Create Arts Festival- BIPOC Expressive Arts workshop take 1

Last month I tried to run my first BIPOC Expressive Arts workshop and it didn’t work as planned. But it turned into another thing and I learned a lot about how to advocate for myself and make sure opportunities that arise actually align with my visions. I was also reminded to ask for help and not try to do everything by myself

A fe months ago, I sent a proposal to the Create Arts festival to run a Bipoc expressive arts workshop for adults, a workshop I've been dreaming about for a long time. My proposal got accepted and I was very happy but very nervous and somewhere between signing a contract and the date of the event, my confidence began to drop and the outreach team failed to recruit enough participants. The festival wanted to charge folk $40 entry and the outreach team was me, something I was unclear I would be responsible for. In the midst of trying to work to pay my rent and organise things for the workshop, I made some instagram posts and sent some messages but still nobody signed up and I know I wasn’t trying as hard as I could have been to work with the algorithms and do so in a timely manner.

The obstacles that arose from trying to run a bipoc workshop were unexpected ones. The only inquiries I received about the workshop were from white men, accusing me of being obsessed with race and wondering why I didn’t open the workshop to everybody so that they could learn from other cultures. The energy I used to respond was energy I would have preferred to use elsewhere. But the questions reminded me of why I want to do this in the first place. I want to create a safe environment for people of colour to express themselves freely without fear of judgement or hostility, a space to work through some of these huge feelings, promote empowerment and self-determination without the pressure of  being asked to educate others through our lived experiences. I know the value of being in healing spaces because I have experienced them. With everything going on in the world, we can’t expect to find individual solutions to systemic problems and while my leadership skills are still percolating, I know that community and coming together is important and that is what is driving me forward. 

While I tried to move past this speed bump, the festival suggested I open the workshop up to everybody and they also made it free. This changed the whole concept but I recruited a classmate from my expressive Arts cohort to assist me on the day and we ended up running an open art studio where we set up a painting station, a clay station, a mixed media drawing station and a cosy area for collage and writing. There was also a communal mural set up that people were free to walk up to and paint. It was a nice day. We had children and adults sit down to create, offering interventions when it felt right and having many sweet and potent conversations. All in all, it was a success. I got paid and people had a nice time. 

I learned a lot about how to advocate for myself, remembering that I don’t have to say yes to everything and to make sure opportunities that arise actually align with my visions. I was also reminded to ask for help and not try to do everything by myself. Sometimes you try and do a thing and it fails and you learn from it and try again. Join my Newsletter for News about upcoming workshops.