YARD

🗣️No FREEYard Today

Heads up! won’t be available this week. We’re taking a short pause, but stay tuned for updates coming soon! We appreciate your patience and look forward to welcoming you back soon.

It's the last Free YARD of the Summer 🥲❤️

And we're finishing with a very juicy Artist Kitchen - as we'll be in conversation with Adéle Oliver exploring themes from her book Deeping It: Colonialism, Culture and Criminalisation of UK Drill. With exerpts from the chapter 'Drill as Art', we look at the criminalisation of Black (collective) bodily / somatic expression.

At 7pm we finish our watching series of '0121 Legacy'

Talk and screening take place on the ground floor along with our MAIA library and space to create and co-work. Upstairs we have our fully equipped music studio and quiet / prayer spaces.

And of course, Chae will be here cooking up some vegan goodness 🍲

Masks and hand sanitiser are available upon entry and tests available upon request too.

Can't wait to see you there! 💥

We're back for another Free YARD Tuesday 23rd July
With the second iteration of ✨️ ABUELOS3000 ✨️

Join us with story and world - weaver Steven Camden (Polarbear) as we build and create stories and feel through our world, the land, culture(s) and ecologies across 1000 years, 2 - 4pm (ground floor).

At 6:30pm we will come together for a community sharing circle, giving and taking space in ways that feel equitable, to talk from the heart, resonate and bear witness (ground floor).

As always we have Chae cooking up some delicious vegan food served at 12pm - and throughout the day you have access to the MAIA library (ground floor), music studio and quiet and prayer spaces (accessed via stairs).

Masks and hand sanitiser are available upon entry, with tests available upon request, too.

Come and kick it with us ☁️🌈✨️

Free YARD Artist Kitchen: Art in the Time of the Polycrisis, with adjei sun

Join us as we break bread with multidisciplinary artist and organiser adjei sun; to listen and ask questions about adjei's practise and how his background in politics influences his approach to community based work - as well as practises and processes that allow adjei to work within a polycrisis and still be of service to his art, community and self.

Adjei Sun is an interdisciplinary creative, writer and community organizer who is particularly interested in working with young people and communities to explore themes of self, culture, mental health, and nature. Since he began performing poetry at 16, his practice has spanned across poetry, theater, music and film. Outside of arts and literature, Adjei is a Yin Yoga teacher and a political science graduate. A former BBC 1xtra Future Figure, Adjei has been using creativity to engage communities in various causes since he was 17. He strives to create more fully realized worlds and greater impact with each project.

Artist Kitchen will run from 2 - 3pm, and at 7pm we will screen another episode of the 0121 Legacy series. In between and during these times, you also have access to our MAIA library on the ground floor and fully equipped music studio on the first floor via stairs.

Face masks and hand sanitiser are available upon arrival, with tests available upon request also. Artist Kitchen and film screening will happen on the ground floor, with quiet and prayer spaces available via stairs.

See you there! 💥

Don't fret, Free YARD is back on Tuesday 9th July!

And we will be launching a new programme -
✨️ ABUELOS3000 ✨️

To expand on, and bring our beloved community into, the journey of manifesting ABUELOS - we are collaborating with story and world - weaver Steven Camden (Polarbear) to build the world(s) of ABUELOS across a 1000 year timeline. What imagery and stories emerge from imagining the life and culture of ABUELOS? When we think of the terms 'radical hospitality' and ‘life - affirming’, what do our senses conjure? Join us as we create in real time, the possibilities of our people, the land, culture(s), ecologies - and how this can birth the rehearsals of these possibilities today.

At 6pm we will be continuing '0121 Legacy' and screening part 5 of the series.

As always, we also have the MAIA library to peruse on the ground floor, as well as the music studio and quiet / prayer spaces accessible via stairs. And of course, Chae's food which will be served on the ground floor at 12pm!

There are masks and hand sanitiser available upon entry as well as tests available on request, too.

INTRODUCING MAIA FELLOWS 2024–2025: Reisz and melissandre.

The Fellows will spend a year with us, critically and practically informing the development of ABUELOS and picking up where our last Fellows + Associated left off. Through co-developed lines of enquiry and programming, we hope to support these amazing artists in their creative development and provide them with the space and resources to create.

We'll continue to share more about their journeys up until MAIA and what they're creating while with us in this time and hope that you will follow their journeys too.

As an organisation that sees artists as critical for future-planning and infrastructure-building, we are directly involved in supporting UK-based artists receive the care and materials they deserve. These fellowships are for artists whose work includes critical analysis of civil and cultural systems while being rooted in community and sharing MAIA’s vision.

The resources provided throughout this fellowship will bring these artists into deeper dialogues with our ecosystem and into the heart of designing ABUELOS.

ANNOUNCEMENT 🗣️📢

FREE YARD is taking a Summer Break through the month of August.

Don't panic! We're not stopping forever. Instead we'll be spending our time working on our YARD YOUNGERS residency and to reassess our programming for future FREE YARDs.

Our last FREE YARD of the Summer will be July 30th 2024 and we will be returning on September 3rd 2024.

As we continue to work towards ABUELOS it's imperative that we are able to listen to the community, relay what we have learned and reprogramme appropriately. We have spent the past 7 months listening... Now it's time for us to do our thing.

There's so much that's coming to be excited about, but in the meantime keep coming to FREE YARD.

Our YARD YOUNGERS residency is still open for registration so if you're interested check out our link in bio 👀.

Free YARD is back on Tuesday, 18th June 💥

and we will be diving into one of the Solidarity Economy Principles, created by the Solidarity Economy Principles project (solidarityeconomyprinciples.org)

Through discussion and creative response, we will look at the principle 'Shares Resources & Shared Vision'

🌟 what is Solidarity Economy? 🌟

Solidarity Economy is a global movement to build a just and sustainable economy, valuing people, social and environmental justice - which divests from capitalist frameworks and the sole focus of financial profit.

No prior knowledge is needed to take part 🙏🏽

We will also be screening pt. II of '0121 Legacy' at 6pm

Come join us, fill your belly with Chae's delicious soup and co-learn with the MAIA team and community ✨️

Masks and hand sanitiser are available upon entry and tests available upon request. There is a room accessible by stairs that is reserved as a prayer / quiet space

Free YARD is back and ready to welcome June 👋🏽🌸

Join us on Tuesday 4th June for another Free YARD day from 12pm - 8pm.

Lunch is served at 12pm with delicious Chae’s Soup 🍲

2pm - 3pm We’ll have a Reasoning Corner: Privatise the Mandem - How do we preserve and realise the future of the ends?

6pm - 7pm There will be a screening of 0121 Legacy Part 1

As always YARD is open from 12pm - 8pm and every Tuesday where we invite our community to socialise, co-work, share resources, rest, reason, and organise. Our Free YARD programme creates a space to connect more deeply to our shared missions.

Tell a friend to tell a friend!

See you there 🩷

We've got a yummy Free YARD for you next Tuesday 21st May 🌿🌻🌷✨️

Join us at YARD with poet & speculative fiction writer Lalah-Simone Springer on the final stop of their ‘Common Birds Tour’ - as they debut their poetry collection 'An Aviary of Common Birds' which explores connection, community, love, and loss from a Black q***r, working-class perspective.

Lalah-Simone will lead a ‘Self Love Sonnets 101’ poetry workshop, followed by an open mic for the YARD community and read exerpts from An Aviary of Common Birds. Tote bags and books will also be available to purchase after the reading.

12pm: Chae’s soup is served
12 - 5pm: YARD is free to use as you need: co-working, music studio (bring your own laptop!), MAIA library, socialise & organise
5 - 6:30pm: Self Love Sonnets 101 poetry workshop
7 - 8pm: open mic and readings

There are quiet and prayer spaces available via stairs - as well as masks and sanitiser available upon arrival. covid tests are also available upon request.

Lalah-Simone Springer is a poet and speculative fiction writer (she/they). Lalah’s first poetry collection, was published by Broken Sleep Books in August 2023 .
Lalah was long-listed for the Merky New Writers Prize in 2021 and has been published on the ANTHEMS podcast, Ink, Sweat & Tears, Onyx Magazine and more.
Lalah’s writing considers themes of mental health, alienation, love and growth from a q***r, Black, working class, feminist perspective.

Can't wait to see you there! 💥

We've got a yummy Free YARD in store for you next Tuesday 21st May 🌿🌻✨️

Join us at YARD with poet & speculative fiction writer Lalah-Simone Springer on the final stop of their ‘Common Birds Tour’ - as they debut their poetry collection 'An Aviary of Common Birds' which explores connection, community, love, and loss from a Black q***r, working-class perspective.

Lalah-Simone will lead a ‘Self Love Sonnets 101’ poetry workshop, followed by an open mic for the YARD community and read exerpts from An Aviary of Common Birds. Tote bags and books will also be available to purchase after the reading.

12pm: Chae’s soup is served
12 - 5pm: YARD is free to use as you need: co-working, music studio (bring your own laptop!), MAIA library, socialise & organise
5 - 6:30pm: Self Love Sonnets 101 poetry workshop
7 - 8pm: open mic and readings

There are quiet and prayer spaces available via stairs - as well as masks and sanitiser available upon arrival. covid tests are also available upon request.

Lalah-Simone Springer is a poet and speculative fiction writer (she/they). Lalah’s first poetry collection, was published by Broken Sleep Books in August 2023 .
Lalah was long-listed for the Merky New Writers Prize in 2021 and has been published on the ANTHEMS podcast, Ink, Sweat & Tears, Onyx Magazine and more.
Lalah’s writing considers themes of mental health, alienation, love and growth from a q***r, Black, working class, feminist perspective.

Can't wait to see you there! 💥

Free YARD is hereee once again - Tuesday 14th May 12-8pm 🌷✨️🦋

YARD will be open for all to use as you need:
- co-working space
- MAIA reading library
- music studio (please bring your own laptop for now!)
- spaces to connect, socialise, organise 👊🏽

- A bedroom on the top floor will be reserved as a quiet / prayer space (only accessible by stairs)

-There are always masks and hand sanitiser available on the door, with tests available on request, too

And Chae's vegan soup to fill your yuh belly of course!

See you there babs💥