Hey Garden(ers),
We had a beautiful weekend of poems with the Invisible Poets Collective and are still beaming from the annunciation, the alliteration and the ardent commitment of this team! As they prepare for the Midwest Poetry Mash-up, we'll be cheering them on!
⏰ Our events are generally listed in PST/PDT. Need help converting to your time zone? We recommend using World Time Buddy!
🥬 Want to spend Friday night laughing and cringing? Join Sam every other Friday (next meeting date is Friday April 17th at 6pm PT) to watch “Rutherford Falls”, a lighthearted comedy series about the relationships developed between a fictional small town in the NE USA and nearby Minishonka Nation (also fictional), along with the conflicts that arise. It tackles some heavier topics like cultural preservation and Native erasure with laughter, warmth, and shenanigans. RSVP to get a reminder!
😷 Pollution and Pandemics: The Fight for Safer Environments, Disability Justice, and Black Self Determination, on April 19th at 11am PT, will be a panel discussion diving into the intersections of disability, environmental justice, and safety outside of the state. This space will explore how systems of ableism and environmental racism harm Black folks, making our communities even more vulnerable to the ongoing climate catastrophe. We'll also speak to the importance of COVID vigilance for Black liberation. There will be time for Q&A and group discussion built in. More to come on the three panelists soon! Get more information here: bit.ly/BlackGreenFree (This is a Black only space.) RSVP here! Day Passes will be available for this event.
🫁 Want to increase your lung capacity? Come to Breathing in the Knowledge Nursery! Every weekday at 9am PT. RSVP here!
🍿 Mondays, B will be hosting Black Movie Night, a now weekly movie (and show) night to highlight movies (and shows) made by, for, and about Black people. The media will generally be entertainment focused, but will also include nights where the intention is education. (Black Folks only.) RSVP! Next movie: Life (1999)
🏋🏾♂️ Movement Mondays: Need to stretch more? Commit to your physical therapy? Do some resistance training? Whatever your movement needs are, this is a weekly time to do your independent movement work, while also being around others who need to move with intention! Weekly on Mondays at 7:30pm PT w/ J Mase & Chanelle. RSVP here!
💃🏾 Co-Twerking is on Tuesdays at 3pm PT with Caroline! RSVP to get notified!
📔 Quiet-ish Reading Club / Connect (QRC) 💜💛📚 meets Tuesdays at 6pm PT! QRC - Garden Edition is where we chill together in mostly quiet company of 45 min reading blocks. Bring your own: book, audiobook, article, magazine, comic book, training manuals, graphic novel, paperwork/forms, poetry, etc. anything you’d like to or need to read. Most of the time will be us practicing sustained silent reading (SSR) in cozy, quiet company together. We will take occasional breaks to chat and socialize - mics optional. Like to be kept up-to-date on QRC meet-ups in Garden? Fill out this interest form. RSVP here
🎥 Name That Movie (Night!) is Wednesday at 5:30pm PT! This week's movie is a game night double feature! In Room 1, we'll be watching installments 1 & 2 of a horror movie franchise about a bride surviving a game of hide & seek with her board game loving in-laws. In Room 2, our non-horror fans will be getting into a comedy about Anne Yum who finds comfort in the TV game show Can't Stop the Quiz to escape her stressful family. Think you know what it is? Come thru and find out! RSVP via the visit page.
🪷 Stretch it out as Caroline leads us in a weekly afternoon Yoga sesh Fridays at 3pm PT by streaming a yoga video from YouTube and following along. Videos will be between 25-45 minutes long between easy to moderate pace. Drop ins are always welcome! RSVP via the calendar on the visit page.
🫂 The next session of Chronic Illness and Long Covid Support Group will be Thursday April 23rd from 5:30pm-7:30pm PT with Chanelle! Navigating everything that comes with chronic illness can be difficult - from managing symptoms to experiencing grief over missing your pre-illness life. This is a peer support space where we can share our feelings about living with any chronic/long-term illness, including long COVID, during an ongoing pandemic. RSVP here!
✍🏽 Are you an aspiring writer? Come join The Storytellers' Anthology which is every other Saturday at 1pm PT (next session is April 25th), hosted by Louis! This group is created for writers who want feedback and constructive criticism on their unpublished literary works, especially for those looking to publish their piece, but just need an extra pair of eyes and encouragement. All genres are welcomed and encouraged. RSVP to attend here.
🎭 Places, theater nerds! At Do You Hear the Garden Sing? we watch musical theatre movies, pro-shots (and some slime tutorials) every other week. This is a space to nerd-out about musical theater, enjoy some tunes and even share some hateful takes ;) Come join the curtain call on Saturday April 25th at 5pm PST! RSVP!
😷 Hang out, chill and play games with Black folks who take COVID precautions at Bonfire in Garden! The next Bonfire will be Saturday April 18th at 5pm PT RSVP here.
🏳️⚧️ At our first Trans Meetup, the group was unanimous in deciding that Trans Meetup will be a monthly occurrence. Every fourth Sunday in Garden, at 2pm PT will be a day that Trans folks have made! The next meetup will be April 26th! Join us by RSVP'ing here.
❤️🩹 Our Pain We Carry Study Group meets in the Kinship Room on the 2nd and 3rd Sundays of each month (with occasional adjustments around holidays). Upcoming dates for the next few months: April: 19; May 17; June 14 Group begins at 2:30pm PST/ 5:30pm EST for reading and discussion. If you prefer to join after reading, we’ll begin practicing the experiential exercises together around 3pm PST/6pm EST. See Deeda for more information & materials. RSVP.
☕ Sunday May 3rd at 1pm PT, Garden will be hosting its next Social Hour series. Each Social Hour will typically feature a 15-30 min rant// talk// presentation// performance from a Garden member on a subject of their choosing as well as time for folks to meet other members in a casual hang out space with games and activities. Want a place to share your random idea, your new poetic works, to present something special, get feedback or even host at a Garden Social Hour? The format is flexible as needed, and can be a space to practice facilitation skills for those wanting a friendly place to try something new. Want to share your topic at the next, or a future Social Hour? Send us your proposals here! RSVP to attend here.
💻 Do you work from home and sometimes feel a little too isolated from others? Come Co-Work with us in Garden! We are a 24/7 drop in space for folks to join to co-work silently, listen to music, play a game or chat amongst each other in the chat box.
🎩 VIA’s Artistic Production Grants fund the production of newly commissioned works of visual art exhibited beyond museum walls, in the public realm, or in non-traditional exhibition environments. These grants are awarded to projects that best exemplify VIA’s three core values of Artistic Production, Thought Leadership, and Public Engagement. Grant amounts range from $25,000 to $100,000. Submit a Letter of Inquiry by May 21st.
💰 Giving What We Can (GWWC) is searching globally for a fully remote, Head of Finance to build the financial infrastructure and team needed to scale a multi-entity grantmaking organization from $40 million towards $3 billion in donations to high-impact charities every year. Salary: ~$60,000 - $160,000 USD depending on experience and location. Apply by April 21st!
🏫 Joy Education Foundation is seeking passionate, equity-minded educators to join our remote tutoring community as independent contractors. Teaching Faculty will be on the front lines of closing the literacy gap, working directly with 2nd–8th grade students in live, synchronous, online tutoring sessions. These lessons are conducted virtually via video conferencing, and Teaching Faculty will be on camera with students. As a Teaching Faculty – Reading, you will teach small groups of 1–4 students using Joy Education’s learning platform and curriculum, which provides real-time performance data. You will meet consistently with the same students each week to build strong, supportive relationships. This is a fully remote position. High-performing Teaching Faculty may be invited to apply for Lead roles with additional responsibilities and increased compensation. Pay Rate: $25/hour. Apply ASAP.
💼 As a quick shoutout, one of our absolute favorite resources to connect folks with job opportunities, has been BlackRemoteShe.com. If you are looking for remote work, especially as Black Women/Gender Expansive/Trans/Non-Binary folks, take some time to peruse the job board there!
☀️ For those who would like to support this year's Summer Solstice festival in Garden, we are starting to plan early! Want to vend, volunteer, host a workshop, perform, share your art, DJ or offer any of your community gifts? Check out the volunteer sign up form here and submit by May 10th at 11:59pm PT!
📖 The Black Trans Prayer Book, is organizing a Trans Book Fair, where we will be connecting virtually with Trans folks, and our solidarity partners, from all over the US and beyond, while also distributing physical books by Trans Authors to Trans people! If you/your org would like to support this work (attend // fund // be featured // etc), there is a form for that here! We are looking for people and organizations who would like to help us make this happen!
🥐 If for whatever reason, you are in the US and find yourself, or someone you care about, to be food insecure, here are three sites to find food banks where you/they are: Food Finder, FindHelp and Feeding America. If these are not resources you personally need, please share with your folks.
🍉 Centering Palestine has a zoom every Tuesday at 5pm PT, along with other resources to show up for Palestine available here.
😷 World Health Network has a weekly call to organize community members against mask bans every Friday at 12pm PT.
📢 As a follow-up to the Anti-Blackness sessions GenDoc facilitated with us a few months ago, she has graciously provided this Notes on Anti-Blackness write-up which shares some key takeaways about how Anti-Blackness shows up in BIPOC spaces and what non-Black folks can be doing to support dismantling that.
🌻 We are continuing to open Garden up to more community orgs who would like to share space with us here. If you are part of an org that may benefit from office/event space here, please email info@meetatgarden.com
🎉Want to host your birthday, or the birthday of a friend in Garden? Check out our Birthday Guide and email us!
💌 Don't forget, we can design and host non-Garden virtual events too.
Until next our avatars meet,
🪄Al , 🪻J Mase & 🪴Kwaku
PS: Have a one-time-event or a recurring event and need a place to host? Email us at info@meetatgarden.com!
Garden is a free 24/7 space, but it does cost money for us to maintain it on Gather.Town. If you'd like to donate to this work, consider throwing some money in the pot here. To send donations directly through our 501c3 fiscal sponsor, email us!