Our first ever collaborative festival! – We provided three creative workshops, TWO SHOWS (MadMatched and BirchMatched SLAM!) and opened up a Neurodivergent information point/sensory Gazebo up for the two day festival! – AND NOW WE’RE BURNT OUT!
We’d like to thank our camera-man, Simon Kempthorne, for giving up his Saturday to provide us with professional images to publicise our efforts!
Day One! (Saturday the 17th)
Workshop ONE: Reclaiming Voice:
Our first workshop, ‘Reclaiming Voice’ was hosted by Winsome Monica, an internationally renowned poet from Jamaica whose poetry covers themes surrounding colonisation and calming back identity. She is currently in the third year of her PHD and her collection, ‘Zion Roses’, was published in Waterstone’s in 2021 (and she sold all the copies she brought at Birch Lit!) – her workshop gave background to a number of Caribbean poets, and their influences. The workshop focused upon analysing and deconstructing a number of short poems by female black and mixed-race Caribbean poets, and finished with a writing activity encouraging participants to connect with themes of authenticity and identity.
Workshop Two, Authentic Autistic Voice:
The second workshop of the day was hosted by Alice Riley and Emma Robdale, MixMatched hosts and Neurodivergent Women. This workshop was designed to address autism as something that could be appropriated/used unethically. It began by addressing existing stereotypes that have existed within cultural portrayals (such as, Autistic people being portrayed as savants, Lack of Sexuality, Lack of positive agency, being secondary characters explored by friends/family perceptions), and encouraged audience discussions upon this topic. It moved onto ways in which writers could more ethically approach crafting autistic characters (ethical research that involves autistic community/individuals, having drafts read by autistic peers, rounded representations, having plots that don’t evolve around autism (rather that their is an autistic character within a plot about something else), etcetera) – again this was discussed with the attendees, before they were asked to do a short creative writing exorcise evolving around the construction of an autistic character.
MadMatched Show:
Spurring from our monthly MixMatched performance and spoken word nights, we put on our first MadMatched show! – Named ‘Mad’ after the 1990s ‘Mad Pride’ movement, whereby Neurodivergent+ individuals sought to claim back words, and a positive sense of self. We invited 8 of our regular performers to Birch Lit to perform! Many of them chose performances that evolved around ND+ identity
Our MadMatched Line Up:
Alice Riley – Who performed her comic speech upon autistic female identity.
Adam Dorr – Our most loyal comedian! – After editing out the swearing for this daytime event he had to improv half his set, making it all the more hilarious! An extremely relatable ND critique upon identity, awkwardness and introspection.
Winsome Monica: After treating us with her workshop earlier on upon the day, Winsome regaled us with a number of her poems about colonisation and the lived experience of exile, finishing upon the importance of connecting to Caribbean culture and identity through musicality and dance.
Emma Robdale – Who shared her poetry upon witches (recognising that many of them would have been Neurodivergent+ women, and also connecting to themes of isolation and persecution).
Ellen – One of our most varied performers, performed a speech upon acceptance within magical/mystic communities and the importance of tapping into your creative energies. She performed a number of poems upon the importance of staying grounded while discovering your own spiritualities.
Carol Eades – Bringing her guitar and music to the stage Carol shared a number of humorous songs upon identity and day-to-day living.
Ribs: Fortunate the children had left! – Ribs, member of Flock Improv group, and proud autistic comedian, elicited ripples of mirth from the audience as she shared ‘awkward’, and quite explicit details surrounding dating encounters!
Karl Mercer – An autistic man who recently exhibited ‘Un/Masked’, a museum exhibit upon Autistic Identity for the project Curating for Change. He performed his own music-poetry-rap blend upon Autistic identity and strife.
THANKS EVERYONE WHO CAME TO SUPPORT – We hope to be collaborating with more festivals around Kent area! – If you know any that you think we’ll be suitable for, please let us know! – DON’T FORGET TO READ ABOUT DAY TWO OF MIXMATCHED at Birchington Lit!