About FEMINIST FUSION

WHAT IS FEMINIST FUSION?

Feminist Fusion is a community cultural project in support of women's art and a public dialogue on feminism and social justice.
The project manifests primarily as a bi-monthly event showcasing the work of female artists in different disciplines (music, poetry, theatre, etc.), combined with a public discussion or game related to social justice.
We also have an info table with educative flyers and a participatory craft.
Our sessions run on a Friday evening at different venues; they're public events open to everyone with a small entry fee to keep the project running.
In the past, we also held three all-male session, where the artists and speakers explored their anti-patriarchal vision.


THE ELEMENTS THAT MAKE FEMINIST FUSION

WOMEN'S ART
Based on anti-oppressive feminist values, the project aims to support women's art to help counterbalance women's lack of representation in a male dominated industry and society. We do this by:
Promoting - our sessions are a platform to promote women artists' work and vision.
Coaching - we offer one free hour of coaching for emerging performers (at anytime)
Support activities - whenever possible we hold additional creative activities to support women, e.g. Feminist Fusion paid the expenses for two workshops for The New Horizon women's group - which uses creativity to deal with the scars of child abuse.
We are looking into other potential sub-projects we would like to develop, but it's all dependent on getting the resources to follow through.

PUBLIC DIALOGUE / EDUCATION
Education is a vital part of the project because the main reason why women artists are not represented is due to a patriarchal mentality that serves a system of political division and economic exploitation; its consequent values and stereotypes affect not only the lives of women but of anyone who doesn't comply with them. This deeply affects the way we perceive ourselves, one another, and the natural world.
The first step to overcoming such a mentality is educating ourselves about it. At our sessions, we do it through a horizontal perspective of education via:

Public Discussions and Games - We have guest speakers who briefly share their experience on different topics, followed by a public conversation. Sometimes instead of a discussion we have a game addressing the topic. Public discussions and games have proven a better and more inclusive format for learning about challenging issues. Both activities are facilitated in a horizontal/anti-oppressive format that strives for everyone to have a voice and feel safe.

Participatory Crafts - Hands-on crafts are another way to assimilate/embrace new information, express our thoughts and allow us to reconnect with our own creativity and one another.

Information Table - Our flyers are usually a compilation about the subjects addressed in the sessions, related articles, guest artist/speaker merchandise, and flyers from relevant local projects or events that people can take home.


COLLABORATIONS
We have worked with other community projects like Plymouth Women's Network, WonderZoo and Mayflower Our Voice to deliver joint events and are always happy to do more collaborations.


ETHOS

Feminist Fusion aligns with intersectional feminism and anti-oppressive values and practices; we stand for human, animal and the Earth's rights. We strive to align with vegan principles and environmental practices that counteract the climate crisis and promote a compassionate vision.


ACCESSIBILITY

Our sessions are open to all members of the public and we use different venues, preferably those with disabled access.
To keep running the event we have done two crowdfunding campaigns, one fundraiser, and we charge £1 (or pay what you can) on the door - keeping the base price low to make it accessible. There's also a donation box for those able to donate more.
All the money covers:

• A small payment per session to each artist, speaker, helpers and producer
• Publicity flyers and posters
• Educative flyers
• PA hiring – when needed
• Venue hiring – when needed

See more in our videos.
Do you have more questions? Want to participate? Just get in touch! :)