Betsey Greer, who coined the term Craftivism, defined it as “a way of looking at life where voicing opinions through creativity makes your voice stronger, your compassion deeper & your quest for justice more infinite.”
In the months leading up to the 2022 municipal elections, Kamloops Food Policy Council (KFPC) mobilized a group of community members to research and write in-depth analysis of seven policy topics. This ‘Food and the City’ initiative was intended both to engage the community and also empower us to participate in shaping the election dialog.
Oddly enough, this is where my journey into craftivism began.
Food and the City flyers
The Food and the City initiative was very research and time intensive, making it less inclusive. So KFPC was looking for a way to make participation more accessible.
According to Ali MacBoudreau, kitchen coordinator for The Stir food hub, the idea was simple: bring volunteers together to create flyers, while building awareness of the Food and the City initiative.
The result bordered on magic.
The flyer-making event was hosted in September, 2022 at The Stirfront in collaboration with Kamloops Art Gallery, which supplied the Art Cart and the talented instructor Jyelle Vogel.
It brought together diverse participants across the age spectrum to discuss important issues facing the community, but in a low stress forum where they could actively take part in creating that change.
Zine Making: Building Grassroots Community Leadership for Community Change
When the annual general meeting for KFPC rolled around, it had been nearly a year since the flyer-making event, and yet that one afternoon of arts and crafts was still very fresh in participants’ minds.
“That was when we realized how powerful the act of making art could be,” says Jess Payette, the Stirfront coordinator for KFPC.
They knew they had to do it again.
Inspired by the creations of the Teen Writing Circle, hosted by Kamloops Art Gallery and the Thompson-Nicola Regional District library, the Stir decided to host an all-ages zine making workshop in November.
A zine is a non-commercial, usually handmade publication created to share ideas and messages. Removed from the restrictions of commercial publishing, zines can take many forms. Existing somewhere in the grey area between writing and art, they are a tool of self-expression that empowers anyone to share the contents of their hearts and minds.
Embracing expression for expression’s sake gives people power and agency, Lindsey Harris KFPC policy implementation lead said, adding it is anti-capitalist to gather and make art. Before we get started she read us a passage from My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Manekem.
“Culture is how our bodies retain and reenact history… Culture matters deeply to human bodies because [it] creates a sense of belonging— and belonging makes our bodies feel safe. More than almost anything else, we humans want to belong… If enough people do the same thing over and over, or if they share something with each other enough times, eventually it becomes culture.”
Learning to upcycle vintage fabrics into totes
Cohosted as a fundraiser by The Stir and Kamloops Makerspace, Amanada Karauca and yours truly, the tote-making event aimed to help other build useful and eco-friendly skills as well as building a culture of resilience, sharing and camaraderie. This time, instead of paper we pulled out our sewing machines.
In the modern world, with prices rising and chaos seemingly waiting around every corner, the principles of upcycling and mutual aid are more important than ever. We must be careful with the resources we have, both physical and cultural.
As the workshop date approached the insidious fear of failure crept in. What if we forgot something important in our planning? What if I’m a bad teacher? What if everyone has an awful time? But then I remembered the paradigm of practice and some sage advice from Brandi Schier, CEO of Discourse Community Publishing: Everything requires practice. Whether that be a physical skill like sewing, or the more abstract skills like being a good teacher. Even the fear of failure itself can be overcome by practice.
In the end we had a blast, each of our sewists left with new skills and a unique creation. I was left wondering what I was so nervous about in the first place. I may not be the greatest teacher or seamstress out there, but just like our novices I can never get better unless I put my skills to use. And anyways that’s why seam rippers exist.
More to come
The people have spoken and they want more! Look out for more opportunities to join in the Craftivism community next year and help shape the activities being planned by taking this survey.
KFPC and the Makerspace are certainly not the only organizations around that are creating opportunities for Craftivism. We would love to hear your stories of arts and crafts in the community and how you have been impacted.
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