TAIGA - an Unlearning and Empowerment Program for women, trans, and non-binary folks working in arts and culture; creating practices and spaces for change in Eastern Europe and the Baltics.
We offer holistic education and transformative leadership approaches rooted in deep longing for safe spaces where we can learn and practice non-patriarchal ways of working, leading, and being together, grounded in care for one another and the Earth.
The past cohorts have gathered artists, designers, cultural workers, storytellers, embodiment practitioners, and community organisers — people whose practices strive for connection, meaning, and change.
TAIGA cycle consists of 6 facilitated workshops (Opening ceremony, Willow, Moss, Elm, Maple, Closing ceremony) and 5 learning circles between the workshops, bringing participants together every week; as well as listening sessions and an evolving toolkit of practices for tending care and change in the cultural sector co-created with the participants of the program.
During the program, participants have opportunities to practice new ways of learning rooted in experience, embodiment and reflection while co-creating space for support and connection.
TAIGA was possible thanks to the generous support of Guerilla Foundation.
microTAIGA Participants
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; acquiring embodied and relational 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 approaches and practices for being proactive and reactive in face of injustices.
Human and Planet-Centred
Practices
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 new perspectives on organisational structures that challenge capitalism.
Stewardship
Focused on exploring and broadening understanding and approaches of leadership; empowering oneself and one another; reflecting on stewardship that drives positive change, self- and community care.
Learning Circles
Small, self-guided groups that accompany participants between the facilitated programme sessions, creating space for deeper exploration on themes where more time and attention is needed. Learning circles offer space to follow what is emerging within the smaller group and gather reflections and questions for core sessions, thus enriching the learning experience in the bigger group.