Up next: mutual aid monday midsummer picnic
A song and story swap
Our 4th Mutual Aid Monday of 2025 is an outdoor picnic and conversation about how we continue to cultivate and deepen our commitment to Joy, Solidarity and Mutual Aid practices as we move into fall and winter. Mutual Aid is often, and rightly, focused on material needs. In the face of disaster, food, water, first aid, and other basic necessities are the priority.
For Vital Matters, because we believe in the power of art and creativity, is also important to consider the nonmaterial things that are vital not only for our survival in the present, but for the creation of new culture that we must build even in the midst of the rubble. Things are urgent, so, as Bayo Akomolafe says, we must slow down, long enough to tell a story... For this Mutual Aid Monday gatheirng, we will focus on how the stories we tell and songs we sing nourish us, and shape our being and doing in the world.
Be a part of the weaving, bring a story or a song to swap. Some Vital Matters artists will offer stories, poems, and songs that offer alternatives, undo old patterns, challenge us to think differently, provide nourishment and inspiration. Join us!
We will have:
- A potluck picnic--bring your favorite picnic food or beverage
- Eco-Somatic Grounding and Connecting to Earth and each other
- Stories and Songs with JACOB BUDENZ, SANAHARA AMA CHANDRA, VALESKA POPULOH, VERI TAS and more!
RSVP for exact location, and to stay tuned for more details: https://partiful.com/e/Es4chxe84YshE5ka8k9W
ABOUT US
Founded in 2021, in Baltimore, Maryland, Vital Matters is a hub and laboratory for cross-disciplinary events, artistic projects, and educational programs for all ages. We work with artists, activists and others to stage conversations, create rituals, and transform spaces and relationships among and between human and more-than-human communities. The climate crisis, environmental injustice, and systemic racism are part of the human inheritance that motivates us. Our focus and our reach are both local and global. Our primary tools for transformation are partnership, collaboration, joy, and creativity. Our methods draw from many sources, including experimental theatre, somatic movement education, and abolitionist approaches to social life and organziational leadership. We invite you to join us in shaping change, and imagining and creating a just and vital future for all.