An untethered imagination community
You don't play enough. Come remember who you are when you do.
Guided play and imagination experiences for people with nothing left to prove and something left to find. Come unearth a bolder vision of yourself, your future and your ideas.
What it is
Guided experiences built around The Kindling Practice: intentional play, imagination, wonder and active quiet. Rest recovers energy. Imagination and play generate it.
Who it's for
People who followed the roadmap, and it worked, and who now carry a quiet feeling that there's something else.
How it works
Five stages, Play, Dig, Sift, Sculpt and Fire, that turn play into a practice. Start with a free hour, or go all in.
Ways in
One practice, different sandboxes.
In community
Play alongside others who quickly become co-conspirators.
F*ck It Friday
Free
Happy hour meets anonymous imagination and play.
Flask in your bag? Third espresso? Zero judgment from me.
1 hour · online · alter egos only
{{ fif.chipText }}The Dilly Dally Sessions
$200
A week to play, wander and remember what lights you up.
One week · online · 2 live sessions + Solo Recess
{{ dd.line }}The Imagination Incubator
$4,000Founding rate
A three-month community for practicing imagination and play, on purpose. The Tinderbox, a little “fire,” arrives at your door before we begin, and we close the season celebrating in NYC.
Hold your seat with a $500 deposit (applied to tuition), pay in full, or pay monthly (3 × $1,500, $4,500 total). Imagination Fellows: by application, limited. NYC travel and lodging are yours. Alumni can join Summer Camp, a separate long weekend upstate with limited seats.
3 months · small cohort · online, in the world, finale in NYC
Next cohort: Spring 2027With your people
Gather your favorite humans. I'll bring the play.
Season Finale
A Play Date with your crew
Less vision board, more visionary. An end-of-year Play Date where you arrive in character as the person you're becoming, and play your way into next year's plot.
Any time of year: plan a Play Date.
~3 hours · NYC or online · up to 12 guests
Now booking · November–JanuaryFor your organization
Workshops for teams, convenings and retreats.
Imagination workshops
Designed with you
The perfect primer before you start strategizing and planning. From a single session to a multi-day Dilly Dally for your team's retreat or offsite.
Recent rooms: Venice Immersive at the Venice Biennale, NEW INC at the New Museum, and agog.
1 hour to multi-day · online or in person
Booking a keynote, a large event or a media request? Contact my speaking agency, Stellant →
Just you
Start one-on-one, or go deeper alongside a group.
1:1 Sessions
Built around you
For founders, people considering a pivot, and anyone with a dream they're not quite sure what to do with yet.
Before a group, alongside one, or after an idea sparks.
60 minutes online or 2 hours in NYC · single or a pack of three
Limited availability
Who's running this
Dr. Courtney D. Cogburn, Player President
I'm a transdisciplinary social scientist, a tenured professor at Columbia University, and the lead creator of the award-winning 1000 Cut Journey, a virtual reality experience that was an official selection of the Tribeca Film Festival. I'm a lifelong rule breaker and beloved ambassador of silliness and nonsense.
Untethered imagination, the idea at the heart of all this, comes from my academic work (read the chapter →) and is the heart of the book I'm writing now.
Featured in TIME, Forbes, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Wired, BBC, CBS News, NBC News, PBS NewsHour, NPR and TEDx.
“I am now starting with joy and possibility. I realize that I don't always have to create from pain and trauma.”
Author and artist, M.P.