TAIGA - Transformational Leadership Program for women and queer folks working in arts and culture in Eastern Europe and Baltics
TAIGA is a holistic education and empowerment program created by women for as a response to experiences of exclusion and underrepresentation of women in arts and culture.
The project is rooted in the acknowledgment that culture and art have been central in nearly every social movement in history and have a huge impact on shaping social awareness and driving change. Therefore it is crucial that the leaders in this sector are sensitive and aware of global and local struggles and interdependencies, can imagine more equitable and inclusive ways of being and creating relationships, and can lead themselves and their communities with vision, courage, and care.
TAIGA is designed for women and queer folks who are active stakeholders in the cultural and creative sectors of their local contexts and focused on social inclusion through culture and arts.
TAIGA aims to:
to empower and strengthen the participation and visibility of women and queer folks working in arts and culture;
to explore and practice different elements of transformative cultural leadership;
to re-imagine and strengthen the role of arts and cultural leaders in social change and ensure inclusive and participatory practices in the cultural sector;
to acquire practical skills and tools for self and community care, cultural and arts management, and doing cultural/artistic work that acknowledges and addresses the social and ecological challenges of our times, which are rooted in inequity and injustice on multiple levels;
contribute to cross-institutional partnerships to build more resilient cultural organisations that drive positive social change towards a more just, equitable, and inclusive cultural sector
The program is envisioned to connect theory and practice, workshops and input from guest speakers as well as spaces for learning from one another, consist of both on-site seminars and e-learning modules, embrace a holistic approach to learning, and focus on how participants can move and lead in their own specific contexts, while feeling each other's support.
Testimonials
“MicroTAIGA is very inspiring and safe space pushing me to develop and expand myself. Exchanging experience in an original way, using female ways of expression makes me reflect my way of thinking. Those meetings make me to trust more in my instinct and beliefs!”
“The spaces they have facilitated have been created and planned very thoroughly from the beginning to the end, creating a safe container and holding space for deeper sharing and experiences to surface up. The workshops welcome true selves of the participants. Here, it is okay to feel and be the way I am at that moment. I have received a versatile set of tools and methods, as well as sharp insights and lessons to share an array of topics. It’s touching delicate subjects in a very supportive way, gently guiding to empowering. The workshops gave me a sense of sisterhood. I finally connected with, and felt belonging in my community. The workshops therefore gave me a sense of peace, and opened me for showing more sides of my authentic self. The process of collective self-care helped me realize that I’m stronger than I thought. It Is safe to be vulnerable here, and I felt a huge power in it. ”
The four core areas and learning modules are:
Self- and community care
Focused on exploring interdependence with others (humans and more-than-humans); reflecting on what care means and looks like; acquire tools for self- and community care.
Activism
Focused on exploring social power structures with an intersectional lens; reflecting on how we are all part of the problem and part of the solution; and acquiring tools and practices for being proactive and reactive in face of injustices.
Human and Planet-Centred
Practice
Focused on exploring different systems of economic organisation; reflecting on how all our practices are connected with other areas of work and the world; acquiring tools and ideas for creating organisational structures that challenge capitalism and ideate new ways and experiments.
Leadership
Focused on exploring different approaches in self- and community leadership; empowering oneself and one another; acquiring tools and strategies for inclusive leadership, and leadership that drives positive change.
microTAIGA
We have closed a pilot program microTAIGA with eight kickass female cultural practitioners from Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.
microTAIGA cycle consists of 6 workshops (Opening, Willow, Moss, Elm, Maple, Closing) bringing participants together every second week; individual learning between the workshops; peer-to-peer sessions, mentoring sessions, two Fireside Chats with women working in the sector, and an evolving toolkit of transformational leadership practices in the cultural sector co-created with the participants of the program.
During the program, participants have space to practice new approaches - develop small change initiatives in their organisations, start new projects that are centered on earth-care, human-care, and fair share of resources, get support and guidance from one another and the program facilitators.