AAACC: Cultivating Belonging Workshop

Over two and a half hours, participants will experience and learn how Tree of Change uses dreaming to cultivate belonging among groups of diverse people. We will introduce participants to how to ground space and time through Values and an Equity Statement, how to name one’s self and relations using Ethnographic Introductions, using an Inquiry Circle to generate pathways for dreaming, how to use mapping as a tool for generating personal and collective wisdom, models for sharing in Triads, and a reflective Closing Circles for deeper meaning making. Participants will walk away with a personal map and action plan that will help them apply and adapt the tools and practices shared throughout the workshop.

GOAL

The goal of Cultivating Belonging at the AAACC is to introduce tools and practices that help cultivate belonging and develop the capacity of Black artists, creatives, musicians, performers, dancers, designers, healers, organizers, educators, historians, and dreamers to apply those tools and practices to their art, work, and life. Additionally, participants of this workshop have an opportunity to further develop their skills through signing up to co-facilitate future Dreaming & Listening Session as part of the AAACC's Season of Black Arts. 

OUTCOMES

By the end of this workshop, participants will: 

• Experience a space that is generative and adaptive instead of exhausting and punishing,
• Deeply explore the relationship between belonging and dreaming,
• Apply dreaming towards personal and collective mapping of tools and practices that cultivate belonging,
• Create an Action Plan to integrate tools and practices of belonging into your art, work, and life, and
• Gain access to the Workshop Agenda, Guides to Time & Space, and the handout “How We Cultivate Belonging,” so you can facilitate your own dreaming sessions.

Cultivating Belonging is Workshop 1 in a series of five personal, creative, and professional development workshops for Black artists, creatives, musicians, performers, dancers, designers, healers, organizers, educators, historians, and dreamers produced by the African American Arts and Culture Complex as part of their Season of Black Arts.  Other workshops include: Adaptive Culture Tending (Mon, Nov 13, 4pm), Community Engagement & Audience Development (Tue, Nov 14, 5:30pm), Arts-based Inquiry (Thur, Nov 16, 11am), and Story-based Reporting (Coming March 2024).  Facilitation and curricular development is provided by Crystal Mason & Jason Wyman with Tree of Change.

For more information contact Crystal Mason at crittel.o@gmail.com.