We’re looking forward to next Saturday’s online event, Understanding the Contemporary Mad Movements. The event will be hosted by myself and Matt Bodett of the Center for Mad Culture in Chicago; it will feature a presentation by our friend and fellow mad activist Matthew Jackman
followed by a panel discussion with guests from around the world.
I often find myself pondering the meanings of particular words, and in this case my curiosity has been snagged on the word “understanding.” This word carries a weight of expectation when it is defined as comprehension, as grasping the full sense of something or possessing significant knowledge about a subject.
Within the scope of this ninety-minute event, of course, we will cover only the tiniest sliver of our expansive topic. The event is intended to be an exploration, and by no means a definitive summary or positional platform. We offer it as a reflective space, an invitation to learn from Matthew’s PhD research and to hear from a few friends and colleagues whose work may contribute thoughtful context.
There is another meaning to the word understanding, when used to suggest an attitude or approach of kindness and tolerance. We offer and invite understanding among all those who identify themselves within the mad movements around the world and all those who partake in our events.
We – the Center for Mad Culture and the Centre for Mad Culture UK - hope to host more of these types of collaborative events in the future, creating spaces for these essential conversations among mad and allied stakeholders. However, as small, non-profit projects run by volunteers we are limited in capacity.
Therefore we are taking the opportunity with this event to launch the Mad Culture Solidarity Fund. With an initial fundraising goal of £2000, we ask you to give whatever you can, if you can, and to share this initiative with others in your own networks. We will ringfence any income from this fund to pay for creative projects that promote mad-cultural and cross-cultural collaboration, among the mad community throughout the world.
Understanding the Contemporary Mad Movements will take place online on Saturday 5 September from 13:00 to 14:30 (BST). Get tickets here.
The Mad Culture Solidarity Fund is now open. Donate here.
This is very cool, thank you for organizing! 💜 I was wondering if a recording of the event will be available at some point, as a form of asynchronous access honoring crip time