IMMEDIATE Fashion School seeks collaborators for Summer 2019 season of artistic research.  

 

IMMEDIATE Fashion School is a rolling & roaming collective of everyday creatives who are interested in interacting with fashion* via study, art, performance and play. We hold critical theory reading  & discussion sessions, skill-share workshops, collaborative art-making sessions, lectures and exhibitions.

 

The Summer 2019 iteration of IMMEDIATE Fashion School will take place in Austin, TX during the month of June and will focus on storytelling and its relationship to activism in the realms of gender and race.** We’ll begin by reading about and discussing these two intertwined realms through the lens of fashion & cultural studies, while also considering intersectional views, politics, pop culture and activism. We’ll examine activism itself from micro to macro perspectives, and make connections to creative activism via the art of storytelling and its diversity of expressions. Special emphasis will be placed on lost, erased and untold stories of the past; as well as experiments in narrative survival into the future. Throughout it all, we will play, create and become, together.

 

*Our definition of fashion expands outward to include not just clothing and dress, but the unique nowness of appearing & being with others. Dominant exchanges in fashion are centered around industry, commerce and products; we give energy & attention to fashionable exchanges between people.  Ultimately, we want to contribute to a fashion of the future that is more equitable and empowering for all fashion’s players.

 

**IMMEDIATE Fashion School strives to live and lead as a feminist and anti-racist collective, and seeks to open a serious yet playful space where defaults can be challenged and assumptions can be tested through critique, discussion, creativity and togetherness. We start with the understanding that sexism and racism are thoroughly embedded in the structures of our society -- that all white people are conditioned to be racist and all cis people, including women, are conditioned to be sexist. This conditioning is subtle and widespread, but it is not a static situation. Individuals who do not consent to their racism and sexism do and must continually work to reveal and remove these lifelong conditions from their being.

 

Leaders needed!

 

Discussion Leaders

Discussion leaders read and familiarize themselves with all the materials on the syllabus for a particular topic and are encouraged to share their thoughts and ideas with the group throughout the conversation. They are not expected to lecture or be experts on the topics discussed; rather, the discussion leaders should be passionate about the topics and have experience that informs their passion. Most importantly, discussion leaders need to be able to guide the conversation amongst participants with compassion and tact. For instance, making sure the discussion is not dominated by any one person, or getting too off topic. There are two discussion leaders assigned to each topic who collaborate with each other on all of the following tasks:

 

• Contribute readings & media to the open syllabus for a selected topic. The syllabus for each discussion night is a cooperative effort amongst the discussion leaders and the participants. To find focus, we start with a basic reading list from current thinkers in fashion studies & cultural studies, but purposefully leave room for the content to be shaped by the leaders & participants themselves.  Anyone can add suggested reading material to the syllabus or share videos, essays, tweets, articles, blog posts, comics, photography, etc. etc.

• Co-facilitate a 2 hour in-person discussion amongst up to 15 participants for selected topic, including bringing questions & prompts for the group.

• Co-create & facilitate a playful 30 minute activity for the group to take place directly after or before the discussion.  This activity or game should have a direct or tangential connection to the overall topic and/or ideas presented in the syllabus.

 

Discussion Topics:

• Fashion & Race

• Fashion & Gender

• Activism - Creativity from Micro to Macro

• Storytelling - Lost & Found Potentialities

 

Pay rate - $150 per topic per leader + 25% discount on tickets for any IMMEDIATE Fashion School event during the Summer 2019 season.

 

If you would like to be a discussion leader, please email and let us know what topic you would like to lead and why.  Please also let us know about your experience and what skills you possess that would make you a great discussion leader.  We are particularly interested in collaborating with leaders of Color as well as queer, trans and nonbinary leaders.

immediate.fashion.school@gmail.com

 

Skill-share & Collaborative Art Workshop Leaders

Do you have a creative skill to share or an idea for a collaborative group art project relevant to our theme this season?  Should we learn how to write ekphrastic poetry? Create a polaroid time capsule and/or a digital time capsule? Make a zine with stories about our favorite clothes? Story tell with visible mending? Spin a strategic myth into the future? Improvise a narrative dance in a public location? Make a garment using the exquisite corpse technique? We are currently in brainstorming mode for our creative workshops and would love to hear your ideas/input.  We are looking to create about 4 workshops (3 hours each) and have budget to pay workshops leaders for their time and provide supplies for the workshops. Send us a proposal if you would like to lead or collaborate on a workshop:  immediate.fashion.school@gmail.com