Cultivating JOY

Writing~Social Justice

Cultivating JOY was my Far South Border North Social Justice and Community Engagement campaign to empower writers and audiences as they explore their relationships with Nature. The FREE writing workshops, readings, and play performances were open to all and were centered in the communities of Skyline Hills/Paradise Hills, National City, and Southeast San Diego.

Cultivating JOY Play

Produced by Asian Story Theater

with Soundscape and Puppets by ARTS

Content Advisory: Grief, death, implied suicide.

Performance Dates

Partner	Map link	Date	Time
Valencia Park/Malcolm X Library	5148 Market Street, San Diego, CA 92114	Sunday, April 14, 2024	3PM
ARTS	200 E. 12th Street, National City, CA 91950	Friday, April 19, 2024	7PM
Skyline Hills Library	7900 Paradise Valley Road, San Diego, CA 92139	Saturday, April 27, 2024	2PM

Press/Blog Post

Inquirer 4/10/2024 “A play nurtured by nature aims to help audiences heal”

https://www.areasontosurvive.org/the-state-of-arts/cultivating-joy-internship

Mental Health and Emergency Resources

Call 211 or visit https://www.211.org/get-help/mental-health for Mental Health Resources

Dial 988 or 1-800-273-8255 for the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

San Diego Access and Crisis Line: 1.888.724.7240 – Free suicide prevention/intervention hotline in San Diego County

Veterans Crisis Line: call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) and press 1; or text 838255

Crisis Text Line: text the word ‘Home’ to 741-741

The Trevor Lifeline for LGBTQ Youth: call 1-866-488-7386

The Trans Lifeline: call 1-877-565-8860

2024

Writing Workshops

with Thelma Virata de Castro

in partnership with

FREE writing workshops were open to writers age 16+ for participants with any experience level and working in any genre. We looked to Nature to guide our process and were inspired by ideas from Ross Gay’s Inciting Joy and adrienne maree brown’s Emergent Strategy. We set goals, shared supportive feedback, and built a sustainable writing practice through autonomy and accountability as we built community. Participants came for each class or droped in as they were able. We celebrated our work in a public reading at our final class.

FAQ

What kind of writers participated? Designed for ages 16+. Any genre, any level of experience.

What did we do in each class? Creativity exercises, writing prompts, feedback sharing using the Liz Lerman Critical Response Process, goal setting

Did folks have to write about Nature or JOY? Nature and JOY guided our process, but folks were free to develop whatever project they wished.

Do folks have to attend every class? There were 3 different workshops (Skyline Hills Library, National City Public Library, and Valencia Park/Malcolm X Library). Preferably, folks would attend all the classes at a site and share their work at the public reading. However, folks were welcome to drop in whenever they could and/or attend at multiple sites.

Community Resources

Click on the graphics below for links to these wonderful organizations whose support and inspiration made Cultivating JOY possible.

Thanks to Paradise Gardeners for hosting Creative Nature Journaling

Seed Paper Instructions

This activity was supported through Far South/Border North, a California Creative Corps program implemented by the City of San Diego in partnership with Catalyst of San Diego & Imperial Counties, the San Diego Regional Arts and Culture Coalition, and the San Diego Foundation. It was funded, in part, by the California Arts Council, a State Agency, with additional support from The Conrad Prebys Foundation.