Annual Conference 2026: Anthroposophy and America Now

Anthroposophy & America Now

Seeding the Future

Association means the possibility for a higher being to express itself through the members when they are united. Human associations are the secret places where higher spiritual beings descend in order to work through the single individuals, just as the soul works through the members of the body. 

Rudolf Steiner 

The Anthroposophical Society is meant to be a core for everything good that is to come to humankind¹, and each year our annual conference is designed to cultivate this core, through intimate interaction, artful workshops, the leading thoughts of engaging speakers, and through experiencing together the life-affirming anthroposophical performance arts and festival activities.

This year we are pleased to host Thomas O'Keefe, Cliff Venho, and Megan Durney, addressing the essential themes of Meeting the Needs of Our Time, Hosting Community, and Restoring Our Deep Connection with the Earth. These lead presentations will be augmented by workshops, shared meals, and all the in betweens that so enrich the life of the Society.

Not to be missed this year, Dorothea Mier's special presentation and Saturday night’s lively celebration of 100 years of anthroposophy in Spring Valley² with the Threefold community!

Join us for Anthroposophy and America Now. Together we are seeding the future!

¹ Rudolf Steiner Past and Furture Impulses in Societal Events lecture 12, April 14,1919 (GA 190)

² Please note that "Spring Valley" is a more familiar reference to Chestnut Ridge, NY, which is the geographcially-correct village name

DATE
October 9 - 11, 2026
Scroll down for a full event schedule!

REGISTER HERE

LOCATION
This conference is hosted by the ASA and in celebration of 100 years of the Threefold community and will take place at the anthroposophical Threefold community near Spring Valley, NY. To learn more about our hosts, visit their website at threefold.org.

Address:
260 Hungry Hollow Road
Chestnut Ridge, NY 10977

The venue is just 30 miles from New York City and can be accessed via JFK, LaGuardia, or Newark airports, though Newark is the closest. You can click here for information about travel and click here for near by accomodations. 
 

TICKETS
The ticket price includes access to all conference activities, with breakfast on Saturday and Sunday, lunch on Saturday and Sunday, and dinner on Friday and Saturday. Ticket also includes coffee/tea and snacks throughout. Gluten free, dairy-free, and vegetarian options will be avilable at each meal.  
 

Registration Fee Options: 

- Early Registration: $300 - available until July 9, 2026
- After July 9, ASA Members: $350
- Supporter: $450
- Youth & Equity: $250 


The "Youth and Equity" Registration Level is available if you are either under the age of 35 or are experiencing economic hardship that would otherwise limit your ability to attend. 

No refunds after October 1, 2026.

Click here to register today. Please Register by October 1, 2026
 

SCHEDULE*
*This schedule is subject to minor changes and updates

Pre-conference event on Thursday, October 8 - information coming soon!

Friday October 9

2:00 Registration Table Open until 4pm ~ Register on site for your Saturday workshop
4:30 Opening and Welcome with Mary Stewart Adams 
5:45 Dinner at Threefold Cafe
7:30 Meeting the Needs of our Times – Thomas O’Keefe
8:45 Artistic Presentation - to be announced

*Please note that on Friday at 11am there will be a Class Lesson for members of the first class of School of Spiritual Science (Blue Card Required) 

Saturday October 10

8:00 Breakfast - at Threefold Cafe
9:00 Open the Day with Singing - Jana Hawley
9:30 Restoring Deep Connection with the Earth – Megan Durney 

10:30 Small group conversations
11:00 Snack & Coffee/Tea Break
11:30 The Foundation Stone in Eurythmy presentation with demonstrations  ~ with Dorothea Mier 
1:00 Lunch at Threefold Cafe 
3:00 Workshops to include Eurythmy with Sea-Anna Vasilas, Creative Speech with Jennifer Kleinbach, Painting with Hans Schumm, Fiber Arts Studio tour, a Threefold Community Farm tour with Mac Mead, Biography work, and more! Choose your workshop at the registration table on Friday
4:15 Snack and Coffee/Tea Break
4:45 Annual General Meeting of the ASA
6:00 Dinner at Threefold Cafe
8:00 Fruits from our Past, Seeds for our Future: A Threefold community celebration as a feast of the bounty of the last 100 years* 

*This event will be open to the public

Sunday October 11

8:00 Breakfast- at Threefold Cafe
9:00 Open the Day with Singing - Jana Hawley
9:30 Hosting Community- Cliff Venho
10:30 Snack and Coffee/Tea Break
11:45 Ceremony, Harvest, and Closing

1:00 Lunch (included in ticket price, rsvp required)

2:30 Gathering for ASA Branches

4:00 Conference closing

DOWNLOAD THE CONFERENCE MENU HERE (coming soon)

In the meetings of the Anthroposophical Society a great truth can be experienced. When human beings meet together seeking the spirit with unity of purpose then they will find their way to each other ~ they will find the path from soul to soul.

Rudolf Steiner

MEET YOUR PRESENTERS:

Megan Durney As Farm Manager, Megan coordinates the daily work on our farm, and is an instructor in our One-Year Part-Time Training. She takes a leading role in planning and carrying out our annual Plant Sale and each season’s vegetable production. She directs our seed saving, herb growing, and herbal product production, manages our CSA, Farm Stand, and sales to other outlets. She is our beekeeping manager. Megan is a board member of the Nature Institute. Megan joined the Pfeiffer Center as an intern in 2006, and became a staff member in 2010. In 2014-2015, she studied seed saving under Harald Hoven at Raphael Garden in Fair Oaks, CA.

Clifford Venho  is an editor, translator, and eurythmist. He serves as Managing Editor for SteinerBooks, where he edits the Collected Works of Rudolf Steiner. He is a former member of the Eurythmy Spring Valley Ensemble and teaches courses in poetics and eurythmy. His translation of Novalis' Hymns to the Night was published by Mercury Press (2015).

Thomas O'Keefe discovered Anthroposophy while studying philosophy at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2007. He founded the newsletter Deepening Anthroposophy in 2012, has been a student at the Seminary of the Christian Community in North America, has done editing and translating work for SteinerBooks, Temple Lodge Publishing, Wynstones Press, Occident Verlag, and Inner Work Books, and has been a coworker at the Ita Wegman Institute for Basic Research into Anthroposophy in Arlesheim, Switzerland. He currently works as the editorial director of Chadwick Library Edition, a project that aims to publish new or revised translations of 12 of Rudolf Steiner’s core written works in special hardcover editions.

Jennifer Kleinbach has been performing and teaching speech arts and eurythmy in a variety of settings over the past 17 years. In 2000, she completed eurythmy training in Spring Valley, followed by touring with the stage ensemble (2000-2005), teaching eurythmy at Spring Valley (200-2007), and completing her speech training in 2005. Since 2004, she has performed in a variety of theatre productions (including the Mystery Dramas), festivals, and eurythmy performances. Jennifer currently leads a community speech chorus, teaches speech arts at Eurythmy Spring Valley, the Christian Community Seminary, and Steiner School of Speech Arts. She holds a BA in Classical Languages, an MA in Medieval Studies, completed the Foundation Year and Goethean Studies course at Rudolf Steiner College, and is an alumna of Sacramento Waldorf School.

Jana Hawley  taught music and served as a class teacher at the Whidbey Island Waldorf School, then joined the Green Meadow Waldorf faculty, where she has been a class teacher, and has taught music and singing, music history, and math. Jana has been teaching at Sunbridge Institute since 2002, where she also served as director of the Waldorf Elementary Teacher Education Program. Jana began her professional life as a stage manager and member of a gamelan ensemble, and has brought this interest in both theater and multicultural music to her work. She heads up the Rose Hall Stage Crew, and helps direct and produce middle school musicals and class plays. 

Dorothea Mier was educated at the Elmfield and Michael Hall Waldorf schools and the Birmingham School of Music in her native England, where she studied piano and graduated ARCM, ABSM. She studied eurythmy at the Lea van der Pals School in Dornach, Switzerland, going on to teach there for 17 years. During that time, she was a member of the Goetheanum Stage Group under Marie Savitch, preeminent eurythmist and director. In 1980, Dorothea became the Artistic Director of Eurythmy Spring Valley, carrying the work there for 25 years until 2005, when she retired and became free for giving workshops worldwide. Dorothea continues to teach classes and give workshops at ESV.

Sea-Anna Vasilas has been teaching eurythmy internationally since 2011, after graduating from the four-year eurythmy training at Eurythmy Spring Valley in Spring Valley, New York. She first encountered eurythmy through her work with biodynamic agriculture and has continually been inspired by the living relationship between biodynamics and eurythmy. Sea-Anna earned her M.A. in performance eurythmy from Alanus University, and is currently a member of the Eurythmy Spring Valley faculty and ensemble.

 Mary Stewart Adams is General Secretary and Country Representative of the Anthroposohical Society in America, since October 2023, after several decades of work as dark sky advocate. In 2011 she established one of teh world's first international dark sky parks, which she led to award-winning recognition. Since 20212 she has hosted the weekly podcast The Storyteller’s Night Sky and in 2021 Mary published the book The Star Tales of Mother Goose. Mary met the work of Rudolf Steiner simultaneous to encountering ancient star wisdom in the 1980s, which was galvanized into a life path through encounter with astrosopher Hazel Straker in 1995.

Mac Mead is Program Director & Farm Mentor at Threefold Community Farm  Mac began farming in 1975, when he had the “privilege and good fortune” to learn biodynamic methods directly from former co-workers of biodynamic pioneer Ehrenfried Pfeiffer at the Fellowship Community. In 2006, Mac became the Program Director of the Pfeiffer Center and is the core instructor of our Biodynamic Course.

Eurythmy Spring Valley (ESV) is a vibrant center for learning and performance, serving all levels of interest in eurythmy. Located 30 miles from New York City, ESV is part of the Threefold community of initiatives guided by the work of Rudolf Steiner. Founded in 1972 as a pioneering American eurythmy training, our School of Eurythmy supports the continued growth and development of the art of eurythmy with two full-time trainings, a low-residence part-time training, and one-day and weekend workshops for audiences ranging from the interested public to eurythmy professionals.The Eurythmy Spring Valley Ensemble, in residence at Eurythmy Spring Valley since 1986, is one of the world’s most active eurythmy touring groups, bringing full evening programs, children’s programs, and special performance projects to schools, communities, and conferences all over North America, Europe, and Asia.

Click Here to Register for the Conference

Are you a member? Join us for our Annual General Business Meeting on October 10, 2026