This workshop was an amazing opportunity for queer and trans youth to put their experience into words and share them with others. The resulting performance was both intimate and powerful and moved the audience to a greater understanding and compassion. I would strongly encourage anyone who works with youth who have both struggled and triumphed to experience this remarkable opportunity. As one youth so succinctly put it, “I learned that my experiences matter to people”.
– Leighann Wichmann, Executive Director, The Youth Project: Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity

IS IT OK TO ASK MY QUESTION

People who are out of the mainstream in some way – in terms of ethnicity, sexuality, body, identity, and so on – are often put into the position of being cast as Native Informants. Talk and learn about the delicate balancing act between wanting to be more educated and putting someone on the spot; about locating the boundaries between learning facts and interrogating truths, between curiosity and intrusion. We’ll explore the role of power and privilege in these communications, and try to create greater understanding of how we move in and out of those places so we know when (and where, and how) it is okay to get our questions answered (and what to say when we don’t have the energy to answer anymore today).

Please note: this workshop is 90 minutes long, and latecomers cannot be admitted.

STORYTIME FOR LITTLE QUEERS

A milk-and-cookies pajama party where people of any age can enjoy children’s books that celebrate gender variance and 2LGBTQ identities, read aloud with flourish. Books to be read (and discussed, if the audience prefers) include out-of-print classics, international titles, and several of Bear’s own trans-positive children’s books. For families during the early evening, or for youth groups or university students to snuggle up, unwind, and enjoy.

STORYTELLING FOR FUNDRAISERS

It's time to make the case to a funder about why your organization needs - or deserves - their donation. But what kind of story are you best at telling, and how do you know what notes to hit for maximum motivation? This workshop by award-winning writer and storyteller S. Bear Bergman delivers a practical, skill-based series of exercises for boards, development officers, communications professionals and any public-facing staff, to help participants:

  • - learn about composing a story

  • - dial in specific types of story that can be employed to motivate support

  • - identify their strongest storytelling skills

  • - break a fundraising story down into blocks so they’re ready when meeting with potential funders, even by chance.

Time: 2 hours

Max participants: 20 (up to 30 with 2.5 hours of teaching time)

WRITING WITH AND ABOUT GENDER

Designed to get writers thinking about the language of gender, its vernacular and lexicon and ways of making itself heard in writing, and then figuring out personal, useful ways to turn that to their advantage. This workshop is appropriate for anyone who can form a sentence, regardless of their experience as a writer: from novelists writing transgender characters to transfolk writing about their experiences to academics tackling queer theory to people still exploring the nature of their gender and sexuality in private writing to absolutely anyone else. Feedback opportunities will be provided but not required.