Sponge is a teaching, learning and discipline-bending project. Sponge events are free and open to the public. They have ranged from two to five days. One Sponge took place in an afternoon. Past Sponge topics have included: undersea life, Mongolian craft, art & industry, utopia, ice cream making, deep ocean navigating, sound art, urban ecology, and fish bioacoustics.
During the “absorb-a-thon” days of the events, participants do hands-on projects, go on field trips, meet with visiting experts, see films, and collect things to read.
Participants “wring-out” at the end of each Sponge by delivering expert presentations of their own. In keeping with the metaphor of sea-sponge reproduction (if a sea-sponge is placed in a blender, each bit will grow into an adult sponge), participants are encouraged to spread the Sponge model by conducting future events.