Traditions Committee of the Institute is carrying out an oral history project to create a video and audio record of the founding and growth of Serenbe.
  
  
• The Institute’s Serenbe Fellows Committee sponsors residencies by eminent scholars, such as Dr. David Brain, a sociologist specializing in the character of New Urban communities.
  
  
• The Institute’s Environmental Issues Committee developed and implemented the community’s extensive recycling and composting program.
  
  
• The Institute’s role as facilitator reaches beyond the boundaries of Serenbe into the greater Chattahoochee Hill Country, by providing funding and leadership to community organizations and projects, such as the Hill Country Montessori School’s Sense of Place education program and strategic planning initiative; the City of Chattahoochee Hill Country’s citizen heritage committee and roadside clean up programs; and, the Chatt Hills Alliance cultural activities and events.
  
  
• The Institute is undertaking the design and development of an Art Farm artists’ live/work community adjacent to the Serenbe Farm, and a Serenbe Community Center to be built across Selborne Lane from The Hil restaurant.  The latter has been designed by students from the Georgia Tech School of Architecture.

Policies and Guidelines for Program or Project Sponsorship

INTRODUCTION
It is the mission of the Serenbe Institute to cultivate the community’s creative, intellectual and ecological qualities through programs that promote our social, spiritual and aesthetic curiosity, in order to achieve our vision for Serenbe as a community that passionately explores, embraces and expands the connections between nature, culture and the art of living.  Only those programs or projects which are consistent with that mission in support of that vision will be considered for Institute sponsorship.

RESPONSIBILITY
As a nonprofit, charitable organization, the Institute depends on the generosity of Serenbe residents and others for funding.  This dependence entails a responsibility for appropriate stewardship of funds and their use in supporting the community’s vision, needs, and goals.  The Institute also seeks to encourage Serenbe’s role as a good neighbor through programs and projects of importance to the city and surrounding Chattahoochee Hill Country.

RESTRICTIONS
The main restrictions on Institute programs and projects come from its nonprofit tax-exempt status under Section 501c3 of the IRS Code, the most important of which governs political activity.  While a nonprofit can attempt to influence legislation to a limited extent, it cannot participate to any extent in a political campaign for or against any candidate for public office.  Certain voter education or public forums conducted in a non-partisan manner are permissible, but this does not include the distribution of candidates’ statements or position papers.

In addition to restrictions imposed by government, the Institute, as a matter of policy, will not sponsor projects or programs of a strictly sectarian nature.   This is not to exclude those that seek to promote our community’s “spiritual curiosity” in keeping with the Institute’s mission.  Nor will it sponsor programs or projects that exclude a person or groups of persons from participation, except to the extent that some programs may not be appropriate for younger age groups.  No discrimination on the basis of gender, nationality, age, sexual orientation, or physical ability will be allowed in an Institute sponsored program or in the Institute Studio.
 
TYPES OF SPONSORSHIP
Primary:  These are programs or projects initiated by the Institute board of directors itself, or upon a recommendation from one of the board’s committees.  This may involve the use of the Institute’s human, financial or other resources at the discretion of the board.

Supporting:  Upon approval of the executive committee or the board, programs or projects proposed by others may enjoy Institute sponsorship.  This sponsorship seeks to make possible directly or to facilitate programs or projects supporting the Institute’s mission and contributing to the general welfare of the Serenbe community.  This may involve direct or indirect funding, volunteers, marketing and pubic relations, general management assistance, and the use of the Institute Studio or other public spaces in Serenbe (with the concurrence of the development company or the homeowners’ association, as appropriate).  Unless decided otherwise by the executive committee or board, the Institute should not be expected to pay the entire cost of such a program or project.  Partial funding or deficit underwriting is the preferred method of support. Recognition of the Institute’s sponsorship must be provided in an appropriate manner. 

Welcoming:  This encourages programs or projects that are potentially beneficial to the Institute, Serenbe, or the surrounding community, but which do not warrant financial support or public acknowledgement of sponsorship.  This category of event is “welcomed” to Serenbe by the Institute, and can receive non-monetary support as approved by the executive committee or board.

SERENBE INSTITUTE STUDIO
The Serenbe Institute Studio has been provided by a generous resident for use as an artist studio and a community gathering and meeting space.  The artist studio use has priority, unless the executive committee deems otherwise.  The Studio is available without charge for Institute sponsored programs.  Nonprofit organizations, community groups (both from within and from outside of Serenbe), and Serenbe merchants may use the Studio for meetings and conferences without charge, subject to availability and approval by the executive committee.  For-profit activities in the Studio may be charged rental as determined from time to time by the executive committee, plus an additional fee for unusual clean up costs.

Requests for sponsorship or use of the Studio should be addressed to institute@serenbe.com.