As the Blue Mountains Pluriversity's reputation grows, it's attracting more young people from Sydney and further afield.
It will expand on this year's offering with a philosophy school and a conservation and land management program in 2020.
According to Lis Bastian, founder of The Big Fix and the Pluriversity: "Our goal is to make the Blue Mountains a destination for young people keen to 'grow in the gap' - the gap between young and old, and the gap year/s many take while they're trying to work out what to do with their life!
"We have so much to offer young people in the Blue Mountains with the wealth of experience in our community, and the fact that we're a City of the Arts in a World Heritage Area."
As well as a diverse program of free learning activities, the Pluriversity also provides a calendar of activities offered by the rest of the community, and a range of job opportunities in the Blue Mountains so that young people can "earn while they learn".
"If you scratch the surface there are a lot of interesting jobs on offer and we're keen to hear from anyone who'd like to offer young people more work opportunities," said Ms Bastion.
The Pluriversity has also launched Edgy Blue Mountains, a collaborative social enterprise incubator, which is helping young people test and develop social enterprises. Edgy's permaculture gardening design and maintenance service and its 'pink ribbon' team to remove weeds of the bushland, has already provided regular casual income for five young people, and is steadily growing.
To find out more visit www.bmpluriversity.org, email learning or work opportunities to lis@thebigfix.org or call Lis Bastion on 0407 437 553.
