About The Light Between

The Conference - Schedule - Our Intentions - FAQ - Team

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Come join us…

for five days together in Harlemville, NY.

We come together as young people exploring how we can co-create a more meaningful world!

Through conversation, work, and art, we will celebrate ideas and practices that aim to connect us to our most authentic selves and to our future collaborators.

This gathering is an opportunity to meet other young people working in education, farming, craft, and many other vocations, and is a chance to connect with others who are interested in anthroposophy or have questions about spirituality.

The Flow of the Day

Every morning we will begin our day with movement, opening the body for the day. Following, we will have breakfast prepared by incredible cooks, and then a daily community sing. Our guest speakers will bring thoughts on our daily themes, with opportunities for questions and learning. In the late morning, everyone will have the option of joining one of a number of workshops.

After lunch, conference participants can choose from peer-led practical and artistic workshops. Afternoons will be an open space for people to socialize, go for walks, or swim in the creek!

After dinner, there will be time for games, music, dance, and open mics.

As today’s youth…

we see all around us division in the world and in our lives; forces that seek to separate us from our peers, communities, and the greater human spirit. We see a society deeply rooted in materialism, technologies that isolate us, and economic systems that are confining and dividing.

This summer, we are putting on a conference for young people in celebration of practices and ideas that connect us to ourselves, each other, and community. We will gather in service of building stronger communities, with reverence for one another and the world around us.

The Light Between represents ways of being that unify instead of divide - from farming the earth in natural ways, collaborative art projects that enable creativity, holding spaces for difficult conversation, and engaging with the strengths and gifts we each have.

The Light Between is all the forces of unity that connect us to the Whole; the interconnection of all things. It is the bridge between the material world and the spiritual, the self and the other, it is the shoreline where the land meets the sea.

Frequently Asked Questions

It’s a multi-day gathering of young people, With the intention of creating a better world through our actions and our relationships. We’ll spend the days listening to speakers and moving between workshops oriented around philosophical, artistic and practical themes.
We are privileged to have access to the beautiful Hawthorne Valley farm and School this year, a 900 acre biodynamic farm, k-12 Waldorf school, farm store, bakery and dairy!! The annual gathering of the NA Youth Section moves around every year, this year we chose the Hudson Valley because of the local Youth Section activity in that area, with many initiatives and programs both run by and intended for young people.
There’ll be speakers that are relevant to the challenges and questions of today's youth, as well as independent workshops and workshops to integrate the material from our speakers. There’ll be singing and movement, building of practical skills like carpentry and farming. This conference has great emphasis placed on engaging dialogues and hands-on activities so get ready to show off your skills, or learn some new ones!
Music! Powerful Discussions! Traditional Craft! Stories! And anything else we can fit! It will be a packed few days, surrounded by great people. Though there will be a schedule full of engaging and thought provoking material, we’ve also made sure to build in plenty of processing time and free time for your own self directed interests…or a nap! Both are important! Also important, we choose to hold an alcohol- and drug-free environment to foster the joy of conscious, meaningful, authentic human connection. Come with an open mind, an open heart, and a willingness to connect, and you’ll be met with the same!
The North American Youth Section! Essentially, a group of spiritually striving, engaged and enthusiastic people. Many, though not all people in the Youth Section have taken an interest in Anthroposophy at some point in their life. The Youth Section is full of willful individuals, people intent on seeing change in the world, and driven to do their part to make that ideal possible. You can read more about the people on the organizing team here.
Anthroposophy is a philosophy created by Rudolf Steiner, a German Polymath who worked in the early 20th century mostly in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. If you’re familiar with Waldorf Schools, Biodynamic Agriculture, or Camphill Communities, this is the philosophy they’re derived out of. The word itself means Anthro- Human, Sophia -Wisdom. It is in its essence a deep dive into the human being, and the wisdom that has risen out of human cultures all over the world, touching on all areas of our lives, from the practical everyday, to farming, the arts, and medicine. While the Youth Section is brought out of this impulse, it is by no means necessary to understand or even be interested in Anthroposophy to participate in the conference.
To be a part of the Youth Section means to ask yourself this very question every week at our Wednesday night meeting, and ultimately decide to put a pause on defining it until next week, as we have all been doing since we began :)
The Youth Section is ever-evolving, but the key is that the people showing up want to be in community, conversation, and action with one another. And the people showing up are living with questions! Questions about spiritual striving, about the circumstances of the world, about how to bring meaning into their lives and others. You can also read more about this here.
This conference is for people seeking meaningful engagement with the world and their peers. For people who need direction, or those who need somewhere to channel the passions they’ve already found. This conference is large enough, and the organizers are diverse enough, that they’ll be something interesting and important for whoever finds their way here!
Because we as organizers have found a need for this type of environment in today’s society, and we ourselves have felt the value of coming together in this context. This conference, and the ones before it, create a space where people can feel seen, heard, and lifted up by their community. There are opportunities to make connections with people you might not otherwise encounter, or find projects you didn’t know you would be so passionate about! Many of us have found the next phases of our lives through these conferences, be it education, trade, a new geographic orientation or something else!

Meet the Organizing Team

Soren Dietzel

Soren is a musician and biography social arts enthusiast living in New York State. He is currently working to develop a community supported, self directed, arts and music residency program at Free Columbia. He spent his twenties learning to be a carpenter and playing saxophone and clarinet in bands in Duluth MN on the magnificent Lake Superior. Two years ago he followed his musical inspirations to the east where he met the Youth Section and started engaging as an organizer.
Iona Temple

Iona is currently part of running and teaching at the Chrysalis Homeschool Initiative. She lives in Philmont, NY and outside of teaching she is furthering her own education through classes and study groups with other young people in the area. She attended the Youth initiative program (YIP) and is interested in alternative education for children and young adults and is exploring questions of how education can meet the needs of human beings today. She has been part of organizing Youth Section activities since Spring of 2024.
Berenika Lehrman

Berenika Lehrman teaches at the homeschool initiative Chrysalis, in Upstate New York. She is an aspiring performance artist, interested in and working with the Chekhov acting technique, dance, and clowning. She is currently in the Foundation year program for Goethean Science at the Nature Institute. She has been involved in organizing Youth Section activities for the past two years, and is passionate about creating spaces for young people to have meaningful encounters with each other.
Gabel Cramer

Gabel is an Artist and organizer based in Philmont, NY and originally from the Washington D.C. area. Currently, he is engaged in an artist residency at Free Columbia, using mediums of ceramics, music, and visual arts to explore questions surrounding the aesthetic qualities of form and atmosphere in relation to the non-material world. He is passionate about fire and wood-firing ceramics, speculative fiction, and folk music, and has been involved with Youth Section organizing beginning in 2024.
Adeline Lyons

Adeline grew up in Spring Valley, New York and graduated from Green Meadow Waldorf School in 2019. Since then she has spent time traveling, as well as weaving through various higher education institutions, including Bard College Berlin and Thoreau College. She is currently finishing up a degree in creative writing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She cares a lot about poetry, Russian writers, and the process of self-creation. She has been active in youth section organizing work since the start of 2024 and is working to begin a youth section publication of young people’s original creative work.
Eloise Avery

Eloise was born in New York City and at a young age moved to the suburbs in New Jersey. She then attended Green Meadow Waldorf School from second grade through twelfth. In her senior year of high school she became interested in anthroposophy and took the Biodynamic Agriculture course at the Pfeiffer Center in Chestnut Ridge NY. The project culminated in a series of artistic posters based on the preparations. After graduating high school she attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts where she studied oil painting along with other classical art making methods graduating in 2024. After attending the 2024 summer conference she became more involved in the youth section and has since been working to bring visual arts to you all. Keep an eye out for lots of exciting projects on the horizon!!
Masuda

Masuda is an international student from Afghanistan currently studying in Berkshire Waldorf High School in StockBridge Massachusetts, as a senior. She recently moved and joined the Youth Conference last summer. She got inspired by the Youth Section and wanted to be a part of the organizing group for the next conference. She is joining the Waldorf teacher training and really enjoying her opportunity and Freedom in the US.
Em Watson

Em is a storyteller and media maker from Philmont, NY. She’s an alum of NYU Gallatin, and also studied with the International School of Storytelling at Emerson College and at the Goetheanum Studium. Professionally she works in arts marketing and admin, and she has been involved in youth section organizing work in North America and globally since 2021. She likes to bake and take walks with her pup Clover. ☘️
Tehilla Muller

Tehilla is a Death Doula and Sivananda Yoga instructor living on and off in the Hudson Valley for four years. She had been a Biodynamic dairy and vegetable farmer and lumberjack for three years before shifting to more person centered work. She loves poetry, dancing, and delving deep into philosophy. She is continually in awe of the magic of this world and aspires to help bring connection through the youth section to many.
Lucy Nordin

Lucy grew up right outside Detroit, Michigan, where she attended the Ann Arbor Waldorf school. She now spends her time in Philmont, New York where she has been farming for the past 4 years, both with vegetables, and currently with livestock. In addition to her love of farming, she enjoys functional art, ranging from fiber arts to woodworking and glass blowing, and she’s currently two years into her Waldorf Handwork Teacher Training. She has been involved with the North American Youth section for the past two years, and finds great joy in the creative and playful spaces that it facilitates.
Madison Shulkin

Madison is a multi-instrumentalist based in upstate NY. She was homeschooled and grew up surrounded by a rich thriving Waldorf community. She studied with the Alkion Waldorf Teacher training program at Hawthorne Valley Waldorf School in 2023. Last spring she traveled to Dornach, Switzerland to build puppets for the ISC24 and has been involved in the youth section ever since! She is passionate about bringing youth together through music, outdoor adventuring and song!
Nathanäel Blachere

Nathanael moved to the US at one year of age and feels blessed to have grown up in a Camphill community. He works as a timber framer and more generally as a carpenter and he enjoys sculpture, drawing , painting and animation. He strives to depart from the industrial mindset that pervades much of our modern aesthetic and bring organic forms into his projects. More recently he has been involved in starting a homeschool program for people who struggle to conform with the “education” of 21st century America. He also has an affinity for motorcycles, aircraft and the theme of sci-fi although most of his tinkering has been on bikes thus far.
Ezra Sullivan

Born in Los Angeles, Ezra moved to South America at the age of 18 to begin his adult life at the intersection of spirituality, humanity and the land. In Argentina, Ezra helped to manage El Peregrino Organico, a small farm based in a permaculture learning community. Following his return to the USA, Ezra engaged in the intentional community and principled non-violence spaces at Full Bloom Community in Oregon and The Possibility Alliance in Missouri. He then moved into the non-profit sector, directing Sunfield Biodynamic Farm and Waldorf School in Washington State for five years. After studying one year in Europe at the School of Spiritual Science, Ezra moved to Threefold Educational Foundation in New York State to engage with adult education programming, event planning and organizational transformation. Ezra aspires to create forms capable of hosting the future.
Frank Aleph Agrama

Frank Aleph Agrama is an artist, educator, and community builder focusing on therapeutic interdisciplinary approaches and social process. Frank met Anthroposophy and the Youth Section walking into Elderberries 3Fold Cafe in Hollywood, and joined in weaving healing relationships across the city, country and planet, bridging diverse communities and organizing workshops and conferences in the streams of Anthroposophical Arts, Therapies and Social Ideals. Frank serves as representative of the Youth Section for the North American Collegium of the School for Spiritual Science. Currently he is creating performances integrating music, storytelling, movement and colored light, towards a living synthesis of the arts.