Dear Members

In many conversations and letters we notice with some surprise that many members do not even have a clear picture of how the management of the Goetheanum is composed and how it works. This is what we would like to share with you in this third letter since the General Assembly.

At the weekly meeting of the Goetheanum Leadership at the end of May, the seventeen regular members (consisting of the Executive Council and the Section Leaders) were joined, as is the monthly custom, by the three General Secretaries: Marjatta van Boeschoten (Great Britain), Gioia Falk (Germany) and René Becker (France). In this extended group, the question of the future design of the work at the Goetheanum with regard to the School of Spiritual Science, the Anthroposophical Society and the in-house organizational management, was the intense focus of discussion. These deliberations prepared the decisions for the re-mandating of tasks, to be taken during the June retreat in the coming week. Due to the new situation of the greatly reduced Executive Council, all members of the Goetheanum Leadership have more work to do.

You may be wondering why the Goetheanum Leadership is so important here and not the Executive Council. This has to do with a new way of working, practiced since 2012 and anchored in the statutes in 2014.

In an effort to overcoming earlier difficulties, the Goetheanum Leadership was formed in 2012 and since then has taken over the responsibilities for the Goetheanum organization, the School of Spiritual Science and in a broader sense for the Anthroposophical Society. This is clear from the preamble to the Guidelines of the Goetheanum Leadership from the year 2012 and is formulated as follows:

"The Goetheanum Leadership, consisting of the members of the Executive Council and the Section Leaders, works together in the will to live up to their shared responsibility for Anthroposophy as it lives in the Goetheanum and in the world. This joint work should provide orientation for the work in the School of Spiritual Science, the World Society, the Anthroposophical Movement and the public. It will work to ensure that people in the fields of life and the members of the Anthroposophical Society can work together more intensively and that they do not experience each other separately. With this we would like to follow the basic intention of the Christmas Conference. "

The common intention formulated here is still the core focus of our cooperation. The Executive Council still has a specific task and is ultimately responsible for the legal connection to the outside world. Internally, however, it has become integrated within the overall responsibilities of the Goetheanum Leadership since 2012. As a leadership organ, it no longer makes overall decisions, but delegates the specific areas of responsibility to individual people for a period of three years. It may also withdraw or modify them. In this sense, all mandates will be newly confirmed or re-divided by the Goetheanum Leadership in June. Thus, the questions of subject knowledge from the fields of life, the research and the coordination tasks of the eleven sections, as well as the management of the house, are gradually converging into a common awareness of the Anthroposophical Society at large.

The people who belong to the Goetheanum Leadership may be well known to you, but you may not have linked them to this overall responsibility. The following list, in alphabetical order, introduces each member of the Leadership in terms of their responsibilities and states two of the most current topics and projects they are currently working on. This may give you a more personal face and content profile of the Goetheanum Leadership Group.

Paul Mackay and Bodo von Plato, in their responsibility for the General Anthroposophical Section, currently also belong to the Goetheanum leadership. 

Dr. Oliver Conradt, heads of the Astronomical-Mathematical Section. He is working on the publication of works by and about Elisabeth Vreede and the topic of death horoscopes.

Jean-Michel Florin, is co-leader of the Agricultural Section. He organized a journey of 70 biodynamic farmers from around the world to the Organic World Congress in India in November 2017. The preparations for the international symposium of biodynamic researchers are currently in full swing in September.

Dr. med. Matthias Girke, is head of the Medical Section and Member of the Executive Council since 2017. He is currently traveling to the South American Congress for Anthroposophical Oncology and Palliative Medicine in Lima and engaged in work in the cross-professional Care groups "Anthroposophical Palliative Medicine" and "Oncology".

Gerald Häfner, heads the Section for Social Sciences. He is intensively networked with the preparatory teams for the large-scale events marking the 100th anniversary of Rudolf Steiner's impulse in three-folding in Stuttgart, Brussels and Berlin in 2019. He conducts interdisciplinary research into future-orientated questions of ownership in companies.

Dr. Christiane Haid, is director of the Humanities Section and the Goetheanum Press. She has just completed the interdisciplinary Whitsun Conference on "Where to in Europe?" as well as a colloquium in preparation for the upcoming Christmas Conference on the Foundation Stone Meditation at the Goetheanum.

Stefan Hasler, head of the Section for Performing Arts, has just launched a project on historical Eurythmy Figures for publication and exhibition. He strongly supports initiatives to stimulate artistic speech.

Ueli Hurter, co-director of the Agricultural Section, has just released the documentation of the recent Agricultural Conference of February 2018 about biodynamic preparations. The preparations for the upcoming conference are currently underway with the topic " The Economy of Agriculture".

Dr. Constanza Kaliks, is director of the Youth Section and Member of the Executive Council since 2015. She is in the midst of preparations for the first Conference of the romance-speaking world: ‚Alma Humana!‘ and is conducting the research project "(Re) Search: The spiritual striving of youth - Defining our reality ", a survey of young people on their prospects for the future.

Johannes Kühl, head of the Natural Sciences Section, is preparing for the international conference "Evolving Science 2018: Paths to the Spiritual in Nature", with the section team. Also in preparation is the Colour Exhibition: ExperienceCOULOUR for Autumn 2018 in England.

Florian Osswald, co-director of the Pedagogical Section, is involved in the project Training for Steiner / Waldorf Institutions, which aims towards a worldwide networking of the training centers. At the moment the preparations for "Waldorf 100" are in full progress, planning events in all continents.

Claus-Peter Röh, co-head of the Pedagogical Section, is in preparation for a conference on the study of the human being and methodology regarding the intermediate level in schools. In view of "Waldorf-100", he is working of the topic of "pedagogy and language".

Marianne Schubert, head of the Visual Arts Section, organizes the "Goetheanum Art Workshops" and the research project "Experiencing Center and Periphery” with regard to Rudolf Steiner's artistic landscape work at the Goetheanum.

Joan Sleigh, is member of the Executive Council since 2013. With a team of experts and translators she is initiating a German-English re-publication of the texts of the First Class for the end of 2018. She is co-ordinator of the Social Initiative Forum Project.

Georg Soldner, deputy head of the Medical Section, works in the inter-professional Care-groups on the beginning of life (pregnancy, birth, early childhood) and on acute infectious diseases as prevention of antibiotics.

Justus Wittich, member of the Executive Board since 2012, is treasurer, member of the management group of the Goetheanum and responsible for communications.

After the decisions of the Goetheanum Leadership on 12th June 2018, we will contact you with another letter or a publication.

Christiane Haid, Ueli Hurter and Justus Wittich 
for the Goetheanum Leadership and the Executive Council