THE BACK OF THE TAPESTRY: A conversation project around running and creating radical art communities.

The hope of this project is to de-mystify the work of creating and facilitating healthy alternative art spaces. This is phase 1 of an ongoing project that we hope to offer a resource! Want to contribute? Reach out via the form at the bottom!

School of Making Thinking | Sophie Traub
School of the Alternative | Heidi Gruner, Nelle Dunlap

*Some of Sophie and Heidi’s answers are pulled from a class/radio show they led at School of the Alternative’s 6th session. You might notice some crowd noise and participation in some of their clips!

Scroll to listen

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Scroll to listen 〰️

“The practices I use for communal decision-making affect me as the manager of a team; in my family and in my community, the ways we share labor change. I’ve learned so much from my team collaborators I’ve worked with for years and years. ”

— Nelle Dunlap, School of the Alternative

Tell us a bit about your program and offerings.

what drew you to this work?

How long has your program existed? what keeps you tied to the work?

HOW DO YOU WEAVE this work into your day-to-day life?

What are ways you weave this work into your day to day life outside of your organization’s in-person sessions?

Describe the ways your organization facilitates connection.

What are the threads that tie your community together?

Can you talk about funding and resources?

How do you find balance between structure and adaptability?

What drew you to this work | Nelle Dunlap, School of the Alternative
I’ve always been involved in some kind of collaborative art community-building project throughout my life. It looked like being on a burlesque troupe in my 20s, it looked like being on the board of a local art guild in my 30s.

And when I joined SotA, specifically, I came there through a friend of a friend, through an art community, and was drawn to SotA by the expansiveness of it. It felt like it was so many things at once. It was meeting a need for community and work that had meaning and heart, but also things that were fun and experimental and challenged me.