It is with great excitement that we invite you to participate in the 2021 virtual LGBTQ* Jam.
The Jam is a powerful gathering of 20-30 dynamic and diverse individuals from LGBTQ* communities. We will dive into deep listening, sharing, self-discovery, systemic inquiry and community-building together, all through the virtual platform of Zoom.
For 30 years, YES! has brought together change-makers from around the world. This year, YES! facilitators from LGBTQ* communities are offering our 4th-ever Queer Jam — and our first virtual Jam on Zoom — focused on the issues and possibilities in our communities.
We’ll come together to share our challenges and breakthroughs; nurture ourselves; support and inspire each other; explore our identities; find intersections for future collaborations; build more resilient communities and networks; and more! In the midst of a global pandemic and global uprisings for racial justice, there is an ever-deeper calling and need for community and connection, and we are rising to the occasion, remembering that we are the ones we’ve been waiting for.
The Zoomy Jam will take place from Friday, March 5th to Friday, March 12th, 2021, with six sessions held on March 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, and 12 (no sessions on Sunday, March 7 and Wednesday, March 10). Each session will take place from 9am to 11/11:30am PST // 12pm to 2/2:30pm EST. Sessions will be two hours long with an optional 30 minute hangout afterward.
“This jam was super important for me confronting generational trauma as a queer person of color. You guys provided a space to be, all parts of myself. I needed to feel all parts of myself to move forward.”
– Magic (Eugene) Butler, 23, facilitator, Seeds of Peace, Syracuse, NY
What Is a Jam?
In music, a jam is a creative, live gathering of musicians who together, spontaneously create a new sound. Similar to that, YES! Jams are places where diverse leaders and visionaries bring together their passions, openness, and unique perspectives. In spontaneous connection, we weave layers of experience, wisdom, heart, and spirit to create some real magic. The Jam asks that all the players are present and ready to listen deeply to each other, and together, we create something greater than we as individuals can create alone.
A lot of movement trainings are about strategy, but leave out how to build healthy relationships. Other retreats focus on personal transformation but leave out systemic change. Some trainings work on leadership and power dynamics, but forget our souls.
YES! brings all three together — we give change-makers tools to build open-hearted, healthy communities where people can be real with each other. The Jam is not a conference, seminar or a typical meeting – it is something unique. It’s dedicated time to think and feel deeply about transformation in our world, in our communities, and in ourselves. There are in-depth conversations and there is a lot of fun, art, and creativity. There is dancing and embodiment, group explorations, and co-creations, as well as solo time and internal reflection.
“The flow felt like being carried on a magical roller coaster of joy, inspiration, and contraction; grief with some periods of rest…I have never been able to show this much of myself to a group without years of knowing them. I have never gotten to make my pain/experience of being in groups part of the group experience.”
– Becca Williams (she/they), 31, The Green Bookeeper, Oakland, CA
The Jam works on 3 levels:
On the personal level, the Jam is a place to share and reflect on your life journey and work in the world. It is a time to replenish, recharge and renew, and to gain specific and practical tools for self-care and personal sustainability. It is also an opportunity to grow in self-knowledge, to ask meaningful questions, to unlearn our fears and blocks, and to co-create new possibilities together.
On the interpersonal level, we come together to share our backgrounds, our stories and our struggles, to deepen in our understanding of each other and of ourselves. During the Jam, we hope to discover our commonalities and celebrate our differences. The intention is to build trust and friendship, in a meaningful way. This means challenging stereotypes, being present with each other, speaking truth, working through tough places and being open to giving and receiving support. We feel that the more authentic our relationships are, the stronger the foundations we will have for developing new collaborations and synergies within our movements and communities.
On the systemic level, the Jams give us time to become clearer about our vision and work in the world. We get a chance to link issues that aren’t commonly linked, to notice crucial intersection points, and get a clearer picture of the whole. We come together to learn from each other: about what is working, about what mistakes we have made, about where we need help. We have a chance to share tools and ideas to support one another. In turn, we hope this helps us to generate a body of collective wisdom for change. We also hope it will enable each participant to feel deepened in their capacity to affect meaningful positive change and carry their dreams forward.
The facilitation team has collectively co-organized and co-facilitated many different Jams and has been planning towards this Jam even before the pandemic (remember that, way back when?). We will be fully participating in the Jam, bringing our questions too. We don’t have all the answers (or maybe any of them!). What we do offer is a variety of ways for each of us to arrive at our own answers — and new questions. We’ll use a number of processes and tools and experiment with different ways of being together, all aimed at strengthening our self-awareness, our ability to communicate and work through conflicts, and our ability to vision and put these pieces together. We see the Jam as a co-learning journey of the collective experiences, questions, powers, and differences of everyone who attends.
What Do We Mean by LTBTQ*?
We use LGBTQ* with the star as an all-inclusive symbol for the queer and trans community, for all the different gender identities and expressions; it is meant to be inclusive and a way to include the ever-changing multiplicities of who we are. In other words, a few letters just can’t define you because of your completely unique *star* quality.
Why an LGBTQ* Jam?
The Jam will be time to indulge in the multi-faceted representation of queer experiences and people – a room full of people interested in exploring our identities, how we relate to each other across our differences, and what we can bring to the world from our amazing traditions of social change.
We want to explore the questions, visions and challenges in our communities and movements:
- What does being queer or trans mean to each of us? What have been each of our stories and journeys? How have we and do we love ourselves through it all?
- What are the connections and common ground within LGBTQ* communities and movements? Where do we struggle and feel divided, and how can we build bridges in those places?
- How do the complexities of our identities shape, empower, and complicate our inner worlds, our relationships, and our work in the world? How can we create spaces where the complexity of queerness is appreciated and serves as a doorway for personal growth and understanding?
- How do we grow from our intersectionality — our race, class, sexuality and gender – between each other and within ourselves?
- How do we integrate healing for all Queer and Trans people into our worlds?
- What do we even mean by ‘community’? What does beloved community look like with all of its power and healing? What do we do with experiences of exclusion and inclusion?
- What can different generations of queer and trans folks learn from each other?
- What magic do we as queer folks have for this world, at this moment in history? What changes do we want to see in the world?
Most importantly — What are your questions and ideas? What are you mobilized by, excited about, daunted by? Your questions are ALL welcome.
“This is the first time I have shown up in queer community and instantly felt like I belonged. This is the first time I have said so many of the things that I needed to say and felt not only witnessed, but with-nessed. Thank you for teaching me that vulnerability and strength are not contradictions.”
– Rachel Economy, 28, author, poet and founder, Index for the Next World, Berkeley, CA
Who Is This Jam For?
This Jam is focused on people who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, Agender, Two-Spirit, Pansexual, or * (we don’t have a letter yet, but we’re excited to see what you come up with).
YES! also welcomes many other kinds of diversity. We are looking for people who represent a range of:
- Leadership – from people on the ground to executive directors
- Years of experience — from just getting started to out before Stonewall
- Race and ethnicity
- Work in the world — artists, activists, scientists, funders, healers, behind-the-sceners, teachers, entrepreneurs, volunteers, cooks, parents – people change the world in many ways.
- Age – from youth to elders. The broader the range, the better!
“I love the intentionality of how the Q Jam is organized — merging the personal, interpersonal and systemic — it makes sense. That is where the transformative healing work happens. Thank you for providing me with a practical framework to share with my community back home.”
– Tracy Garcîa, 29, Program Coordinator, UC Santa Cruz Lionel Cantú Queer Center, Santa Cruz, CA
“Spending a week in intentional community with a diverse group of queer folks has been utterly transformative. This has given me a roadmap, not only to my own healing, but to collective liberation. I am bursting at the seams with love for this beautiful family and for the queer future that we represent. We are the future we need. Love, love, love.”
– Greg Barker, 28, facilitator, Seeds of Peace, Queens, NYC
Who Is organizing the Jam?
Roan Coughtry is a writer, facilitator, and healing artist based out of Atlanta, GA. With a background in somatics, social work and other healing modalities, their work weaves together social justice, ancestral healing, embodied practice, and the liberatory power of desire. For 15 years, Roan has facilitated healing spaces around the country on mental health, racial/gender/economic justice, sexual liberation, and collective healing and transformation. As a queer and trans sex educator, they center the importance of pleasure, desire, and reclamation of the body as essential practices toward healing and freedom. They’re a co-founder of the national Sexual Liberation Collective, and in 2019 they joined the Decolonize Race Project, an Indigenous-led effort to align humanity away from greed, extraction and disconnection to sacred connection. Roan works individually with clients as a coach and healing artist, and they work specifically with white folks around ancestral healing and co-creating white anti-racist culture and practices. They’re a student of herbalism, Scottish Gaelic, transformative justice, and Celtic mythology and folklore. You can find out more about their work at www.roancoughtry.com.
George Holmes is a Black, agender, pansexual, and polyamorous Atlanta, Georgia native. As a young adult they have journeyed around the country through various opportunities which has led them to much self-discovery and realization. As the student coordinator of the QTPOC Community Group at KSU and being a part of the LGBTQ+ Jam facilitant team, they’ve held space for queer folx to be themselves fully, discuss issues they face, and explore ways to heal together. Now, as a 28 year old, they have earned a degree in Mechatronics Engineering and plan to use these skills along with facilitation to enhance urban agriculture and energy resource practices to make them more accessible to empower communities in need. In their spare time they enjoy expressing themself by making music, being in nature, and connecting to their roots through deep practice. George values universal oneness and unconditional love. They are committed to justice for marginalized people and exploring ways to dismantle systematic oppression while establishing new inclusive systems of accountability, generosity, and love!
Jovan Julien, a child of Ayiti and Granmè Meliana, kote yo koute vwa la libète kap chante lan kè nou, currently makes home in Atlanta, Georgia while serving as the Alignment and Storytelling Integrator at YES!. In this as with all things, they are student of Caribbean Black radicals, their traditions and evolutions.
Shilpa Jain is currently rooting herself in Oakland/Berkeley, CA, where she serves as the Executive Director of YES!. YES! works with social changemakers at the meeting point of internal, interpersonal and systemic change, and aims to co-create thriving, just and balanced ways of life for all. Shilpa is committed to using very simple human technologies – like listening, speaking from the heart, slowing down, breathing, and connecting to nature – to support authentic relationships, a deeper sense of self, an essential shift in consciousness, and aligned living practices. She is passionate about dance and music, organic and natural farming, upcycling and zero waste living, asking appreciative questions and being in community. All of her work seeks to uncover ways for people to free themselves from dominating, soul-crushing institutions and to live in greater alignment with their hearts and deepest values, their local communities, and with nature.
Alia Lahlou grew up in Morocco and is constantly moving through different spaces looking to learn and unlearn, to grow, and to love. She has a master’s degree in international relations but has learned everything she knows outside the classroom. She is based in New York and works as a freelance facilitator and consultant engaging individuals and groups around the world to achieve more connection, honesty, and depth. Alia is passionate about conflict transformation, freedom and identity, honesty, and joy. She is currently focused on co-creating a path of joy and magic with her beloved, Alixa.
Will Grant’s work in LGBTQ* issues is at the intersection of community, spirituality, power, and memory. He started his journey as a founder of Q-Lab, a collective that explored issues of race, class, gender, and identity in the New Mexican LGBTQ* community for 7 years. He was mentored by the New Mexican Gay and Lesbian Spirituality Gathering and became a Fire Keeper for the community. The lessons there taught him how important historical memory is to a thriving community, so he became a queer history teacher. For the past 6 years he has worked with queer youth leadership and developed FAIR Classrooms, a project that teaches California high schools how to integrate LGBTQ* history into their curricula. His mainstream job is as an organizational development strategist working with social justice and education organizations. When he’s not being such serious activist, Will is a Radical Fairie named Shine, a Naraya dancer, a biker and a hiker.
Dates, Logistics, and Contribution
The Jam will take place on six sessions between March 5th-12th, 2021. The dates for these sessions will be March 5, 6, 8, 9, 11 and 12; March 7 and 10 will be reserved for rest, additional spontaneous interactions, reflection, integration, and self-care. We will meet for 2 hours each day from 9am to 11am PST (12pm to 2pm EST). Each day there will be an optional hangout from 11-11:30 pm PST (2-2:30 EST) — which we strongly encourage you to make time for. Please note that leaving as much spacious time in your schedule as possible for the week will make the Jam much more enjoyable. We recommend you set aside the entire 2.5 hours as well as scheduling as little as possible over the duration of the Jam, to really take in the full experience.
The tuition for the LGBTQ* Virtual Jam is offered on a sliding scale of $50-$350. We are working hard to make this event accessible to all people, regardless of ability to pay. If you have less access to money, feel free to pay at the low end of the scale, and if you have more access to money or resources and/or you have the financial backing of an organization or institution, we invite you into class solidarity, to consider paying more so that someone else can pay less.
If you pay more than the at-cost amount for tuition, that extra amount is tax-deductible. If we have a higher than expected request for financial aid, or fewer than expected full tuition participants, we will provide a waiting list and offer additional aid as funds become available.
Money should never be a reason to not apply: we will find a way to make it work for you and us. We also invite monthly payment plans.
Apply today! Please feel free to contact us at LGBTQJam@gmail.com if you have any queries.
Apply today!