Initiative / A regenerative commons
Shope Creek / The proving ground
Give first.Hollow Bone is an initiative bringing artists, families, founders and curious people together through music, film and time on the land. STAY CURIOUS is a documentary series from that work. It began with Stephen and Mary Sedmak’s open door at Shope Creek, and Craig Rose’s invitations. The idea is simple: give people room to explore, create and carry something meaningful into the world.
What the name means
A hollow bone makes room for something greater to move through. You don’t have to be the source—just open enough to listen, receive and carry it forward.
Hollow Bone creates both: space for people to hear themselves, and structure to help their wisdom and creativity reach the world. No single founder, property or method defines it.
01 / From Asheville, outward
Shope Creek gave the philosophy a room to be seen. Asheville brings the musicians, the makers, the mountains and the people who know how to turn a gathering into something that stays with you. Our next step is to finish STAY CURIOUS and bring a Founding Council together, with the goal of letting the film seed a shared Reservoir of funds. What takes shape from there will be decided together.
The ambition is worldwide. The work starts here.
03 / The two questions
Hollow Bone began with two questions Stephen Sedmak had spent years living into:
Can we create places where people feel safe enough to release inherited fear, reconnect with themselves and experience what becomes possible beyond survival?
Can healing, wisdom, land, creativity and technology circulate through a system based on participation, stewardship and reciprocity—not only transaction?
He no longer speaks about those ideas as possibilities. He believes the shift is already happening. Hollow Bone became a way to participate in it.
The proving ground / Shope Creek
The idea did not begin at Shope Creek. It began earlier—in California, in Stephen's experience room, in moments where he started giving without expectation and watching what came back.
Shope Creek became the place where that philosophy could become observable. On 131 acres outside Asheville, Stephen and Mary Sedmak opened their family land to children, teachers, artists, musicians, founders and seekers. Forest Floor brought children into relationship with the land. We organized the Camp Mary retreats to bring different worlds into the same room and find the people who could form a Founding Council. The gatherings also became the story of STAY CURIOUS.
"It wasn't born here. It was proven here."
The land creates conditions. The guides create encounters. The people decide whether to walk through.
The Founding Council / Different frequencies. Same room.
Camp Mary brought together people who might help shape Hollow Bone's next chapter. Craig Rose, Joda Williams and Stephen Sedmak discussed beginning a Founding Council in September 2026. Craig and Joda are helping convene it; Stephen is invited to decide whether to continue as a council member. Individual commitments and any legal board appointments still need to be formalized.
01 / Founding Council / Culture & connection
The wild catalyst.
Twenty-five years of walking into rooms that weren’t supposed to belong together. He sees something, believes in it, invites the person into the room and helps give it form—before knowing what happens next. That’s not talent management. That’s give first.
Watch Craig / Faith over fear
02 / Founding Council invitation / Story & possibility
The sound pioneer. The doorman.
He co-founded SRS Labs and helped give sound another dimension. Then came the books, the forest, the dragons and a very different kind of listening. Wizard energy; “doorman” by his own description. Stephen and Mary opened Shope Creek. The rest of us walked in.
Watch / Stephen and Mary Sedmak
03 / Founding Council / Whole-person support
The mystic. The steady hands.
Divine-feminine energy with the grounded warmth of grandma wisdom. Joda brings intuition, decades of integrative-health and coaching experience, and attention to the person behind the project. Big possibilities, with someone making sure the people are cared for.
Hollow Bone / The Founding Council
The two Camp Mary gatherings were an invitation to get curious together. The film lets us see what happened. The next invitation is to help form a Founding Council: a group willing to bring its experience, creativity, relationships and judgment to what Hollow Bone becomes.
Craig, Joda and Stephen discussed forming the council in September 2026. Dale Sanders, David Dame and Dave Duffin have each expressed interest in being involved. We would also like to invite Stacy and Dean McDaniel. Stephen is welcome to decide whether he wishes to serve as the council takes shape.
Expressed interest / Not yet formal appointments
Additional people Craig would like to invite
By December 31, 2026, the goal is to know who is willing to serve and agree on how the group makes decisions. This is a founding council, not yet a legal board. Its members may choose to remain an initiative, form a nonprofit, or collaborate through one or more existing organizations. That choice is theirs to explore, not a foregone conclusion.
There is also an invitation to make the first philanthropic gifts to help finish STAY CURIOUS and launch the work. Giving and council participation are distinct: no donation buys a seat, voting rights, or editorial control. Contributions received through Shope Creek Wilderness must follow agreed charitable restrictions and the recipient's legal oversight.
The film is taking shape. The council is growing. The structure is still an open question. Bring your creativity, experience or support to what comes next.
Help build thisGive first / Fill the Reservoir
Craig's year-end goal is $222,000. We estimate that roughly $50,000 can bring STAY CURIOUS to a polished, audience-ready series and help develop partnerships that could open a path to Netflix or another platform with a major audience. This is a project-wide estimate, not a payment solely to Craig Rose and Jackson Averett, and remains subject to a detailed budget and approvals. No distribution partnership or platform placement is confirmed. Dale Sanders, David Dame and Dave Duffin have expressed interest in helping form a Founding Council, and Craig is inviting them to consider the first gifts. All donations currently go through Shope Creek Wilderness; confirm any restricted gift with its authorized representatives. Giving is not an investment or a condition of council participation.
Give now
All donations currently go through Shope Creek Wilderness, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Our $222,000 shared launch goal supports finishing STAY CURIOUS, helping it reach audiences and beginning the Reservoir. The ambition is for the film to generate funds that seed this shared pool of support; revenue is not guaranteed.
Hollow Bone’s long-term form is undecided. The Founding Council—not an established board—will decide together, as funds are raised, whether to remain an initiative, create an organization and board, or work through one or more nonprofits. Hollow Bone has not been established as a separate nonprofit.
Make checks payable to
Shope Creek Wilderness
Mail checks to
Hollow Bone InitiativeFor wire instructions or stock gifts, contact craig@spiritualplants.com.
Stay in the field
New music. Docuseries updates. Gatherings. The next chapter, straight from the people making it.