Our Story
Ur Publications & Programmes Inc. is a publishing and educational company incorporated in Montreal, Canada. Its mission is to publish books accessible to a wide readership, to create programmes that contribute to social improvement, and to support cultural and educational activities. Its vision is to bring to the world pioneering thinking at the leading edge of evolving ideas within education, individual and social development, psychology, and related fields including spirituality, while endeavouring to foster insight and creative impulses in these domains of human culture. Ur Publications was born along with Sylvie Hétu's first book The Song of the Child, along with Richard House who edited the book and helped initiate the creation of Ur. During the time the book The Song of the Child was being written, Mia Elmsäter and Sylvie Hétu created and established the MISP. As founders, they quickly realized that their creation needed a legal framework to continue its expansion around the world. The creation of the programme also included the publication of written material, so they decided to use the framework of Ur Publications to publish their material as well. This led to Ur Publications expanding and becoming Ur Publications & Programmes Inc. This expansion ensured that all aspects of the MISP would be kept under one legal "roof". These aspects included the idea of the programme, the written material, the logo, the copyrights, the trademark, the educational material, etc. A business partnership was created between Mia Elmsäter, Sylvie Hétu, and Richard House for the running of Ur Publications & Programmes Inc., which now embraces the Massage In Schools Programme. In 2014 Claudio Natale joined the team and in 2017 Mia left it, albeit she is still invoved in the massage in schools programme. The three directors, Sylvie Hétu, Ricahrd House and Claudio Natale are dedicated to making Ur an ethical business.
Why "UR"?
For many reasons!
For many reasons !
Ur was an ancient city in southern Mesopotamia, and is said to be one of the earliest known civilizations. It is said that very early – perhaps even the first – writing appeared in Ur in cuneiform (wedge- shaped symbols written on clay tablets). We all liked the idea of the first human writing, and the Ur partners also like the idea of bringing new innovations into the world. Ur- is a frequently used German prefix meaning "first", "original", "oldest", "earliest". It is also used in other Germanic languages such as Swedish and English, e.g. urtext (the original form of a text), and urgent (requiring attention as early as possible). We embrace the definition of original source. The philosopher, poet, scientist, and writer Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749– 1842), from whom we gain much inspiration, frequently used the prefix "ur" in his writings. He often talked about the ur-idea, the ur-plant, the ur- phenomenon, as he always sought the "universal" in all his observations and studies of humans, animals, and nature. Goethe is a source of inspiration for the type of books we publish, and the programmes we are creating. We believe that this very idea and inspiration has been tremendously helpful in the creation and unfolding of Ur. Right from the start we wanted it to be universal; for the whole of humanity. We are grateful to Goethean thinking, as we are convinced that it has helped us to create the golden thread of Ur, the universal multi- cultural endiaviours,
Note: Ur is pronounced as one word "her" without an "h", not "you are".
