Vision
Europe’s heritage, natural beauty, and culture have long attracted visitors. In recent years, the rise of remote work has enabled an increasing number of them to stay in Europe for months or even years, rather than the week-long summer whirlwind of yesteryear.
Now this trend is spreading from foot-loose digital nomads to entire families, giving rise to an emerging cluster of “world-schooling hubs” and other services for children and parents on long-stays abroad.
Could this new breed of slow travelers be the answer to extractive mass tourism on the one hand, and rural depopulation on the other?
What are the principles and practices that remote worker “campuses” and programs should follow in order to strengthen the underlying cultural and natural assets that attract people to Europe in the first place?
The Field School seeks to pioneer responsible answers to these questions, building an “open source” playbook for inter-generational, cross-cultural communities that welcome remote workers while improving the daily lives and living spaces of existing residents.
Through our program, we aim to blueprint children’s education and multi-generational programming that centers local folkways and European creative prowess as the irreplaceable bedrock of an extraordinary developmental experience.
As our seasonal offer grows, we plan to include programs for teenagers and life-long learners, as well as artist residencies.
Ultimately, we strive to grow into a full-time, independent school, serving both local and foreign families.
Village as Campus
The Field School will collaborate with local residents to revive one of island Hvar’s less invested villages as a campus - valorizing local heritage and natural beauty, employing local artisans and experts to lead workshops and site visits within our programming, and gradually developing environmentally responsible living, recreational, and academic facilities within the fabric of centuries-old architecture and agricultural landscapes.
Pictured: future classroom located in the Farm Cooperative of Vrisnik.
An Independent School
Ultimately, a core aim of The Field School is to grow into an independent school focused specifically on preparing young people to thrive in the green economy, developing a deep moral foundation and a cross-functional set of civic and scientific literacies that are in short supply globally and acutely lacking in southern Europe.
Hvar’s stunning landscapes and proud culture have withstood the rise and fall of empires, centuries of colonialism, millennia of intensive agriculture, and multiple civil conflicts. But the power of commerce through mass tourism may be enough to finally destabilize the ecological and social systems upon which the island’s special beauty rests.
The island needs an engine which safeguards its endowments through constant investigation, reinvestment, and celebration of its land and folkways. Based in a zero emission, zero waste campus, The Field School will invite a generation of island youth and high-performing peers from across the globe to take on this mantle, embarking upon a lifetime of purpose.
