EXPERIMENTS IN GROUP WISDOM

CREATIVE COMMUNITY BUILDING: THE SOCIAL

Thu, Apr 30 · 19:00 BST

The Southbank Centre, Belvedere Rd, Lambeth, London SE1 8XX, London, GB

Formerly 'THE HEARTH', this event has evolved...

CREATIVE COMMUNITY BUILDING is
A community for people interested in building community 😊

Based on learning from past events, I'm trying out new things (piece about the learning coming soon to substack)

We will continue to evolve, but this is the latest plan:

HOW IT WORKS:
This event is THE SOCIAL, and primarily a place to meet and exchange ideas with fellow community builders in person.

(The other dimension to CREATIVE COMMUNITY BUILDING is a weekly online ‘VIRTUAL CAFE’, which is more focussed on workshopping ideas, challenges, and practices. I will post the next VIRTUAL CAFE soon, here.)

THE SOCIAL is largely unstructured, but we will always have a theme or a prompt to get conversations going. This time the theme is: AUTHENTICITY.
I will share a few related questions in the comments on the day.

My working model of community building includes 4 stages: STARTING, BUILDING, SUSTAINING, and EVOLVING. (These are not linear, but cyclical because when your community reaches the ‘evolving’ stage, it's also ‘starting’ a new chapter.)

Based on feedback from previous sessions, people sometimes find it useful to talk to others who are at the same stage as them, so I will give everyone the opportunity to organise in this way initially. (This is optional.)

I will invite the group to shuffle around a couple of times so we don’t miss out on meeting a range of people. The rest of the evening will be unstructured space to:

• Continue conversations
• Discuss collaborations
• Share tips
• Get to know each other
• Get to know about each others’ respective communities

NOTES ON THE GENERAL ATMOSPHERE:

• Laid back, light, fun
• Respectful of each other's time, views, ideas
• Generous listening and low pressure sharing

WHERE WE'LL MEET:
Due to unpredictable group sizes with free events, I’m going to start off with holding these socials in public spaces rather than booked rooms. This can comes with an element of unpredictable London chaos (i.e. background noise, weather, etc.), so please be up for that if you decide to come along.

On this occasion, the plan is for us to meet at The Southbank Centre on Level 2, near the Festival Bar & Kitchen. If the weather is good, we might relocate outside. I will let you know the exact location in the comments below on the day.

WHO SHOULD COME:
Everyone with an interest in community. This group is not about being experts, it is about learning together. That is, bringing our various experiences and lenses on the world together to support, inspire, and uplift one another. The more perspectives, the richer the conversation.

YOUR HOST:
I'm Bonny. I've created a couple of successful communities (e.g. THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS IN PUBS & THE SUNRISE CLUB) and have a lot of experience hosting groups in a range of places (from prison and hospitals, to private events). I'm always learning and my best ideas come out of conversations with others :-). You can read some of my thoughts on community building here.

One of my inspirations for community building is the Ancient Greek Goddess, Hestia:
Hestia is the goddess of the hearth (hence the former name for this group). She is also the goddess of community, hospitality towards strangers, home, and warmth. Known for her inner strength, calm demeanour, and commitment to peace, I think Hestia embodies qualities that can be very helpful when cultivating community! 🔥 I’m curious to hear who/what your influences are 😊

WHATSAPP GROUP - stay in the loop
SUBSTACK - sign up for the newsletter

I'm looking forward to meeting you and hearing your ideas!

If you would like to further support these meetups, you can do so here: https://buymeacoffee.com/bonnyastor
Thank you!

WRITE CLUB: one hour of silent writing (or reading) in the company of others

Fri, May 15 · 18:00 BST

The Southbank Centre, Belvedere Rd, Lambeth, London SE1 8XX, London, GB

The first rule of WRITE CLUB is that you do not talk during WRITE CLUB.

This very simple meetup is based on the premise that public and peer accountability enables more productive writing than sitting at home and getting distracted by the fridge.

We will write/read for an hour in silence. (I will be writing thought experiments for my other meetup group: THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS IN PUBS)

If you'd like to hang out afterwards, or if you prefer just to hang out, I have another event immediately afterwards in the same place :-) You can find that here: HANGING OUT AT THE SOUTHBANK

And if you'd like to finish the evening with a dance, there is a free social salsa meetup just outside The Southbank Centre just afterwards. More info here.

This event will take place in the foyer of The Southbank Centre. You can find us by looking out for:

• A tote bag with WRITE CLUB sewn onto it
• My T-Shirt, which will have HANGING OUT embroidered on the back of it
• A big red flag with THE SUNRISE CLUB emblazoned on it (though this clearly isn't THE SUNRISE CLUB! If you want to find out about that, you can do so here.)
• Other writers - who may be spread out across the centre. They will have white pieces of paper with the WRITE CLUB stamp at the top of the page.

There are plenty of places to buy refreshments, but you can also bring your own if you prefer.

WHATSAPP GROUP
INSTAGRAM
SUBSTACK

Looking forward to meeting and writing with you :-)

Bonny

HANGING OUT AT THE SOUTH BANK

Fri, May 15 · 19:00 BST

The Southbank Centre, Belvedere Rd, Lambeth, London SE1 8XX, London, GB

Inspired by Sheila Liming's 2023 book, Hanging Out, this event is about "daring to do nothing much, and even more than that, about daring to do it in the company of others."

If you're curious, you can read more about my rationale for the event here, and how our pilot event went here.

This event will take place in the foyer of The Southbank Centre.

You can find us by looking out for:

• Me - I will be wearing a black T-shirt with HANGING OUT written on the back
• Our table - which will have a red flag draped over it with THE SUNRISE CLUB emblazoned on it (though this clearly isn't THE SUNRISE CLUB! If you want to find out about that, you can do so here.)

There are plenty of places to buy refreshments, but you can also bring your own if you prefer.

If you feel like using this event as a carrot for some creative work, please join us an hour earlier for WRITE CLUB - an hour of silent writing/reading in the same location.

And if you'd like to finish the evening with a dance, there is a free social salsa meetup just outside The Southbank Centre just afterwards. More info here.

WHATSAPP GROUP
INSTAGRAM
SUBSTACK

Looking forward to meeting and hanging out with you :-)

Bonny