Hodgepodge
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
This event will include:
Two discussions with award-winning and passionate facilitators.
One-to-one sessions
Food and refreshments
A collaboration table - chance to talk through how we can work together
A dedicated quiet space - time to work on your own project or apply what you've learned
Summary
Join us on Friday 24 April, 10am–4pm, in the Orchard Hall at New Earswick Folk Hall for a brand new event that’s been set up to support organisers and activists across York.
Hodgepodge will build collective knowledge and create space to connect. It will provide a full day of learning, discussion and collaboration for people working to make York a more fair, just and sustainable place.
Are you a grassroots group or individual working hard to make change? Do you want to improve things but don’t know where to start? This is the event for you.
At a time of increased polarisation and continued austerity, there is a sense that resources and capacity are scarce. This creates competition and leads people into working in isolation. With this in mind, we want to provide a space for people to build relationships, shape their ideas in community and learn about what else is going on around them.
Agenda
10 am | Event begins
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10.30 am | Overview of the day
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11 am | Session 1: Cultivating Fertile Ground: Avoiding harmful practices when designing something new - by Anu Priya | |
12.15 pm | Lunch time | |
12.45 pm | Session 2: Making change with hope in difficult times - by Becca Bunce | |
2 pm | Break | |
2.15 pm | Open session. Chance to:
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3 pm | The group comes together again | |
3.10 pm | Ending conversation | |
3.30 pm | Time to mingle, with a view to ending at 4pm |
Discussions
"Cultivating Fertile Ground: Avoiding harmful practices when designing something new” - by Anu Priya
When we design something new (even when we’re tackling injustice) we can sometimes work in a way that mimics the systems around us, and brings in harmful practices. It can be difficult to pick apart our own thinking and understand how to truly begin working differently. Anu will discuss exactly this, shedding light on what potentially damaging behaviours to look out for, and how to avoid some predictable potholes on the journey to real change.
“Making change with hope in difficult times" - by Becca Bunce
The act of trying to make change is inherently hopeful. We believe something better can be created. Yet we often hear about people creating change experiencing burnout, conflict, cynicism and wanting to isolate themselves.
This session will look at how we think about hope and change-making. We will look for lessons from the past and current movements, explore how hope can thrive in collective spaces and how we as change-makers can ‘pass on the baton’ - encouraging future leaders through.
Who's Talking?
Anu Priya
Anu is a community builder, facilitator, trainer and consultant. Their work is rooted in lineages of deep connection to land, collective care, and resistance. This has been shaped by the lived experience of navigating the world as a Disabled queer migrant. They bring over 15 years of experience across the social change ecosystems in UK and India, in movements for justice and systemic change.
They work with organisations and groups to build anti-oppressive cultures, redistribute power and resources, and grow liberatory practices from the inside out. Their work sits at the intersection of radical imagination, grounded strategy, and the often unseen resistances between the world as it is and the liberatory futures we long for.
As a former fundraiser and leader in the ‘for social good’ sector, Anu has navigated (and pushed back against) its contradictions: extractive practices, white saviourism, and the harm perpetuated by institutions cloaked in good intentions. Anu is particularly passionate about nurturing the collective skills, capacities, and relationships we need to practice our way into liberatory futures.
Becca Bunce
Becca is an award-winning, law-changing advocate and strategist. The golden thread throughout her work has been guiding others through difficult moments to create meaningful change. Her work spans policy and campaigns, advocacy, design, funding and strategy.
Becca’s work has received many accolades. President Obama cited her work on violence against women and the rights of disabled people as an inspiration. Becca was also named one of the 150 leading women in the University of London's history.
Becca is currently a trustee of the IPPR think tank and the John Ellerman Foundation. She is also a strategy navigator for Blagrave Trust and a member of the Disability Justice Panel for Trust for London. She recently worked on the campaign to stop cuts to disability benefits.
From October 2014 until September 2019, Becca co-directed the award-winning, law-creating IC Change campaign. The campaign built a broad coalition of organisations and supporters, which successfully persuaded the UK government to ratify the Istanbul Convention on Violence Against Women.
Food
There will be refreshments available throughout the day and each attendee will be given a vegan lunch. Provider TBC.
Accessibility
We have thought carefully about how we can make Hodgepodge accessible. If we have missed something, or you have any questions, please email hello@yorktogether.org
BSL
We will have two BSL interpreters throughout the day.
Quiet Space
There will be a separate quiet space available if people need a break.
Car park
There's a free public car park as well as four designated Blue Badge Holder Bays just outside the main entrance.
Entrances
Whether you come by car, bus or from the local area, every entrance into the main body of the building is via either level access or a wide ramp. The Explore Library and Eatery can be accessed directly too, and they have had a ramp installed for the Discovery room so more people can access this community space.
Signage
The signage is designed to make it easier for people to find their way around the Folk Hall independently. They have colour coding to guide people to key services and rooms, and symbols to support people with difficulty reading written language.
Changing Places
The Changing Places facility is situated near reception on the ground floor. It’s available to anyone who needs it, any time they're are open, not just people coming in for our other services or activities. The room has an adjustable changing table, tracking hoist, toilet with support bars, movable screen, mirror, hooks for clothing and shelves for other personal items.
Platform lift
There's a platform lift which gives full access to the first floor mezzanine and public spaces, as well as Bramley meeting room, which is a couple of steps higher up.
Hearing loops
They have hearing induction loops available in all of the meeting spaces. Some of these are fixed, but where this isn’t possible they have portable hearing loops available in the spaces at all times.
How to get here
The New Earswick Folk Hall building is fully accessible and from the center of York, you can catch the following buses to right outside the front door:
number 1 bus
number 13 bus
There is also free parking onsite and across the road.
Read more about getting to the Folk Hall and accessibility, here.
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