Director’s Update: Moving into 2022
Happy Spring Equinox all!
We hope the energy of rebirth and renewal for those in the Western hemisphere is bringing some well deserved joy and ease to all. We work with the seasons, and as the shedding of winter passes, we embody the lessons of its wisdom. Spring offers the opening for beautiful and abundant new beginnings, we harness this energy and return to share the plans of the Free Black University moving forward into this new astrological year.
So firstly, thank you for your patience with us since our last communication explaining that it was time to go inward and assess what the organisation requires in order to deliver all that we can for the community.
This inward work is exactly what we have been doing over the past year. This email is to update you all, as folks invested in the vision, on where we will be turning our attention in the coming year.
As to be expected, over the past year we had some real wins and hit some roadblocks; we had to change gears many times, and allow the vision to at times expand, and at others, contract. This is the nature of organisational building, especially at the intersections from which we build and exist. We are happy to say that overall this year has been very fruitful and we are excited about the journey we are about to embark on in2022.
A mentor of mine recently told me that an organisation that builds too fast depletes just as quickly, and so we are trying to pace our growth and learn all the vital lessons that we need to along the way.
FBU into 2022
With all this organisational learning behind us, we move into this year focused on realising the vision of the FBU. The core, unfiltered, intention of the Free Black University is to develop a canon of knowledge that contributes to the transformation of the world at large. To be a space that creates an intentional container for the community to radically and unapologetically imagine and speculate about alternative worlds and radical futures of liberation.
So how do we go about the mission of creating a space for radical imagination and knowledge production of this kind?
We experiment.
Later this year the Free Black University will be launching our flagship course called the Imagination Labs, a 12-week incubation course to work with people from all walks of life to think and feel through various worlds of imagination and liberation. The aim of the Imagination Labs is to create knowledge that expands minds, brings about healing, love, and power. This is important because we want the knowledge that the Free Black University creates to not just be knowledge that can be created in isolation or within traditional institutions. We want to explore the possibility of knowledge when we develop a pedagogy of freedom and love, and strive to create conditions that feel truly liberatory.
The Free Black Uni does not adhere to disciplinary boundaries of the University in any form – as such the work of the Imagination Labs will be free flowing and boundless. Through the Imagination Labs we plan to work with all those involved to create knowledge through various mediums to be shared out into the community with the intention of offering both expansion and healing. All of this work will be grounded in the Radical Black Imagination and the belief that liberation for all is both possible and necessary.
Alongside this there will be a number of other experiments we undertake with the aim of bringing the vision of the FBU to life in the most creative and radical way. Look out for more information on this, and the Imagination Labs in weeks and months to come, we will be opening applications to be a part of the course later this year.
Closing Remarks
Thank you for your continued support of the vision of the Free Black University. We stay committed and steadfast in our belief that another world is possible and that we want to be a part of building this alternative future – one that is truly liberated and free of all forms of oppression.
If you would like to continue supporting our work, please do consider signing up to make a one off, monthly, or weekly donation to the mission we have here at the Free Black Uni and help us bring the vision into its fullest and most vibrant possibility.