Passion, Money & Commitment

InterPlay has spread as far as it has because of the commitment and passion of so many people who have shared their time, and gifts. And that, I think, will always be one of the greatest "paybacks" of InterPlay. I don't think we ever want to lose the power of that kind of commitment.
It is also true that some people have the time and energy to work from that place and others don't. InterPlay has something of great value to give to the world. I think we can be both generous and easy with it and also look at many ways for it to be more sustaining financially.
You probably know that the Leadership Program is the InterPlay form that generates the most income. "Untensives" and retreats are the next best forms financially. Classes can be a good form of ongoing income, but don't tend to create a high return. Body Wisdom, Inc. also raises money from contributions to support programs that share InterPlay with communities that may not be able to afford them. The sale of materials also creates some income.
All of these forms are available to regional programs to one extent or another. (We extended our non-profit status to six other states: MN, TX, TN, MA, WA & IL. More about that later.) This year we plan to continue to address the issues of how income generation can be increased for all InterPlay leaders who desire it.

What Does InterPlay Really Offer?

Over the years, we have played with a lot of different ways to "spin" InterPlay. Since it is such a basic and fundamental philosophy/practice and has so many applications, one could run with it in many different directions. And we have.
I think if we want to increase InterPlay' draw, as well as its perceived value, then we should do some brainstorming about what we think are the things that InterPlay has to offer that will be most attractive to the most people (or so attractive to a few people that they will pay well for them!), and then figure out some simple ways to say those things.
So what do you think? What is at the center for you of what InterPlay has to offer the world (or a very specific segment of the "market"!) I'm sure there are many right answers to this question!

Change Your Practice

Thank you all so much for this great beginning to this conversation! Already a lively and enlightening discussion.

When we teach the bodywisdom tool of spiritual disciplines (aka spiritual practices), the way we describe it is "to change your life, change your practice". I already see some important ideas emerging in this conversation that could lead to some different practices.

I love it when folks with organizers and marketers get attracted to InterPlay. Surprisingly, there are quite of few of those sorts of folks in our community. I'm not sure that mindset is lifted up, though, very much in our conversations, and I think others of us may even be a little suspicious. Would InterPlay be tainted by the "market"???

But here are some truths as I see them (some of which have been confirmed in other comments, others of which I may have stolen outright from you):

We have something quite significant to offer, something of great value (it is life-changing, for gosh sakes!). We are caught a bit in the overall societal devaluation of play, but I think we are capable of holding these two truths: that play can be an important something to offer and that the way we offer play has financial value.

Even the simplest InterPlay gathering involves time and effort to coordinate, expertise to lead, and perhaps space to rent. What if everytime we gathered to play, we were all committed to chipping in financially: some for the organizer, some for the leader, some for the rent, and some for ongoing development or scholarships. If we established this as a basic practice, if this became our ethos even in the most informal play gatherings, I believe it would enliven our InterPlay communities. We would be more directly "giving back" in direct response to what we have received. (And those who were going to the trouble of organizing or getting the training to lead would honored and acknowledged.) If someone didn't choose the be compensated for organizing or leading, that portion would go back into the bigger pot for future use. (There is always going to be something we want that costs something.)

Perhaps play (in general) should be free, and there are many ways that I can play that don't cost me, but InterPlay offers a very special kind of play. Someone is investing time, energy, resources, and sometimes money to make it happen. If we share that responsibility, if we more directly address the costs and benefits, if we honor our leaders and organizers more directly, if we admit that we are receiving something that is very valuable to us—if we do all those things we will actually be bringing our practice more in line with our deeper beliefs about the value of InterPlay. If we have difficulty doing that, then we shouldn't be surprised if the folks we are attracting to our events have difficulty with it.

As we go, we can also talk more about how we offer InterPlay to those may be less able to afford it. We can also talk more about the whole "grace" economy and how we give and receive it.

Making Money with InterPlay

The current state of InterPlay is that it has spread all over the place, but not many people are making much money from leading it.
Some who are investing a lot of time and energy to maintain an ongoing InterPlay program depend on someone else bringing home the bacon. Even Cynthia and I depend in part on other sources of income to fill the gaps.
Perhaps InterPlay is a labor of love (does someone have a "play" version of that expression?) Perhaps InterPlay should be free of charge.
Perhaps InterPlay need only be about giving and receiving grace.
It certainly seems like we should be able to get together and play without having to invest much money in it. If you have led InterPlay you may have gotten this sense from your participants—that there is resistance to the cost.
I believe that there are probably some deep issues behind the "deals" with InterPlay and money. And perhaps we will explore those in this discussion.
But one of my beliefs is that if we can figure out a reasonable economic model for the way that InterPlay works in the middle of a market economy—a model in which more people make at least some money from teaching and leading InterPlay—then InterPlay will spread more quickly and more widely.
We may have to change in order to get this to work.
So the first question is: what is your current picture, based on your own experience, of the way that InterPlay is working/not working for you financially? Be specific (focus on the details) if you are able and willing.