Have you checked out the over 40 FREE CLASSES in EXCO's Spring Session?
They're happening all over the Twin Cities - 100% Free!

See below for a list of courses...
Register for classes and see more info at
     http://excotc.org

ARTS
Art and Activism
Saturdays, 3/9 to 6/1, 1pm-3pm
Umbrella Tree Studio, ACVR building
106 W. Water Street, Harriet Island, St. Paul
The exploration of the effective use of the arts in all forms, visual,music, drama,poetry storytelling and dance in social movements.
Facilitator: Connie

Creativity & the Problem of Ownership
Mondays, 3/4 to 3/25, 7pm-8:30pm
University of Minnesota, Blegen Hall, room 205
This course will address some of the issues facing artists and content creators. Sources for group discussion will include readings from Lewis Hyde, Lawrence Lessig and others, & video from Kirby Ferguson.
Facilitator: Benjamin Brobst-Renaud

Dance Workshop - Soul Force
Sun., 3/24, 9pm-10pm & Fri., 5/24, 9pm-10pm
Honey Lounge, 205 E Hennepin Ave, Mpls.
This Dance Workshop will take place at Honey nightclub before our event “Soul Force” in order to demonstrate some dance moves and to get people in the dancing mood!
Facilitator: Simone Speers  + guest instructors

Group Guitar Lesson
Sundays, 3/10 to 4/21, 2:00pm-3:00pm
Location TBD.
Have a guitar that you’ve always wanted to play but wished you didn’t have to learn alone? Ever had questions about the guitar but didn’t know who to ask? Class will meet once a week for an hour and we will all play together in a large group mass of guitar sound.
Facilitator: Cyrus Pireh

Graphic Production and Screenprinting
Time TBD.
Together we will learn image manipulation and design skills that participants will bring to life through prints. We will focus on do-it-yourself techniques that you can bring out into your own communities.
Facilitator: Living Proof Print Collective

Hoop dance skill sharing & open jam
Thursdays, from 6:30 to 8:30pm
Heartfelt Holisitic Pharmacy, 811 E 24th St., Mpls.
Hoop dance skill sharing and open jam is for all hoopers of all levels that meets once a week for 2 hours. Heck, you don’t even need a hoop to attend and participate. We’ll supply the hoops, the tunes, the instruction, and the smiles.
Facilitator: Jeanna H

MN Indian Art and Aesthetics
Mondays, 3/11 to 5/27, 6pm-8pm
Minnehaha Free Space, 3747 Minnehaha Ave, Mpls
We will explore the richness and diversity of Minnesota’s Anishinaabe (Ojibwe/Chippewa) and Dakota/ Lakota (Sioux) artists and culture, including readings and inviting Native artists to our class. The course will follow techniques of Indigenous Pedagogy.
Facilitator: Tom Kanthak

Reading New Feminist Science Fiction: Race, Work, Embodiment
Tuesdays, 3/5 to 4/16, 6:00pm-7:35pm
Minnehaha Free Space, 3747 Minnehaha Ave, Mpls
We’ll read some short stories and novel excerpts by Nisi Shawl, Andrea Hairston, L. Timmel Duchamp, Aliette De Bodard, Ekaterina Sedia and Octavia Butler. We can also read material suggested by class members and/or critical writing about feminist science fiction.
Facilitator: Jane Franklin

Shape note singing
Tuesdays, 2/19, 2/26, 3/5, 12, 19 - 5pm-7:30pm
Univ. Baptist Church, 1219 University Ave. SE, Mpls.
Do you love to sing, or would you like to learn? Come and sing with the Twin Cities Sacred Harp/shape note singing community!
Facilitator: Martha

Songwriting
Mondays, 3/18 to 5/27, 6pm-8pm
Location TBD.
Learning how to write songs with little or no previous experience. We’ll begin with looking at songs we like, and decide what makes them appealing, then try to use similar methods to create our own songs.
Facilitator: Priscilla

BIKES
Basic Bicycle Maintenance
Thursdays, May 9, 16, 23, 30, 6-8:30pm
Cycles for Change, 712 University Ave, St. Paul
This class is designed as a complete introduction to the basics of maintaining your bicycle yourself. Learning to fix your own bike can save you money, ensure access to reliable transportation, and be a rewarding personal experience to understand how your vehicle functions.
Facilitator: Angie Coe, Cycles for Change

Commuting by Bicycle 101
Thursday, March 21 & 28, 6pm-8pm
Cycles for Change, 712 University Ave, St. Paul
This class will recap the winter riding skills and maintenance class and also help you gear up for spring! We’ll talk about how bikes should behave on the road and specific tips for winter riding, such as clothing, accessories, and planning your route.
Facilitator: Angie Coe, Cycles for Change

Complete Bike Overhaul
Thursdays April 4, 11, 18, 25, and May 2, 6-8:30pm
Cycles for Change, 712 University Ave, St. Paul
This intermediate class will build upon the skills taught in the Basic Bike Maintenance class and expand through overhauling an entire bicycle.
Facilitator: Angie Coe, Cycles for Change

Women and Trans Only - Complete Bike Overhaul
Tuesday, 2/5 to 3/12, 6:00-8:30pm
Cycles for Change, 712 University Ave, St. Paul
This class is part of the Women and Transgender Night at Cycles for Change, which offers a safe and welcoming space for self-identified women, trans, and non-gender-conforming people in the dude dominated world of bikes. Similar content as above.
Facilitator: Angie Coe, Cycles for Change

Wheel Building
Thursdays, 3/7 and 3/14, 6pm-8:30pm
Cycles for Change, 712 University Ave, St. Paul
This class is designed as a complete introduction to the basics of wheel building. We will start the first class with lacing rims. The second class will entail bringing the wheel up to tension and truing it radially and laterally.
Facilitator: Micah, Cycles for Change

POLITICS & HUMANITIES

Cannabis Spirituality
Time and location TBD.
In this course we will be taking an objective look at Cannabis’ (Marijuana’s) history in order to understand how this plant is used “Spiritually” and why.
Facilitators: Scott and Kurt

Curious About Cannabis?
Time and location TBD.
Not sure where you stand on the issue of marijuana legalization? Never really thought about it? Wondering what all the hoopla in the media is about? This is a mini workshop of three classes with the mission of dispensing the truths and dispelling the myths about cannabis in our society.
Facilitator: Layla

Earth Skills
Fridays, 2/22, 3/22, 4/19, 5/17 - 7pm-9pm
Minnehaha Free Space, 3747 Minnehaha Ave, Mpls
This monthly series would gather people for the intention of teaching Earth based skills.  Example of skills offered will be cordage (rope) making, demo on primtive tanning, primitive containers, eating with the seasons/primitive cooking.
Facilitator: Amy

Indigenous Imperative: Native Thought and its Implications in the age of IDLE NO MORE
Tuesdays, March 5 to May 14, 6pm to 8pm
Macalester College, Old Main, Rm. 003
The premise of the course is that our future is not only ecological but indigenous. We will be looking at the Six Nations Confederacy & other cultural and political powers in the western hemisphere including the Hopi, the Ojibway, the Inca, the Maya, Aztecs, among others.
Facilitator: Ray Tricomo

Mexican Social Movements
Time and location TBD.
A class on current Mexican social movements, starting with the Zapatistas/EZLN. We will also learn about the Oaxacan teachers struggle/APPO, the killings of women, in the north border around Juarez & Chihuahua, & current events.
Facilitator: Gabriel Johnson-Ortiz

Open Forum on Money
Every Thursday, Jan. 31 to May 23, 7pm to 9pm
Macalester College, Old Main, Rm. 010
These sessions are conceived of as open forums that will introduce the participant to the way money originates and how, generally, the financial order, political life and civilized culture arises from that process.
Presented by the Institute for the Renewal of Economic Life (IREL)

Race, Space, & Place
Wednesdays, 3/6 to 4/17 (no class 4/3), 6:30pm to 8:30pm @ Minnehaha Free Space, 3747 Minnehaha Ave S, Minneapolis
This class analyzes race and racism from a spatial perspective. How does race determine the types of spaces in which a person lives, and therefore her life chances? How did it come to be this way, and why does it continue? What can we do about it?
Facilitator: Thane Maxwell

Why 1968?
Thursdays, 3/7 to 4/11, 7pm-8pm
Location TBD
This course will evaluate the events that made 1968 a watershed year in American and world history. From the Tet Offensive to the Apollo moon orbit, assassinations and Olympics, so many events during that pivotal year have had a lasting impact on American society. What can we learn about 1968 that can help us make sense of our society today?
Facilitator: Susan Williams

Youth Space
Saturdays, 2/23-5/11, 1pm-3pm
Minnehaha Free Space, 3747 Minnehaha Ave, Mpls
Every other week will feature ‘playshops’ where youth can explore different topics and skills like musical instrument and paper mache puppet making, hip hop and spoken word, and indigenous storytelling. The ‘in-between’ weeks will feature art-making activities and informal social time.
Facilitator: Erin Dyke and others

HEALTH & LIFE

Energy Healing & Increasing Bliss
Thursdays, 2/7 to 3/14, 1:00pm-2:30pm
Second Foundation School,
1219 University Ave. SE, Mpls.
We will share healing time, stories, guided meditation, & techniques for relaxation, self-healing, & healing others.
Facilitator: Starri

Healing Arts 101
Wednesdays, 3/13 to 3/27, 6:50pm-8:50pm
Location TBD.
Have you heard of Acupuncture? Homeopathy? Ear Candling? Chiropractic care? Many people have heard of these different holistic health options, and wonder what they are and how they can help. In this session, we’ll talk about alternative/holistic medicine in general, and we’ll cover specific practices as well. Feel free to bring questions!
Facilitator: Christine Huff

LymeVoice Minnesota
Wednesday, 4/17, 5:00-7:30pm
Location TBD.
LymeVoice is a PhotoVoice project created to promote awareness of the impact of Chronic Lyme Disease in our community.  Photovoice is a participatory process and photographic technique used in public health, community development, and education to identify issues and act for social change.
Facilitator: Tasha Van Zandt

The Project of Healing
Time and location TBD.
Healing is resistance!  This group is for... discussion on issues of health justice and healing; the building of relationships between healers (and organizers and movement builders and anyone interested!); scheming and dreaming of what wellness looks like in our communities; and also to provide a healing space where we can support each other in our lives and work.
Facilitator: Kristi

Time Management 101
Time and location: online via a course website.
All of us have too many things to do (or things we want to do) and not enough hours in our days and weeks to get everything done.  Time Management 101 consists of 4 formal class sessions and provides you with a pragmatic strategy for getting a start on organizing your life and moving ahead with a plan.
Facilitator: Richard

Your New Dog - A Crash Course
Sunday, March 3, 11:30am-12:30pm & Sunday, March 10, 11:30am-12:30pm;  Location TBA
This course will cover a broad range of topics beneficial to the new dog parent or foster family.
Facilitator: Katie Grillaert

LANGUAGE
 

Beginning Spanish - Every Day Words
Thursdays, 2/21 to 4/11, 6:00pm-7:00pm
East Phillips Park Center, 2307 17th Ave S, Mpls
This is a beginning-level course in Spanish which emphasizes listening and oral communication in a variety of topics at a basic level. It covers only that grammar and structure absolutely necessary for speaking.
Facilitator: Simone Speers

Intercambio de idiomas: Ingles/Español - English/Spanish Language Exchange
Thursdays, 2/21 to 4/11, 7:00pm-8:00pm
East Phillips Park Center, 2307 17th Ave S, Mpls
Have you ever wanted to get to know your neighbors but didn’t because there was a language barrier? This class has been created in hopes of dissolving those Spanish-English barriers through language exchange.
Facilitators: John Terrazas & Simone Speers

Social Interpreting
Time and location TBD.
In a world full of population movements, the figure of the interpreter as a gatekeeper is getting more and more important. Working for languages is one of the best ways to recognize languages and cultures and to facilitate the communication between all the members in our communities.
Facilitator: Lucía Abolafia Cobo

FOOD
 

Gleaning and foraging in the city
Wednesdays, 3/20 (7pm-9pm), and 2nd Wednesdays of every subsequent month (5:30-7:30pm)
Location TBD.
There is food all around us, but we often don’t recognize it. This class is to explore the use of plants not usually grown for food (foraging) and using the food plant products that the owners don’t want (gleaning). The class will involve plant ID, likely sites for collecting, processing, storage, book and other resources, as well as equipment possibilities.
Facilitator: Charley Underwood

Lacto-Fermentation: Sauerkraut & Kimchi
Mondays, 3/4 & 3/11, 4pm-6pm
Minnehaha Free Space, 3747 Minnehaha Ave, Mpls
Lacto-fermentation has long been a method for preserving food without refrigeration and pasteurization.  We’ll provide a few staple ingredients to make a couple variations of sauerkraut and kimchi.
Facilitator: Liška

Seed Starting Using The Winter Sowing Method
Tuesday, 3/5, 5:00-6:00pm
Minnehaha Free Space, 3747 Minnehaha Ave, Mpls
This class will show just how easy starting your own seeds can be using the “winter sowing” method. Winter sowing is a very inexpensive way to start your garden while re-purposing every day trash or recyclable materials.

Sustainable Food Systems
Tuesdays (biweekly), 3/5 to 5/14, 6:30-8:30pm
Minnehaha Free Space, 3747 Minnehaha Ave, Mpls
This course will introduce participants to concepts in sustainable eating and sustainable food production. Whether participants would like to raise backyard chickens, start a community garden plot, talk about food with their vegetarian or vegan children, or feel more confident in making sustainable choices when purchasing food from farmers markets or grocery stores, this class will help students eat more sustainably and advance sustainable food systems.
Facilitator: Margaret Duden

Register for classes and see more info at
     http://excotc.org