Because education doesn’t end after you graduate, last year I attended a day-long series of workshops during the first annual Brooklyn Skillshare. There I learned how to brew Kombucha Tea, an experience I speak about 0:30 seconds into this video filmed at last year’s event. That same curiosity to learn from my neighbors has me excited for this year’s Skillshare event, which will take place this upcoming weekend.

Bringing out the best talent and knowledge from around the borough (my new home at the time), the 2009 Brooklyn Skillshare (BKSS) focused on sharing knowledge for the purpose of community building rather than merely professional development. Organized by individuals who understand that learning happens best in a social context, these event demonstrate the motivation for adults when they learn from their peers. After all, Brooklyn is well-known to be populated by creative souls with talent and knowledge to match, which would ordinarily be lost if individuals kept these talents to themselves.

To promote their new series, BKSS organizers turned to social media as organizing tools, where a swarm of blog readers, email reminders, and Facebook fans helped spread the word-of-mouth. In fact it’s hard for me to recall how I first learned of BKSS, because once I discovered the event I was surrounded by a constant drum beat counting down to the event itself. When its organizers were planning this year’s follow-up, they were able to leverage their targeted lists to raise funds through Kickstarter, a crowd-sourcing social network gaining popularity among non-profits and creatives alike.

This year’s event promises to offer even more learning opportunities, but here’s a few of the classes I took at last year’s Skillshare:

• Brewing Kombucha Tea (see above)
• How to Fix a flat tire during Bike Mechanics 101
• Making Raw Food dishes
• Basics of Screen Printing
• Recording music using Home Audio equipment

Like the prior year’s classes, this year’s event is free to the public and requires no prior registration, although you’ll want to get there early to sign-up for classes (they fill up fast).  Check Brooklyn Skillshare’s website for all the details you need to know to attend this Saturday, October 9 2010 at Brooklyn Community Arts & Media HS. As a firm believer in community building through peer education I plan on attending, so let me know if you plan to join us!

Thanks to Meg Wachter on Vimeo for sharing their video from the 2009 Brooklyn Skillshare