2024 was the second year of our WorldFMC Academy, and the first year of full monthly Studios execution. We are very proud of what we have created – a collaborative community of practice among our members, and an open, global community where all farmers market operators and friends are invited to belong.
We have co-created and co-produced our monthly Studios with our board, with individual country members and sometimes outside experts participating from all continents. We have our Academy Team at the Secretariat to make it possible every month, from brainstorming to promotion and communication to technology support. (Remember we have to also put on two of the same studio every month, to cover the 24 time zones of the world!) We have covered topics in 2024, including conflict resolution at the market and managing vendors, recruiting vendors, farmers market mapping series, preserving direct-selling at farmers markets, participatory certification (participatory guarantee system) at farmers markets, and the role of farmers markets in building local food systems. Here is the YouTube playlist of all of our Studio recordings since our beginning, that we want to share with you. This playlist will continue to keep all of our future Studio recordings as well. And while there, please check out all other videos of WorldFMC!
In 2024, we have also started providing English-Spanish simultaneous translation at our Studios, and now English-Italian. The participation also grew nicely over a short period of time. We started with about 50 registered guests per Studio, which grew to 100, and our last Studio of 2024 ended with 450 registered guests. Talk about exponential growth!
As you might imagine, it is not an easy endeavor to put on monthly open Studios for our global audience. We are also s startup NGO with a very limited budget. But we do it because we think it is a necessary members benefit and a crucial tool to build our community. Yes, we think the content is pretty snazzy and cool, if we might say so ourselves! But there is a much more important reason for all of you to care about it and participate: it is our platform for the world, our safe space, and our community to which we all belong. Please spread the word for each Studio, join us every month, and give us feedback! And we thank you SO MUCH for being part of WorldFMC, and participating in our Studios.
In 2025, in addition to continuing with our Studios, we plan on: 1) adding new contents to our Mini-Courses, 2) getting going with more topic-based Co-Labs as well as Sibling Markets and Regional Group gatherings, and 3) organizing our WorldFMC members resource Library. Of course we wanted to do these in 2024, but again, we are still growing and need to prioritize our work and resources all the time.
So we will call on you to participate and help in the new year! And, don’t wait to hear from us – you are welcome to always reach out to us to get more involved!
Lastly, if you have colleagues who have not signed up for our newsletter yet, please send them the link so that they can get our Academy announcements!
