Hey Garden(ers),
We have gotten some brilliant proposals for our upcoming Summer Solstice festival here in Garden! From political movements, to social spaces, film screenings, the erotic as resistance, spirituality and more, we're excited for this year's programming! Want to vend for your small business, volunteer, host a workshop, perform, teach a dance, 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! Please note that Day Passes will be available for the June 20th-21st festivities.
⏰ Our events are generally listed in PST/PDT. Need help converting to your time zone? We recommend using World Time Buddy!
👩🏽⚖️ Case Reopened with Dra Ana Maria Polo: For over a decade, some of us have watched the iconic (allegedly queer 👀) Cuban-born lawyer Dra. Ana María Polo preside over "Caso Cerrado," where she settles small-claims cases and family disputes with her eclectic, unique type of justice. Join Gata & Dan Friday, May 8th @ 5pm PT in the Enchanted Library to watch her reach English-language audiences with her latest show "Ana Polo Rules" (2017) No hay letreritos en español 😉 RSVP to attend here
🫁 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: Baby Boy
🏋🏾♂️ 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 double feature! Room 1: A 2026 horror comedy about a witchy femme cult in the basement of the mall gets their performative sisterhood challenged. Room 2: A sci-fi romance drama where a man learns his manic pixie dream girlfriend is erasing him from her memories. Will he follow? 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 May 7th 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 May 9th), 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 ;) Our next watch will be Cabaret (1993 pro-shot), a story about the Kit-Kat cabaret and its workers during the rise of Nazis in Germany. *Content warnings here* Come join the curtain call on Saturday May 9th at 5pm PT! RSVP!
⚰️ Starting May 1st, It’s a Bloody Watch Party! We are officially watching the first 2 seasons of Interview with the Vampire (IWTV) in preparation for the Season 3 premiere. IWTV is a gothic horror TV show about the vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac set in early 20th-century New Orleans. It’s got queers, it’s got Black vampires, and it’s got a ton of messy vampy drama! Let the story seduce you and join Groovy in the Up All Night room every other Friday at 5pm PT/8pm ET. Next viewing is May 15th. *Content warnings here.* RSVP
🏳️⚧️ 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 May 24th! Join us by RSVP'ing here.
😷 Hang out, chill and play games with Black folks who take COVID precautions at Bonfire in Garden! The next Bonfire will be Saturday May 16th at 5pm PT RSVP 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: 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 June 7th 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.
🏳️⚧️ Point of Pride’s HRT Access Fund provides direct financial assistance to trans folks in the United States who cannot afford their gender-affirming hormone replacement therapy (also known as "HRT.") Applications for this round of funding are open until May 31st.
📺 The Disruptors Fellowship, via the Center for Cultural Power is BACK, and we’re ready to launch our 2026 programming! This fellowship aims to disrupt the status quo in Hollywood and to uplift and normalize narratives that have historically been underrepresented on television. This work is part of Cultural Power’s broader effort to advance values-based narratives that influence how people understand identity, power, and possibility. This year, you can look forward to: The return of our fellowship & mentorship program in the form of a mock TV writer’s room– application link is now live here. (This program includes a $3k honorarium.) Disrupting the Algorithm: Season TWO . Five FREE monthly TV writing workshops–RSVP link will be available on May 11. Keep in touch with all our network updates and invitations by subscribing to The Center for Cultural Power newsletter here. Apply to the mentorship program by June 5th.
⚧️ Join Transmen Collective as a Program Coordinator Trainee. Remote | Contract. (Open to Indian citizens only‼️)
Email us at transmencollective@gmail.com to apply.
🌈 The Society of Queer Momentum is seeking a full-time remote (must be based in Canada) Communications Specialist to help lead the organization’s communications, campaigns, and public profile. This is a one-year contract, with anticipated start date in early June 2026. This is a full-time position (35 hours per week) with a $70,000 salary and two weeks (10 days) vacation. Apply by May 18th.
💰 AmplifyChange believes in a world where everyone can access their sexual and reproductive health and rights. We believe that a strong, diverse and collaborative civil society can form movements to bring about change. AmplifyChange supports civil society organisations in Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East to improve sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). AmplifyChange is a challenge fund, running open and competitive calls for proposals throughout the year. AmplifyChange offers four grant types targeting the wide range of civil society organisations. Learn more about our grants here.
🎨 The Artist-in-Residence program at Third Wave Fund is an annual, paid, and virtual residency supporting an emerging visual artist in strengthening their practice of creating art for social change. The artist will support Third Wave Fund’s visibility and engagement as a by-and-for community funder, amplifying our vision of gender justice and liberation, and mobilizing our network of activist donors. In 2026, the artist will collaborate with Third Wave Fund on two digital illustrations and one short-form, animated reel to bolster our storytelling and fundraising efforts. The deadline to apply is Wednesday, May 13, 2026 at 5pm CST.
Third Wave Fund's current round of their Mobilize Power Fund is also open for applications until June 2nd for US based organization engaging in mobilizations, healing justice work, conflict resolution/conflict transformation, community accountability, mutual aid, direct actions, emergency safety and security needs.
♿ Disability Inclusion Fund and Technology Request for Proposals 2026: We are happy to announce that the Disability Inclusion Fund (DIF), via Borealis Philanthropy, will be funding new work under its Disability x Tech Initiative for 2026-2027. The deadline for proposals is May 20th, 2026, by 8:59 pm PT or 11:59 pm ET.
☀️ 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!