Story
What if an event might be an ongoing conversation?
One to ignite new friendships & alchemise creative collaboration? A big bookmark of a thing honouring a season of the year in a profoundly poetic way?
Inspired by the spirit of exchange and connection at the centre of village celebration, the warmth of late night dinners with old mates and the cultural richness travelling often inspires in us, the desire behind Collective Presence was to offer a curatorial space where the transformational effects of creative practice & wellbeing might be shared in a deeply celebratory and inclusive way. Where a shared journey feel to an event could give more space & time for integrating the art it shares. And where the idiosyncratic voices of makers, movers, healers, teachers, artists, & guides from global schools of inspiration might be heard.
Form.
Offered in the form of x4 seasonal, lovingly- curated gatherings a year, each CP journey event is an opportunity to share in collective presence through an artistic spectrum ranging from music to embodied philosophy, creative process to regenerative cultures. Coloured with the unique tones of that particular season, and unfolding over the course of half a day. Various locations, intersectional artists, inspiringly educational subjects.
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Values.
Creating a nurturing space where artists might thrive in sharing their art in authentic ways, true to them.
Disentangling from the modern conundrum of spiritual bypass by supporting genuine conversations and advocating for kind exchanges within the community.
Curating spaces where people are welcomed as they are; where race, beliefs, gender orientation, size, shape & sexual preference are safely acknowledged and held.
Championing joy, learning and artistic celebration as forms of sacred activism.
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Collective Presence: Spring
12th May
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foraging walk X pizzas X teas & tinctures workshop
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Artists: Maria Fernandez - Healing Weeds & Andrea Pizzaiolo
Tone: Bird song, buds, emerald. Unfurling, planting, planning. Ideas, poems, light.
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Cross time and culture, through the ages plants have long been our allies in healing and sustenance. Our coexistence is a richly complex dance of mutual support and inspiration; one Philip Shepherd reflects on as, 'consider breathing... you are breathing in the exhalations of forests.. the oxygen that passes into your lungs is born of the touch of sunlight on leaves.'
As the daffodils barge their trumpeted golden way through Winter’s density, Spring is the time to re-ignite our connection to this natural world and the plants which populate it. A collective time to stretch out our limbs and reach for inspiration and new things to roll on in to the rest of the year with.
So for CP: Spring we offer you a curious & earthy afternoon exploring our symbiotic relationship with native plants; how they might support immunity and conscious transition to the season of new beginnings. And ways we can build skills, knowledge, everyday rituals with them in teas and tinctures.
This is a foraging walk, workshop and pizza party in one. Expect muddy knees, mouthfuls of spongey-oven-fired dough, and an afternoon of beautiful workshopping company in the cobbled Bridge Farm, nestled right in the urban edges of the city. Learn how - through myth, play, fact and discussion - we might re-remember plants unique personalities, building a deeper awareness around their places within our wider ecosystem.
After lunch there'll be guidance in building a tailor-made tea and fresh medicinal bottled tincture to take home, and Maria will share a trove of practical botanical knowledge and skills you can use in your foraging toolkit for years to come.
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