Graduate of art history at the University of Warsaw. She studied with Krzysztof Gedroyć, Ryszard Michalski, Wacław Sobaszek and Krzysztof Łepkowski – her future husband. She took part in paratheatrical activities organised before the establishment of "Pracownia" in Suliszewo. In 1981, together with Krzysztof Łepkowski, she founded and co-managed, and since her husband's death has managed, an organic farm in Godki. In 1990, it was one of the first farms to be certified by the Association of Organic Food Producers Ekoland (the certificate is renewed annually). A self-taught farmer and educator, she pioneered – together with her husband – ecological activities in Poland. From the very beginning, the Łepkowskis have seen ecology as a combination of producing healthy food with activities ensuring the protection of natural and cultural heritage and involvement in local activities. Dorota Łepkowska undertook these activities in the Jonkowo municipality, co-leading the Zielona Gmina Association, which she founded with her husband. Together with Krzysztof, she has regularly co-organised and co-managed for many years: ecological classes for children and young people, trainings for adults (including teachers and farmers), green schools and educational-artistic camps, programmes – educational for local youth, conducted in cooperation with the Centre "Borderland of Arts, Cultures and Nations" (e.g. the two-year 'Watchmen of the North' programme), as well as meetings, workshops and training sessions for students of the Universities of Warmia and Mazury, Warsaw, Grzybów near Płock, Warsaw University of Life Sciences and the Aleksander Gieysztor Academy of Humanities. She worked with an authorial primary school in Olsztyn. A total of several thousand people have participated in ecological projects in Godki. The educational activities were made possible by renovating and retrofitting the farm financed by her work trips to Paris. She completed a training course for leaders of socio-cultural projects of marginalised communities in multicultural regions "Ścieżka Pogranicza 2001/2002". Co-author, with Danuta and Andrzej Jagodziński, Krzysztof Łepkowski, Ewa Smuk Stratenwerth, Peter Stratenwerth and Jadwiga Dybysławska, of a series of unique textbooks on environmental education for children and young people entitled O czym śpiewają skowronki?. She is connected to the Węgajty Theatre by neighbourly, friendly and professional relations. A member of the Węgajty Association, she has been providing organisational support to the Theatre for years during seminars, workshops and successive editions of the Theatre Village festival. She is a spectator of performances and a participant of theatre activities. Influenced by their contact with the Węgajty Theatre, Dorota and Krzysztof's children – Marta, Maciej and Jerzy – became inspired by music, took up education in this direction and continue to develop this fascination to various degrees.
Dorota Łepkowska
