Sis, U Belong Here
a creative gathering & spacemaking for Black Women
Curated by: veronica precious bohanan
5th installment of this 6-part series: June 2, 2018

Sis, U Belong Here (UBH) is a healing and soul-vibes gathering for Black Women. Sis, you’re invited to go beyond the surface to engage in a purpose-filled, collaborative, and creative process of BECOMING, BELONGING, and BEING visible. You are invited to come take up space! For this spring installment, we’re focusing on, “blooming where we’re planted.” What are our dreams and how do we keep our dreams alive & active?

Sis, you are more than what is on the surface, and during UBH we’ll delve deep into your truths.

A combination of small/large group interactive activities, creative expression & the arts will be used to:
• create, fill and hold space;
• holistically engage our emotions and fully express ourselves;
• build our capacity for resistance, joy and pleasure;
• promote connection and collaboration;
• dismantle shame, guilt, indecisiveness and isolation;
• support the strength and power of vulnerability;
• move beyond merely sustaining ourselves, to having a healthy sense of belonging;
• remind us of our self-worth;
• strengthen our knowingness that we’re the experts of our own experience!

Creative expression will include: breathing, embodiment, movement, creative writing, storytelling, art-making and visualization.

UBH, affords you an opportunity to reflect & recharge yourself.

UBH, centers personahood & expression, while nurturing belonging.

UBH, is highly engaging & experiential.

To this end, we’ll gather as a declaration that we are meant to thrive and to be here. right here. right now.

U are encouraged to:
• show-up authentically
• remove your shoes upon entry
• wear comfortable light-colored clothes
• bring something meaningfulness to put on the altar
• bring a pillow, yoga mat, blanket to sit comfortably on the floor (chairs will also be available)
• bring a bottle of water

Registration: $25 per gathering (snacks, supplies & materials included)
If you register by March 5, registration is $20
Registration CLOSES: March 26

Age: 18+

Intended participants: Black women
Bi-monthly: 1st Saturday, every other month
Remaining Dates: June 2, August 4

Time: 10am-2pm (Please be punctual. We’ll honor time.)

veronica precious bohanan

i am a “space-maker,” artist, writer, cultural worker, youth development & pedagogy of the oppressed practitioner, mental health counselor/advocate, and an art therapist. my work centers Black girls and women…our humanity, liberation and mental & emotional health. for twenty-years, and in various capacities, i’ve been space-making, curating empowerment experiences and centering Black girls and women in my community-based work. my work also centers: Black girls and women being the experts of our own lives, the decolonization of self-care, and mental health care as a right for all, not a luxury for some. as an art therapist, i am grounded in a knowing that the creative process can be used to heal, examine, expose, express and expand our human and wellness capacity. art therapy, as a clinical OR non-clinical intervention, is a behavioral health (therapy, prevention, lifestyle management, wellness and rehabilitation), social action and assessment tool that allows for in-depth exploration and motivation. art therapy can include, yet far exceeds, words and verbal reasoning. my artist and therapist selves are rooted in an integrated arts approach. i am most drawn to collage mixed-media, photography and printmaking in the visual arts; however, i am equally vested in expressive writing, dance & movement, theatre & drama and singing.

$20.00 – $25.00

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Tags: Chicago, Links Hall, Sis, U Belong Here: A Gathering for Black Women, veronica precious bohanan, West Town