We help people communicate important environmental and social ideas in ways that are smart, loving, and funny
We deliver internal company comedy courses and public comedy courses.
For this course, we want people who:
This course goes deep.
It will help you be a more clear about the issues you care about, and your relationship to them.
It will bring you more confidence as a writer and presenter.
It will help you illuminate complex issues in ways that your audience will remember and feel safe to reflect upon for a long time.
To do all of that - you need to be able to dedicate enough time for the classes, the coaching, and the show, as well as about 2 hours of homework between each class.
This course is not for people who:
Here are some public courses we have coming up.
For in-company or public courses in your city,
contact us (Maffick.com is where this project comes from).
Warning: Learning may include belly laughing, transformative insights, and meeting delightful, like-minded people.
Sustainable Stand Up
online & in-person hybrid course
(In-person in Ljubljana, Slovenia)
Let's find a way to talk about important ideas with humour and compassion
19 September to 22 October 2023
The course
Live, online, this ain't your normal Zoom call...
Class 1 (Finding the beauty beneath): 19 Sept
Class 2 (Aiming for average): 26 Sept
Class 3 (Love as a sponsoring energy): 3 Oct
Class 4 (Structure which clarifies): 10 Oct
All 6-730pm Central European Time.
Individual, online coaching (30 minutes per person). We'll find a time that works for us on the 12-14 Oct
Class 5 (Finalising the content): 17 Oct
6-8pm Central European Time.
Live, in-person, in Ljubljana
Class 6 (Physicality and rehearsing): 20 Oct
4-630pm Central European Time.
The Show (A public comedy show with a lovely, supportive audience): 21 Oct
7pm Central European Time (to be confirmed shortly)
We meet at the venue 45 minutes before the doors open.
Class 7 (Reflections and next steps): 22 Oct
11am - 1230pm Central European Time at a cafe.
Please note: There is about 2 hours of homework in between each class.
COURSE FEE
Regular individual rate 380 euros plus VAT
Alumni rate 320 euros plus VAT
Corporate rate per person 550 euros plus VAT
Note: Please do not book your travel or accommodation until you get a confirmation from us.
Course limited to 7 awesome participants. Will you be one of them? To book your place, click book now.
To get on the waiting list for the next course, email us.
Click 'Buy now' to book your place on the course.
If you are an individual who is not VAT registered, or if you are paying via a German company - you need to add the 19% VAT.
If you are eligible for 0% VAT, I will ask you to provide proof/your company VAT number.
What happens when you book your place? You will receive a nice confirmation email from us, with more details about the course, within 12 hours. Usually a lot faster.
If for some reason PayPal isn't working for you, or if you prefer to wire the funds to us instead, please email us here.
By booking, you are agreeing to our terms and conditions here.
High level course terms and conditions
For the public courses:
If you cancel up to one week before the course starts, you’ll get a total refund. If you cancel after that or during the course, we refund you up to 50% of your fee, proportional to the amount of the course taken before the cancellation. If you are under halfway through the course, or if you are beyond that, we invite you to re-take the course again at the special alumni rate.
For both public and in-organisation courses:
How many classes of a course can you miss? Ideally none. We understand that sometimes things come up that make missing a class unavoidable. If you are going to miss a class, tell your facilitator. You are able to miss up to 2 of the first 4 classes in a course, as long as you keep up with the homework and you work with the facilitator to keep on track. The rest of the classes, and the show, are mandatory.
For courses and workshops:
Sometimes, and very rarely, there is a mismatch between what we are trying to nurture in the course, and a participant involved. If this is the case, it is our call to invite a person to leave and revert to the refund policies above/below.
For in-organisation courses:
If individual participants from an in-organisation course cancel up to two weeks before the course starts, there is no penalty. If a participant cancels after that, they must refund the organisation personally for their course fee.
Topic: Humour in the communication of complex & difficult topics of climate and humanitarian issues
Belina Raffy of Maffick/Sustainable Stand Up, Pablo Suarez of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, and Anna Ramskogler-Witt of Aktion Gegen den Hunger and the Berlin Human Rights Film Festival
In this Human Rights Film Festival Berlin podcast, we explore how humour can help us to communicate complex, difficult issues like climate change and humanitarian work.
Smile! It's Climate Change
In this podcast with Life-Sized City presenter Mikael Colville-Andersen, Mikael and Belina discuss how to make climate communication and climate action better through compassionate comedy and improvisation.
Let's keep in touch. Connect with us here...
We will send you information tailored to your interests.
Reminder: Sustainable Stand Up is a project of Maffick.com.
Success stories
Our participants include improvisers, comedians, NASA climate scientists, medical researchers, architects, military servicemen and women, and people like you. Here's what some of them say:
PETER, THE NASA CLIMATE SCIENTIST SAYS...
"I need to reach people about the deadly serious impacts of climate change. But I don't want to drive them away with gloom and doom. Belina and my wonderfully supportive classmates helped me discover the hilarity in my work and connect with the audience about something that really matters, to me and the world."
KRISTY, THE MILITARY SERVICEWOMAN SAYS
"I absolutely loved the supportive atmosphere and the we're all in it together mentality that was built into our class... I was able to create a solid five minute set and muster the courage to get up on that stage alone. Thank you Belina for starting my stand up journey on a high note!"
MATT, THE COMPUTER ENGINEER SAYS
"... gave me the confidence to get up in front of people, the tools for success in stand up and to break into doing improv. Belina is just an amazing teacher..."
The SusStandUp Team
Let's play!
Belina
Founder, Director
Belina began her stand up and improv in 1996 through classes and performances in New York City, continuing her studies at the Loose Moose School of Improvisation. She performs in Baltimore, NY. London and - soon - Berlin. She is a Director of the global Applied Improvisation Network and a consultant with an MBA. Belina spends most of her time teaching social entrepreneurs and business people improvisation skills to bring about a more delightful, sustainable form of business.
Steve
Advisor/Connector, UK
Steve is a geek comedian and founder of Science Showoff (http://www.scienceshowoff.org) and Bright Club (http://www.brightclub.org). He's trained hundreds of people to be funny about science and hosts gigs all over the UK where clever folk get to make funny for the first time.
Photo credit: Ed Moore
Adam
Advisor, Germany
Adam is a professional actor, improviser and stand-up for corporate audiences. He has been performing, teaching and directing since the mid 1990s, mostly in central Europe.
With a background in psychology, he is also a presentation coach, consultant and adjunct professor who uses techniques stolen from theater to help companies and governments all over the world make their staff and customers smile.
Katie
Performer/Advisor
Katie Goodman is an award-winning musical comic, improviser, actress, author, creative coach, and social activist. She is the author of “Improvisation For The Spirit: Live a More Creative, Spontaneous, and Courageous Life Using the Tools of Improv Comedy.” Her comedy music videos can be seen, having amassed over 1.5 million hits on Youtube. www.KatieGoodman.com
Peter
Advisor, Climate Scientist
Peter is the founding director of NASA’s Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Office, supporting the North American Carbon Program (www.nacarbon.org); ABoVE, the Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment, a major field campaign (http://above.nasa.gov); and the Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Focus Area at NASA HQ (http://cce.nasa.gov). He's also an improviser and was part of our first show in Baltimore of Sustainable Stand Up.
Pablo
Advisor, Climate Scientist
Pablo is Associate director for research and innovation at the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre. As a researcher and consultant on climate, disasters and development he has worked with over thirty organizations in more than 50 countries. His current work addresses the use of innovative tools for climate risk management – including applied improvisation for learning and managing complex dynamic systems.
Prescott
Green building Expert/Improviser, Baltimore
Prescott is a sustainability innovator by day, and talented improvisation performer and show director by night.
Copyright 2015