Upcoming Events:

All the events are planned for SATURDAY or SUNDAY.

Events In Preparation:

1. SERIES ON COMMUNITY ISSUES

“How will future developments affect the future of Ojai?”
“Affordable housing”
“Divisiveness among long term Ojai residents and newcomers”

2. SERIES ON ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

“Ojai’s Climate Park Project”
“Global and local climate change issues”

3. SERIES ON EDUCATION

Panel discussions with local teachers and parents from different schools on critical issues such as “How to deal with bullying, drugs, violence, racism, internet issues, etc.”
Spirituality and Philosophy
Meeting with local luminaries

Most Recent Events:

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 20 AT 4:00PM

John Roulac is a former longtime resident of Ojai, Executive Producer of Netflix blockbuster Kiss the Ground, Nutiva founder, and co-founder of ARC.

Agroforestry Regeneration Communities (ARC) is a nonprofit planting food forests in Guatemala and East Africa. ARC has now planted over 6K food forests and 2M trees.

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 13 AT 6:00PM

We are in the midst of an exceptional drought throughout California, our water supply continues to diminish. We have removed our lawns, put water buckets in our showers, and limited outside watering times, and still the majority of the water we use goes to maintain landscaping. Why would planting a new tree at this time make sense? Come and hear what we have to say on this important topic!

Garrett Clifford President of Ojai Trees

As a 33-year resident of the Ojai Valley, with a business background and a passion for trees. Garrett joined Ojai Trees at the beginning, 2008, helping the founder, Tom Bostrum, organize Ojai Trees to qualify for 501c3 non-profit status. Ojai Trees is an all-volunteer organization. The goal of the organization is to maintain a healthy community forest sustainable for future generations by inspiring people to take personal responsibility for the community forest through education and participation in planting and tree care. To date, Ojai Trees has planted over 1,800 trees in the valley both on public and private land.

Jan C. Scow, Ojai Trees Board member, and Registered Consulting Arborist

Jan Scow, is a Registered Consulting Arborist, a Board Certified Master Arborist, and a Certified Urban Forester as well as a highly qualified tree risk assessor. Jan has worked as a Consulting Arborist in southern California for nearly 30 years, and moved to Ojai to open an office here in 2018. He works exclusively in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.

An Investigation of Krishnamurti’s Teachings | Online Lecture Series
by Professor Padmanabhan Krishna

On behalf of Bay Area J Krishnamurti Dialogue Group and Ojai Retreat Group, it is our honor and a privilege to invite you to a series of talks by Professor Padmanabhan Krishna. Though J. Krishnamurti’s teachings do not offer an immediate solution to the current world conditions, these are a wake-up call for all of us and demand us to investigate the possibility of a conflict free world.

Saturdays and Sundays, Dates:
April 16, 17, 23, 24, 30 & May 1, 14, 15

Timing:
7:30am to 9:00am (California Time)

Topics:
War and Peace
Approach to Krishnamurti’s teachings
The Art of Living
Personal Interactions with Krishnamurti
Love and Relationship
The Learning Mind
Conditioning, Truth and Insight
Transformation of Consciousness

Benefit Concert for Ukraine

Benefit Concert for Ukraine. We received donations in the amount of $6,506 that will be sent to “Team Humanity,” a non-profit organization (501,c,3) which offers food and shelter to Ukrainian refugees in Moldova. Thank you very, very much. Not one single dollar has been kept to cover our expenses for this event. A copy of the wire transfer will be posted on our website in a few days. Team Humanity acknowledges the receipt of your donation of 6,506.00 USD received through wire transfer on April 14th, 2022. Click here to see the receipt.

Interview with Marc Whitman

Interview with Marc Whitman. On March 19th The Ojai Retreat Cultural Center continued its monthly series of live, plus zoom interviews exploring Ojai community issues. This began with architect Marc Whitman discussing his idea for the development of the Ojai Unified School District as an Art School. His idea has stimulated many in the community to visualize an adult education center that is not only an art school but perhaps includes environmental studies, a space to learn trades and even a teachers college to enhance the careers of the many teachers in the Valley. He was interviewed by Ellen Hall at the Ojai Retreat.

Interview with Ojai Valley News

Interview with The Ojai Valley News. On Saturday, April 9, 2:30 pm, the series continued with Ojai Valley News owner/publisher Laura Rearwin Ward, news editor Marianne Ratcliff, and reporters Perry Von Houten and Kimberly Rivers. Local newspapers have been struggling, losing 2,200 of them since 2005. A few local residents have recently purchased Ojai’s 130-year-old journal of record as Ojai Media and led by Publisher Laura Rearwin Ward. What is the state of Ojai’s local newspaper, what are its values, challenges and vision for the future? Take a look inside the inner workings of our community’s newspaper and join in the discussion with the team bringing the news to our valley. This interview was conducted by Ellen Hall.

Events