P R Y Living Room: Write Up
In response to our village’s needs for craft-refinement and space, onyx decided to gather our village last month in a gorgeous tucked away cottage in Solihull, Birmingham. The aim? To respond to the zeitgeist of Black creatives wanting to connect to community in their work. As marginalised writers, the chance to focus on under-represented communities and connect with them meaningfully and authentically in their work is a question that remains at the forefront of our village’s minds. They also craved community, to be amongst other Black writers, artists and poets, to discuss the current landscape, share knowledge for resilience and progression and of course gather inspiration! It can be so hard to find grounding in an industry that remains ‘90% white’ according to The Guardian. We hoped to provide respite by providing a dedicated and curated space, especially for Disabled creatives who make up a significant proportion of our village and whose needs usually present invisible barriers not taken into consideration for them to be able to access social public spaces. We planned to deliver a workshop that had been months in the making, one which looks at locality, thematic structure, connection and resonance in order to refine the inspirational process and creation process that our village undergoes when deciding to embark on a new piece of work.
In the weeks beforehand onyx visits the cottage where we plan to host the event, taking measurements to understand the dimensions of the space to ensure we have filter requirements. We make notes to include a quiet room filled with stim toys just in case the main event gets overwhelming. In the run-up to invitations being sent to our village, we ran a village-centered invite, including doodle polls which allowed attendees to gather around and select dates that were most amenable to them. This reflects onyx’s person-centred approach in which the magazine strives to not make top-down decisions but involve collaborative and autonomous decision-making that leads our processes. As an organisation centred around Disability Justice we were also proud to provide robust virus precautions for immunocompromised, disabled and the wellbeing of all attendees. Our trusty PCR machine which was purchased specifically for the event and as long-term radical commitment allowed for negative contagion testing and the liberating enjoyment of shared space with food and discussion we had planned for the day. We sent out invitations and sent out conduct agreements to maintain a respectful and boundaried environment. Risk registers completed and Rupture Keeper hired, we spent the weeks in the run-up to the event paying for travel costs which we covered and booking people’s transportation there and back - to facilitate ease for those with mobility issues and financial barriers to attending. After weeks of planning, we were ready for the big day!
After a quick setup of the quiet room, main entrance and living room where guests would be seated for a salon-style event, we began to welcome our first guests. The venue was kind enough to let attendees borrow a golf cart so that people didn’t have to make the long walk up the drive. Upon arrival everyone wore KN95 masks which were ordered directly to attendees homes beforehand and given to people who did not arrive wearing one upon arrival. Testing on the PCR machine took longer than we anticipated and so after everyone (thankfully) tested negative we decided to open the event with food as the first port of call.
The event began with food and ribbons. We implored a consent system for photography, red ribbons for no photographs, orange to be asked and green to no consent required. Watching people line up to be served around the large wooden oak table in the centre, with our custom playlist of Chronixx in the background added to a warm ambience, people made their way back to the Living Room and while rushing about we caught snippets of conversations about the negative impact of AI on creative writing, with authors works being used to train models without consent, general conversations about burnout, commissions and finding time to write between other gigs as well as wider themes including the climate crisis, cost of living and accessibility requirements. Finally after the conversation swelled in the Living Room, attention was brought to the front of the room. We showed a presentation that aimed to link their craft into a phase of self-reflection, identifying and tracing the main recurring themes that their work embodied. Painting them into groups based on these themes we aimed to create cross-connections and sources of inspiration by making them discuss with each other what they thought drew them to this theme and why. We ended with a resonance workshop on how to tie community representation to their given themes.
The workshop was well received and had no formal end, the last exercise was simply to continue the discussion we had slated as our last exercise. The conversations continued way into the night and we had to gently remind people of their travel arrangements and requirements. Upon final closing, attendees said:
‘I loved the tasks we did together as a group. It was wonderful to get to hear the wealth of knowledge that everyone had shared around the room. onyx’s presentation skills were fantastic throughout’
‘Iloved the interactive presentation. It didn't feel too 'information overload' - it felt like the perfect balance between absorbing educational information and being able to chat with the people around us. I enjoyed it a lot because I genuinely felt like I was learning something new’
‘Feeling really grateful that a space like this can exist! To put into action more spaces like this existing. Loved to be in a warm abundant room with people I have so much in common with, discussing how we can continue work in our own and shared arenas’
‘I think sharing food and eating together was gorgeous! Had a lovely community feel and was just amazing to connect with different people and find out their connections with onyx. Was really special to learn what the newest edition of the publication will look like. So so special. I’m really grateful to have been asked along and I really learnt and brushed up on alot.’
