News and Happenings Related to the Serious Leisure Perspective
In the community
■ Rod Dieser wrote the following opinion page in USA Today (8 May 2020) bearing on optimal leisure lifestyle, hobbies, and the covid-19 pandemic: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/05/08/coronavirus-too-risky-to-reopen-stop-social-distancing-column/3089745001/
■ The following article by Stuart Whatley shows the place of serious leisure in his view of the future of leisure: The Future of Leisure
■ “A Doctor’s Concept of Serious Leisure in the Modern World,” by Ellie Fraser, elephant journal, 18 September 2012. (http://www.elephantjournal.com/author/editorial)
■ “Serious leisure" finds it way to Bloomberg News in the article "Herding Cows Helps Swiss Executives Ease Boardroom Pressure"
■ "Serious Leisure" is now defined in the Urban Dictionary
■ Inspire: The Foundation for Inclusion is based in Malta and Gozo. In their Leisure Centres: The activities [for people with disabilities] revolving around leisure education focus on serious leisure rather than the casual type. In fact, the main feature of all education is its intentionality. It is delivered and acquired in a systematic way. On the same lines, serious leisure can be described as the systematic pursuit of deep satisfaction through an activity involving a hobby or a volunteer activity, where one needs not be professionally trained to carry it out. This activity should be one where those who pursue it find it so interesting that they launch themselves in the aim of acquiring and expressing its special skills and knowledge. (http://www.inspire.org.mt/leisure-education, retrieved 6 February 2011)
■ Serious Leisure TV, inaugurated by owner Chris Gosling, has been operating in the UK for over eight years. The site states that: “There are said to be several kinds of leisure; simple relaxation, for instance, when you just ease back into the armchair. But we're all about serious leisure - the kind that people get really involved in, get passionate about, and invest both time and money into” (retrieved 6 February 2011).
■ Advisor One, which counsels on investments, has not forgotten the importance of serious leisure in retirement. The Staff Writer in the 1 January 2008 issue says that: “The desire to phase into retirement has major implications for exit planning. It affects the structure of any exit plan.” Retirees need to know how to use leisure time, which leads the writer to an extended discussion of serious and casual leisure as these two affect planning (retrieved 6 February 2011).
Conferences
■ A session devoted to Serious Leisure was held at the CLR13 (the triannual congress of the Canadian Association for Leisure Studies), Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, May 2011.
Courses
■ Robert Stebbins taught a 15-hour course on the serious leisure perspective at the Seoul School of Integrated Sciences & Technologies, Seoul, South Korea, August, 2012.
■ Jenna Hartel taught a course on the liberal arts hobbies at the Faculty of Information, University of Toronto, winter semester, 2012. The same course is scheduled for winter semester, 2012.
■ Robert Stebbins taught a concentrated semester-length, graduate level course on the serious leisure perspective in January and February (2011) at the University of Northern Iowa, School of Health, Physical Education & Leisure Services.
Consultation
■ Robert Stebbins was part of an invited panel of North American experts assembled by the United Nations in November 2010 in Washington, DC, to examine changes in the world’s nonprofit sector since the Year of the Volunteer (2000). The UN will issue a report in 2011 based on this session and two others held elsewhere in the world.
Major addresses
■ Robert Stebbins, “Developing a Quality Lifestyle for Active Aging.” Keynote Speaker, Active living and Quality of Life Conference, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, June, 2014.
■ Robert Stebbins, “Leisure and Happiness: An Intricate Relationship.” Plenary speaker at the China International Leisure Development Forum, Hangzhou, China, November, 2011.
■ Robert Stebbins, "Leisure's Borders: What Are We Exporting Beyond Them?" Keynote address was presented at the mid-term conference of Research Committee 13 of the International Sociological Association, Palermo, Italy, 29 September-1 October, 2011.
■ Robert Stebbins, elected Senior Fellow of the World Leisure Academy at the 11th Congress of the World Leisure Organization (held in Chuncheon, South Korea, August-September 2010), presented the first Forum Scholar Lecture. It was entitled: “Leisure as Principal Actor on the World Stage.”
■ Rod Dieser wrote the following opinion page in USA Today (8 May 2020) bearing on optimal leisure lifestyle, hobbies, and the covid-19 pandemic: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/05/08/coronavirus-too-risky-to-reopen-stop-social-distancing-column/3089745001/
■ The following article by Stuart Whatley shows the place of serious leisure in his view of the future of leisure: The Future of Leisure
■ “A Doctor’s Concept of Serious Leisure in the Modern World,” by Ellie Fraser, elephant journal, 18 September 2012. (http://www.elephantjournal.com/author/editorial)
■ “Serious leisure" finds it way to Bloomberg News in the article "Herding Cows Helps Swiss Executives Ease Boardroom Pressure"
■ "Serious Leisure" is now defined in the Urban Dictionary
■ Inspire: The Foundation for Inclusion is based in Malta and Gozo. In their Leisure Centres: The activities [for people with disabilities] revolving around leisure education focus on serious leisure rather than the casual type. In fact, the main feature of all education is its intentionality. It is delivered and acquired in a systematic way. On the same lines, serious leisure can be described as the systematic pursuit of deep satisfaction through an activity involving a hobby or a volunteer activity, where one needs not be professionally trained to carry it out. This activity should be one where those who pursue it find it so interesting that they launch themselves in the aim of acquiring and expressing its special skills and knowledge. (http://www.inspire.org.mt/leisure-education, retrieved 6 February 2011)
■ Serious Leisure TV, inaugurated by owner Chris Gosling, has been operating in the UK for over eight years. The site states that: “There are said to be several kinds of leisure; simple relaxation, for instance, when you just ease back into the armchair. But we're all about serious leisure - the kind that people get really involved in, get passionate about, and invest both time and money into” (retrieved 6 February 2011).
■ Advisor One, which counsels on investments, has not forgotten the importance of serious leisure in retirement. The Staff Writer in the 1 January 2008 issue says that: “The desire to phase into retirement has major implications for exit planning. It affects the structure of any exit plan.” Retirees need to know how to use leisure time, which leads the writer to an extended discussion of serious and casual leisure as these two affect planning (retrieved 6 February 2011).
Conferences
■ A session devoted to Serious Leisure was held at the CLR13 (the triannual congress of the Canadian Association for Leisure Studies), Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, May 2011.
Courses
■ Robert Stebbins taught a 15-hour course on the serious leisure perspective at the Seoul School of Integrated Sciences & Technologies, Seoul, South Korea, August, 2012.
■ Jenna Hartel taught a course on the liberal arts hobbies at the Faculty of Information, University of Toronto, winter semester, 2012. The same course is scheduled for winter semester, 2012.
■ Robert Stebbins taught a concentrated semester-length, graduate level course on the serious leisure perspective in January and February (2011) at the University of Northern Iowa, School of Health, Physical Education & Leisure Services.
Consultation
■ Robert Stebbins was part of an invited panel of North American experts assembled by the United Nations in November 2010 in Washington, DC, to examine changes in the world’s nonprofit sector since the Year of the Volunteer (2000). The UN will issue a report in 2011 based on this session and two others held elsewhere in the world.
Major addresses
■ Robert Stebbins, “Developing a Quality Lifestyle for Active Aging.” Keynote Speaker, Active living and Quality of Life Conference, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, June, 2014.
■ Robert Stebbins, “Leisure and Happiness: An Intricate Relationship.” Plenary speaker at the China International Leisure Development Forum, Hangzhou, China, November, 2011.
■ Robert Stebbins, "Leisure's Borders: What Are We Exporting Beyond Them?" Keynote address was presented at the mid-term conference of Research Committee 13 of the International Sociological Association, Palermo, Italy, 29 September-1 October, 2011.
■ Robert Stebbins, elected Senior Fellow of the World Leisure Academy at the 11th Congress of the World Leisure Organization (held in Chuncheon, South Korea, August-September 2010), presented the first Forum Scholar Lecture. It was entitled: “Leisure as Principal Actor on the World Stage.”
