By: Cameron Cassar

“The Roochute” by Yvonne Gougelet. https://www.yvonnegphotography.com/bonnaroo-2014-2019

“In a world full of ducks, be a silly goose” says Ron Holgado, the founder of The Parachute People (TPP), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit seeking to create community through play to empower personal wellbeing. Ron’s quote encapsulated the webinar “A New Realm of Peacebuilding: Exploring the Intersection of Community, Play, Wellbeing and Resilience,” hosted by MHCR in collaboration with TPP on September 20th as a part of the Fall 2022 Carter School Peace Week. This event featured TPP’s Board of Directors as panelists: Ana Goffe, Reed Walter, Ron Holgado, Kesi Michael, and Nick Sherwood (who also serves as MHCR’s Associate Director). The event was moderated by MHCR Communications Officer and Carter School MS Candidate Cameron Cassar.

The goal of this event was to discuss how methods of play can be a huge benefit to community resilience and the field of peacebuilding as a whole. The peacebuilding field can be very technical in nature and because of that, practitioners can sometimes lose sight of the joy that initially brought them to the field in the first place. This is why the work that the TPP does, integrating their methods of community-building, and hosting events like these are so important.

The Parachute People got their start at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in 2014 when Ron Holdago unfurled TPP’s first ‘chute: the Roochute. It became an instant hit because it represented “everyone’s favorite day of gym class.” This then started a movement. Since 2014, TPP have worked at various music festivals not only throughout the US but also countries around the world such as The Netherlands, Ghana, Belgium, Belize, and Costa Rica (just to name a few).

Due to their interesting choice of setting to conduct their work, the webinar opened up with that very question: Why music festivals as their place of work? The board provided many different questions to the answers but the overarching themes of their answers were that:

Peacebuilding and music are synonymous with each other.
Music festivals are made up of people who already have similar interests so it easy to build upon a community that is already there.

Continuing with the theme of the work that they have done since their inception, Cam then asked the group, “How have they seen their work play out in the lives of those who take part in their workshops?” The group had different thoughts and anecdotes to share but the common thread amongst them was the fact that TPP is able to bring together people from all walks of life through their forms of play, such as white collar workers, modern-day hippies, and kids of all ages. They believe, if it were not for the “social lubricant of the parachute,” people from these groups would not come together. Because these parachutes represents community, felling lighthearted, and engaging in play, this is a perfect mechanism for unification.

“The Parachute People’s first workshop, hosted by Nick Sherwood at Bonnaroo 2019” by The Parachute People

The next question Cam posed to TPP focused on the mental health-informed approach to their work, asking the board to share anecdotes from witnessing folks in their community get in touch with their mental health. The group had many stories to share. Reed stated “when people are given the safe space to discuss their mental health, it is often a floodgate” but yet there are not enough safe spaces for people to actually be able to share their stories and mental health should not be a taboo topic. Nick followed up on Reed’s statement by declaring that, “There is profound power in speaking our truth and also there is an intricate bond between speaking our truth and protecting, strengthening, facilitating mental wellbeing.” Reed and Nick’s statements encapsulated why TPP has gained such a following - because they destigmatize mental health and give people a safe space to discuss their health and wellbeing.

Going off of this question, another question was brought to the discussion, asking the panelists “what does resilience look like to you?” The panelists all have different backgrounds and occupations aside from their work with the Parachute People and their answers reflected that. Ron works with cancer patients and stated that, “Resilience to me is realizing that they do not have any obligation to be nice or respectful to me in the midst of their situation and I have to be okay with that, but for those that do have a consistent good attitude in the midst of slowly dying, that is true resilience.” Ana shared a story about herself and how she had dealt with anxiety and depression and it was bringing her under. However she soon realized that she hated this feeling and asserted that, “I looked at myself in the mirror and told myself that I would pull myself out of it one step at a time and utilized my toolkit to learn how to deal with things and how to continue going.” The toolkit refers to one’s personal mindfulness and resilience techniques. Nick answered simply: “Resilience is getting up one more time than you’re pushed down.”

Another question: “How can we encourage buy-in to these methods of play, and how can they be implemented into the field of peacebuilding which has been known for being everything but playful?” The simple answer to this question was provided by Reed who stated, “someone has to be willing to go out onto the awkward limb and start to play and that there are three simple steps: 1) Observe, 2) Contemplate joining, 3) Then join in the play. However Ron declared that even for those who don’t want to engage in play, “observing play is a valid and meaningful intervention in and of itself.”

The last question of the panel centered around TPP’s view of what peace looks like to them. Since Nick was the only panelist who had a background in peacebuilding, the group provided some interesting answers. They all believed peace was something that started from within and then branched out from the self. Ana believed that community peace was one of the most essential forms of peace and that once we find peace within ourselves it is “something that we can foster for us, our friends, and the people in our community.” Ron echoed Ana’s sentiment by stressing the importance of community in peacebuilding but circled back around to the mission of the Parachute People which is “community through play FOR personal wellbeing.” Lastly, Nick, the one peacebuilding scholar on the panel, had a simple statement for what inner peace looks like in his experience. Nick asserted that, “ Inner peace is looking back at the strings of memories of our life and thinking I would not have done anything differently.”

This event touched on many different aspects of the intersection of community, play, wellbeing and resilience and how this factors into the larger field of peacebuilding. The Parachute People have done and continue to do great work and their work has a strong connection to the work of MHCR. Play and fun are essential to building peace and community and the field of peacebuilding as a whole could learn a lot from the strategies and techniques being implemented by the Parachute People.

You can watch “A New Realm of Peacebuilding” in its entirety here.