PEER GROUP FOR TRANS & NON-BINARY ARTISTS
13th of May, 2019 at 6 pm, Museum of Impossible Forms

This peer group is for trans-, non-binary, gender-non-conforming and other non-cis-gendered people working in the arts. Also artists who are questioning their gender are welcome. The group is organised due to a need for safer and non-cis-centered spaces for supporting each other as well as thinking what kind of struggles we face in the field of art in Finland and how could we collectively have an affect on these issues, and what kind of allyship is needed.

The first meeting is facilitated by artist Ana Teo Ala-Ruona, and will take place in Museum of Impossible Forms, in Kontula, lasting around 2-3 hours. In this session we will get to know each other, share experiences, read, write, discuss and also just hang out. You are welcome to take part in the session in ways that feel good for yourself. You will not be asked to tell about your experiences anything more than you personally want to. The session will be held in English (Finnish translation will be provided). You don't need to have any specific educational background as an artist, neither do you need to have any specific level of professionality in order to be able to join this group. Also students are welcome!

Please enrol for the first session by sending email to: feministculturehouse@gmail.com First 20 people will be taken in. The places for the session are limited due to a wish to keep the situation somewhat possible for everyone to have space to speak. There will be more sessions coming up later, and we will try to make this group open for everyone who feels like they would need it.

Please try to be there on time. If you come late, you can send a message to the same email-address.

The peer group meetings are supported by the Support Structures Collective (SSC), a team of 5 art workers (Hanna Ohtonen, Anna-Kaisa Koski, Katie Lenanton, Neicia Marsh & Selina Väliheikki), currently setting up an organisation that will become a feminist culture house in Helsinki. The main goal of the feminist culture house is to function as a supportive structure for those who are practicing in the Finnish art field, but due to—for example—structural racism and cis-sexism, have to work harder to be recognised. SSC aims to create a caring and inclusive feminist working community that is based on sharing, togetherness, celebrating, and supporting one’s peers. During spring 2019 SSC are developing the foundations for a feminist culture house. Currently SSC is partnering with artists Ana Teo Ala-Ruona and Martina Miño Pérez, FemF, Museum of Impossible Forms, Globe Art Point and POIMU feminist workspace. In spring 2019 SSC is kindly supported by the Kone Foundation.

Ana Teo Ala-Ruona is a Helsinki based performance artist and art educator. Their work focuses on queer and trans futurities, speculative fiction (=SF) and feminist pedagogies. Currently they operate mostly with embodied-SF-writing and speech performances dealing with topics of sex, queer ecology and gender. They are one of the founding members of Feminist Anti-racist Night School in Helsinki.

The peer group session aims to be as safe as possible for each participants. Please respect the safer space policy:

- Respect others and their boundaries. Do not touch without asking first. Respect the answer you get when you ask. Don’t take photos without permission.
- Do not assume that you can tell person’s gender, sexual orientation, life situation, identity, health status, background etc. without them telling you about it.
- If you experience anything unpleasant, you can either tell about it to the facilitator or inform a safety-person about this.

Safer space rules will be gone through once more with the whole group in the beginning of the session.