ACRJ Workshop

So, after months of working on this project and meeting weekly at Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice, we are finally going to teach our workshop this Wednesday, April 11. A little back story for folks, since I feel like this has evolved a lot since our class last semester-- our original frame was aiming to parallel the work of ACRJ's Strong Families Initiative, a 10-year initiative to change the way people think, feel, and act in support of all different sorts of families and works towards culture and policy shift so that all families can thrive. Our syllabus and lesson plans aimed towards participants creating one piece of writing to be archived on a public online forum, with the archiving work supporting ACRJ's cultural work in redefining Family. After a series of meetings with Dana from ACRJ, we realized that we needed something more dynamic and engaging, something with a little more leverage that would help them figure out some of the ways cultural work could help them with this movement building. After another series of meetings, we ironed out a different workshop context and model--instead of focusing on simply creating writing for their collection of family stories, we are getting cultural workers and community organizers together to collaborate. We are attempting to explore the role that collaboration and art making has in movement building and community organizing.

This new workshop feels very exciting to me. It has also been a totally amazing experience working so closely with an organization and essentially working with them to create a new program. ACRJ has been very open and flexible and encouraging with us trying out this new thing with them. We are expecting about 8-10 people, a mix of artists/writers/etc and activists/community organizers. Despite my excitement, I'm also feeling very nervous, and probably for the same reason--this is something new and something I haven't done before, cause for both excitement and hesitation. Mostly I'm nervous because while I feel confident in my abilities in the creative side of things, and though I have a strong interest in community organizing, I've had little experience with it. I'm happy to have been working so closely with Tessa who does have some of that experience, as well as ACRJ and our point person there, Dana, who is an organizer extraordinaire. I think we all make a pretty good team!

Update on the workshop to come...

xo
cheena

Oh, ps, I am attaching the save the date that we sent out so y'all can see.

A two-part collaborative art and change workshop

The Ties that Bind: Changing the Culture around Families

Save the Date!

Wednesday, April 11^th and Monday, April 30^th  

7pm – 9pm @ Eastside Arts Alliance (2277 International Boulevard, Oakland CA 94606)

As influential artists and social justice movement leaders in our community, we cordially invite you to explore the relationship between art, culture work, and organizing by participating in a two-part movement building and art making workshop called The Ties that Bind: Changing the Culture around Families. Join us for two evenings of dinner, conversation and creative collaboration with local cultural workers/artists and organizers!

Together, we will create art pieces that respond to the cultural framework and organizing goals of Strong Families, a 10-year initiative to change the way people think, feel, and act in support of families of all shapes, sizes, and experiences. The Strong Families Initiative (a project of Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice) seeks to be a part of the progressive solution that bridges culture work and movement building and provide a platform towards culture and policy change so that families of all kinds can thrive. On April 11^th, we ask participants to come prepared to pair up and collaborative create a piece of art/performance/creative practice that engages the core questions raised by this initiative.

In the following two and a half weeks, partners will continue to build and collaborate together 

Then on Monday, April 30^th, we will return together for a showcase of the pieces (or works in progress) and reflect on the process of collaborative art making in a social justice context. Additionally, we invite the work that emerges from this process to be performed publicly, whether it is on a street corner somewhere or online.

This is the start of a creative process and conversation around how art, culture, and organizing build strong and sustainable social movements. You can expect interactive activities, creative prompts, new relationships and connections, live collaborations, brainstorming and performance all mixed with movement building strategy.

Let us know whether you are able to participate on Wednesday, April 11^th, and Monday, April 30^th, or if you have any questions or comments about the workshop. We are looking forward to hearing from you and working with you to put culture and art at the center of our movements!

     

    Many thanks and much excitement,

    Poets Cheena Marie Lo, Tessa Micaela and Dana Ginn Paredes of Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice

    http://reproductivejustice.org/about-strong-families