Part of Creative Lives' #CreativeNetwork series of open conversations, this is a monthly event inviting everyone in the BIPOC* community to share stories and ideas and to get support. 

This group meets online once a month. Each meeting has a theme to help the discussion. All meetings will have BIPOC facilitator Veronique AA Lapeyre (Coach & Project Zanana) from Coaching for Creatives and Phoenix Archer (Scotland Community Engagement Officer) from Creative Lives. The online meetings will be on Zoom on the last Friday of every month 6-7pm.

These sessions are for BIPOC Community Led Creatives. We would like to emphasise that these sessions are for BIPOC Creatives only. Anyone who isn’t a BIPOC creative but supports BIPOC creatives then please get in touch with Phoenix at [email protected]. We want this to be a safe and supportive space for BIPOC Creatives.

Next session Friday 2 June 2023, 6-7pm on Zoom

The theme is: Increasing Unity.

We'll be discussing this theme starting from these questions:

• In what ways do you strive for unity in your creative practice and communities?
• Have you encountered any barriers to building unity?
• How important is intersectionality when working to increase creative unity?

Each meeting has a theme to help the discussion. All meetings will have Phoenix Archer (Scotland Community Engagement Officer) from Creative Lives. The online meetings will be on Zoom on the last Friday of every month 6pm-7pm.

These sessions are for BIPOC Community Led Creatives in Scotland. We would like to emphasise that these sessions are for BIPOC Creatives only. Anyone who isn’t a BIPOC creative but supports BIPOC creatives then please get in touch with Phoenix at [email protected]. We want this to be a safe and supportive space for BIPOC Creatives.

Join the conversation! Reserve your FREE spot via Eventbrite

---

PREVIOUS SESSIONS LOOKED AT THE FOLLOWING TOPICS:

Friday 31 March 2023: Stereotypes and Biases in Creativity

• What are the stereotypes you have faced while undertaking your creative practice
• Have you used any strategies to cope with or combat stereotypes and biases in the creative sector?
• Is there such a thing as a positive stereotype or bias?

Friday 24 February 2023: Celebrating International Women’s Day and Month Creatively.

• Is there still a need for International Women’s Day and Month?
• Do you celebrate International Women’s Day and Month? Why or why not?
• If money, time and other resources were limitless, how would you celebrate International Women’s Day and Month?

Friday 27 January 2023: Embracing intersectionality in the Creative Sector

• What are the pros and cons of embracing intersectionality in the creative sector?
• What can adding age, disability, gender, ethnicity, religion etc; do for your creative practice?
• Are there any helpful tips that can help others bring their whole selves to their creative practice and the creative sector?

Friday 30 December 2022: Self-care practices in the Creative Sector

• Why is self-care important in the creative sector?
• Do you already practice self-care practices in your creative work?
• What types of self-care practices would you like to learn more about?

Friday 25 November 2022: Preparing Your Career

• What are the challenges of having a career in the creative sectors?
• When have you been successful in your creative career?
• What advice would you give to someone working in or would want to start working in your creative sector?

Friday 28 October 2022: Collaborative Creativity

• Why is it important to collaborate creatively?
• Can it be defined and what does it look like?

Friday 30 September 2022: Black History Month and Remembering Those Before Us

• Is there still a need for Black History Month?
• Should we change how we celebrate and respect those who have done amazing work in BIPOC communities?

Reflections from Phoenix:

"Something to share would be that, it was lovely to provide sessions such as this that for many who came, thought of it as a safe space BIPOC for attendees to share their frustrations when comes to Black History Month (BHM), but also the different ways on how BHM has been utilised to showcase history and creative projects that are not widely know about or tokenised. Just like the pros and cons of BHM, these sessions have room to grow and evolve to explore different opinions, building community spirit and highlighting ways of interacting with BIPOC creatives in Scotland.

I wouldn't have been able to provide this type of session if it wasn't for my own lived experience, working in heritage and creative sectors for years and the qualifications I studied. In addition to this, the work that Creative Lives has done.

"The organisation launched a 2015 initiative to reach out effectively to create cultural activity in Black, Asian and minority ethnic cultures and communities, embarking on an initial series of 50 open conversations with volunteers organisers in communities across the UK and Ireland. This process was documented in the 2016 report, 'Open Conversations: Developing strong, effective connections to Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities' and led to a dramatic increase in the diversity of the Creative Lives Board of Trustees. The network of contacts developed through those open conversations formed the basis for an ongoing process of improving Creative Lives' connections with minority ethnic communities in the UK which has continued over the past few years. My role as the Scotland Community Engagement Officer has helped me to steer the direction of this type of work and provide tailored sessions such as these."

Read more about Phoenix Archer's background and her motivation to lead this network here. 

Friday 26 August: Community spirit

• What does it look like?
• How can we define it? What does it mean to us?

---

*BIPOC stands for Black, Indigenous, and people of colour