The main conference boat is the Thomas Leighton, which sails from the dock of the Isles of Shoals Steamship Company in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Click here to see the dock on Google Maps.
If you are arriving or departing at an odd time of the week, another option is to take the Uncle Oscar, a smaller boat out of Rye, New Hampshire.
Information on boats, travel, and parking can be found on the Star Island website.
IA welcomes applications from all who wish to join our exciting community.
Application forms are available now and are due by April 15, 2024.
Applicants will be automatically considered for grants from the IA Community Fund as well as the Star Island Corp Financial Grants program and MAY receive funding from both sources. The combined application is online here: http://www.starisland.org/
Financial assistance applications MAY be made for consecutive years. Please note, this is a change in policy from past years!
IA’s Financial Assistance funds are generated yearly through fundraising activities during the previous year’s conference (including an art auction and a silent auction) and individual donations.
The IA Community Fund is committed to providing financial assistance to invest in a vibrant, diverse, and inclusive community. Individuals and families from diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply.
Each year the conference is planned and organized by a leadership team consisting of the Conference Committee, the Youth Director, and the Registrar-Treasurer.
The Conference Committee is the governing board of the International Affairs Conference at Star Island, a nonprofit corporation (bylaws). Committee members serve for five years: three as members, one as Chair, and one as Chair Emeritus. At the end of each conference, a new member rotates on and the Chair Emeritus rotates off.
The Chair selects the theme and recruits speakers and the minister of the week. Each Committee member has a portfolio of responsibilities, including finding and recruiting program leaders and other volunteers, coordinating with Island staff to ensure a smooth week, and generally being available to attend to the needs of the conference.
Deb began going to IA week with her mom, brother, and sister when she was six years old. It was her favorite week of the year. She took a break from Star after moving to California, started coming back with her sons seven years ago, and feels very grateful to be part of the IA community. On the mainland, Deb is executive director of the Just Economy Institute, a community of practice and leadership development program for financial activists. She’s been supporting, educating and connecting social entrepreneurs, impact investors and nonprofit leaders for two decades. Deb and her sons Sam and Will live in Berkeley, CA.
Gretchen has been attending IA since age 6. She loves Star’s natural beauty and New England quirkiness, and IA’s spot on the calendar as THE not-to-be-missed summer gathering for her parents and siblings (including her sister, the fabulous registrar Kristin Laverty!). Her favorite Star activities are theme talks, watching softball, and solving the problems of the world with other conferees from a rocker on the porch.
Off-island, Gretchen is a demographer at UC Berkeley helping NGOs, governments, and researchers around the world understand how population affects our economies. She works from her home in southern Oregon, which she shares with her husband, John, and sons Jack and Bill. The boys love the kid-freedom of Star, running around with friends for swimming, softball, exploring, and games. John can’t always get away from his vital work as a craft brewer (hey, it is Oregon after all), but on-island can be found making breathtaking catches in the cemetery during the Pel-IA softball game.
Anthony first came to Star Island during IA week for an overnight in 2014 with his wife JoAnn to honor the memory of their close friend George Brandenburg. They’ve returned annually since that first visit. Anthony retired from CBS in 2015 after a 37 year career at WBZ Radio and TV in Boston where he was the afternoon radio news anchor and New England Business Editor. He created a quarterly breakfast meeting series that attracted a wide range of business and technology experts including Richard Branson and Jack Welch. He also founded the Me&Thee Music series at the UU Church in Marblehead that is now in its 53rd season. Anthony has been a dedicated UU for 55 years and has held a variety of leadership positions in two congregations. Anthony and JoAnn live in Marblehead, MA.
Rev. CTC (a UU parish minister currently serving in Arlington, VA) simply loves STAR. She’s been coming to the island for several years. Her first on-the-rock experience was in 2015 as a newly ordained UU Minister. “The week was magical. I felt the layers of stress and the weariness of spirit that often comes at the end of a church year just peel away the closer I got to STAR.” Her journey from the Washington DC area to IAC includes several modes of transportation: Uber, Plane, Bus, and Uber to the Dock, all before finally boarding the Thomas Laighton. CTC enjoyed a few different SI conferences and then settled into our community in 2022. “IA is my place. Y’all are my people.”
Off island, her ministry work focuses on Social Justice and Community engagement. She loves contemporary poetry, PBS mysteries, and Craft Beer. Her collection of NW Coastal Peoples Art continues to grow. What else? ” I couldn’t live without travel” (Paris, Prague, Normandy and NOLA in 2023). CTC has two adult children, a doodle pup named Preacher, and steals kisses from her two grandsons as often as possible.
Matt first came to Star Island for a single overnight in 2001 to visit his then girlfriend, Lauri Yanis. Lauri and her family had been attending the IA conference since the late 60s. Little did Matt know, but that night in 2001 was a trial run; fortunately he fell in love with the island and the people and has gladly returned to IA every year since.
Matt has retired from a few careers, including chemistry, biological research and teaching middle school science. He now enjoys retirement and focuses on his time on caring for his home and yard, volunteering at a local food bank and – most importantly – playing with his grandson, Castin.
Matt lives in the Berkshires with his wife Lauri and their two beloved felines.
As Registrar/Treasurer, Joy handles many things that make IA run smoothly, including room assignments and travel arrangements for conferees and overnight guests. A longtime Shoaler (including five summers as a Pelican), she began attending IA in 2008 with her husband Bobby Williams and son Calvin.
Joy and Bobby live in Keene NH, and Calvin is now in college after his first summer as a Pelican.
For questions regarding registration, Joy may be reached at jdgreeley@yahoo.com
Our Youth Program in 2022 is directed by Katie Bender, who has been an early childhood educator for nearly two decades. She is a life-long IA conferee and former Pel. Katie lives in Medfield, Massachusetts, with her husband Marc, their three children (Abby, Brooke, and Lilla), three cats, and their dog Bailey. In her spare time Katie loves to take walks in the woods with Bailey and relishes the rare opportunity to curl up with a cup of tea and a new book.
… it is the opportunity to interact and share a diversity of ideas and experiences with a group of friendly, open-minded, and inquiring people. For others, it is the chance to be removed from the world, retiring for a week from daily routines to a small beautiful island to reconnect with family and friends, relax on the porch with a good book, and watch the sunrise or sunset.
… with a polar bear dip in the chilly Atlantic Ocean to get the blood flowing, join the morning stretch session on the Front Porch, or grab a cup of coffee or tea and settle into a porch rocker to watch the day begin to emerge. Later in the morning, make your way up the hill to the stone chapel for a thoughtful morning sermon delivered by our minister of the week.
… with follow up discussions take place late morning. These are led by recognized experts and provoke conversations among conferees which spill over to the front porch, Happy Hour and the dinner table.
… there are several workshops from which to choose, such as chorus, yoga, art, and writing. Other afternoon activities include softball games, swimming, visits to the Marine Lab, kite-flying, rowboating the harbor, trips to the snack bar, and more relaxed time spent rocking in chairs on the porch. Evening activities include a bonfire, intergenerational dance, Island staff talent show, lay-led chapel services, and more.
… the Youth Program is a time to experience the freedom of island life and to gain a deep appreciation of the natural environment in the midst of caring, attentive adults. Activities related to the conference theme together with community building activities, games, crafts, and time to explore the island round out the week. The program offers children the experience of wonder and friendships of long duration, the kind that cause them to start counting down the days until the next year’s IA conference even as they depart on the boat at the end of the week.
… and spirit of the island, together with the intellectually stimulating theme talks, the spiritually uplifting sermons, the myriad of daily activities, the strong sense of community among the conferees, and the vibrant Youth Program make the International Affairs conference a truly unique and memorable vacation.
