shared dreaming sanctuaries
A quarterly co-imagination space to practice how our dreams and ideas can grow when we choose creativity that's collaborative, interdependent, and shaped by communal care.
THE SPRING GROUP IS OPEN
Wednesday, April 8 and April 22 | 6-8:00PM EST
6 spots available
what if shared dreaming could be a sanctuary carrying us away from "the constant individualism of creation" and toward
life-sustaining moments of creative exchange?
“the constant individualism of creation” comes from adrienne maree brown in her
book Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds.
the experience
Together, we’ll explore the practice of "imagination collaboration”¹ by asking "what if" questions in response to projects we feel ready to share and invite other imaginaries to dream around. The Shared Dreaming Sanctuaries will offer us connective moments beyond feedback and critique. It's a tender, generative way of being with each other’s ideas, designed to (re)build our trust with the process of sharing the creative dreams we long to make a reality and to help us weave new worlds together, in abundant relationship.
the people
This is for folks who are seeding dreams rooted in liberatory ways of being, sensing, making, and relating. Who carry the burning desire to experience moments of dreaming alongside and with one another. Who want to explore their ideas being met with communal care and collaborative imagination. Who feel seen and supported by the invitation to transform feedback and critique into "what if" portals and possibilities.
the cadence
The group experience: During each quarter, an intimate group of 6 people will gather for a two-part gathering on the first and third Wednesday of the selected month from 6-8:30PM EST.
The 1:1 experience: For folks who’ve participated in the group, private 90min sessions that build upon the first two sessions are available and begin the first full week of each month. Sessions are for two weeks and can be scheduled on Mondays 2-8:30PM EST or Wednesdays 6-8:30PM EST.
I personally know how the intimacy
of sharing our dreams and making our ideas public can be a place of vulnerability woven with feelings of fear.
This is especially true for those of us who are Black, queer, strategically marginalized, disabled, chronically ill, and have lived experiences of harm related to all things creative.²
To tend to this reality, we will always begin with connection building, listening to one another's experiences of sharing our creative dreams, and co-creating a "gestures of care" list we can extend to feel held and heard in the space.
There are two “gestures of care” I will automatically bring into every Shared Dreaming Sanctuaries space and they will need to be agreed upon before entering:
A shared understanding that intellectual citation is a form of care (as named by Tricia Hersey)³ and the co-imagination offered will be credited in the ways asked by each participant.
All creative dreams, ideas, and stories shared in the space, stays in the space. Any acts of co-option and theft will not be tolerated.
“when they are dreaming,
they are realising that in the dream-space things that do not otherwise exist are brought into being,
when she is dreaming, she is not dreaming of jobs on the commune, when they are dreaming, there is no clear point at which the dream ends, when he is dreaming, he is dreaming of how political practice without pleasure leaves some stuff out,"
— Lola Olufemi, Experiments in Imagining Otherwise
the group experience
This will be a two-part gathering for 6 folks who want to seed new connections with a dynamic group of people and exchange creative ideas as a form of resource sharing and communal care. I will be present as both guide and participant in the practice of co-imagination.
session 01:
who are you when
you are dreaming?
This initial session will be a soft entry for connection building. We'll make space to introduce ourselves, listen to one another's experiences of dreaming and dream-sharing, and co-create a "gestures of care" list we can extend to one another as a way to offer support and feel held throughout the shared dreaming process.
session 02:
what can become possible when you choose creativity that's collaborative, interdependent, and shaped by communal care?
Everyone will have dedicated time to share their emerging dreams/ideas/projects and engage in generous moments of creative exchange. We'll do this by practicing “imagination collaboration” and offering each other portal-opening "what if" questions in response to the specific parts of our work we want the group to dream around. You can bring any dream or emerging idea you've been pouring love into. The scale and depth is up to you.
solidarity pricing
The pricing tiers are borrowed from friend and creative co-conspirator, nènè myriam konate.
nurture
$133
Choose the nurture tier if most of the following applies to you:
your (embodied or relational) proximity to whiteness, your gender, your sexuality, your marital status, your citizenship, your health, and/or your level of education grant you structural advantages
you, your family, or your partner own the home you live in
you have investments, retirement accounts, or inherited money
you have access to family money and resources in times of need
you work part time or are unemployed by choice (including unemployment due to full-time school in a degree-earning program).
By choosing this option you are nurturing this practice, paying it forward, and pouring into scholarships.
sustain
$99
Choose the sustain tier if most of the following applies to you:
you have stable income and/or you share living expenses with your family or your partner
you can meet your basic needs (food, medication, housing, childcare, transportation, etc.)
you have access to health insurance and/or other benefits through your employer, your family, or your partner
you are able to miss work either for sickness, emergencies, or leisure and are still able to pay your bills
you are able to make regular payments towards your debt.
By choosing this option you are sustaining this practice.
honor
$66
Choose the honor tier if most of the following applies to you:
you are black and/or indigenous
you have been forced to leave your native land
you are disabled
you face structural barriers due to your sexual or gender identity
you are a survivor of sexual/domestic violence
you are single and/or solely responsible for your living expenses
you are a sex worker
you have been denied work due to your incarceration history
you have significant debt
you are supporting (chosen) family
you take risks to meet your basic needs (food, medication, housing, childcare, transportation, etc.)
By choosing this option you are naming how much you can pour into this practice while honoring your needs and inviting me to honor them with you.
join the group experience
"Imagination collaboration is inviting someone to be part of an idea or to create an idea with you."
— adrienne maree brown, from “on creating the future” in deem journal
the 1:1 experience
These two 1:1 sessions are for folks who’ve participated in the group experience and want to continue dreaming with me in an expanded, private sanctuary. Our time together includes additional support systems: recorded sessions, chats and voice notes in between sessions,
and curated multimodal resources.
session 03:
how can we breathe life into your what if’s and weave new worlds?
Carrying the “what if” possibilities that came through during the group experience into our 1:1, we’ll choose the most potent for our collaborative ideation process. This will be a playful, emergent exchange to really explore what can be birthed and built—from the imaginal to the materialized. Think collage boards, maps, and creative ecosystems.
session 04:
where will our shared dreaming carry you?
To continue making your creative dreams and ideas a reality, there must be a rhythm of practices, pleasures, resources, and spells. Our last session will be part ritual, part strategy as a way to create a care-filled infrastructure resonant enough to hold you through the next steps. What do you want to be practicing? How can you make the process pleasurable? What resources do you need to bring your dreams into being? What liberatory spells does your creative spirit feel compelled to cast as you devote yourself to the work?
solidarity pricing
The pricing tiers are borrowed from friend and creative co-conspirator, nènè myriam konate.
You can pay in full or choose my payment plan option: two bi-weekly payments, split evenly, and paid before each session begins.
nurture
$625
Choose the nurture tier if most of the following applies to you:
your (embodied or relational) proximity to whiteness, your gender, your sexuality, your marital status, your citizenship, your health, and/or your level of education grant you structural advantages
you, your family, or your partner own the home you live in
you have investments, retirement accounts, or inherited money
you have access to family money and resources in times of need
you work part time or are unemployed by choice (including unemployment due to full-time school in a degree-earning program).
By choosing this option you are nurturing this practice, paying it forward, and pouring into scholarships.
sustain
$475
Choose the sustain tier if most of the following applies to you:
you have stable income and/or you share living expenses with your family or your partner
you can meet your basic needs (food, medication, housing, childcare, transportation, etc.)
you have access to health insurance and/or other benefits through your employer, your family, or your partner
you are able to miss work either for sickness, emergencies, or leisure and are still able to pay your bills
you are able to make regular payments towards your debt.
By choosing this option you are sustaining this practice.
honor
$275
Choose the honor tier if most of the following applies to you:
you are black and/or indigenous
you have been forced to leave your native land
you are disabled
you face structural barriers due to your sexual or gender identity
you are a survivor of sexual/domestic violence
you are single and/or solely responsible for your living expenses
you are a sex worker
you have been denied work due to your incarceration history
you have significant debt
you are supporting (chosen) family
you take risks to meet your basic needs (food, medication, housing, childcare, transportation, etc.)
By choosing this option you are naming how much you can pour into this practice while honoring your needs and inviting me to honor them with you.
want to continue dreaming with
me in the 1:1 experience?
"How will we share our abundance? Be generous in how, what, and with whom we share, because in these moments of exchange, communities form."
— Paul Soulellis, from Urgentcraft: Radical Publishing
During Crisis
meet the dreamer
I believe we deserve the space to dream because dreaming is our birthright. and when we can dream alongside one another—with care, with love—we get closer and closer and closer to freedom.
Echoing and expanding upon Lola Olufemi’s experimental reflections on dreaming:
When I am dreaming, I am in beds and gardens surrendering to a trust that requires no external validation, when I am dreaming, I am breathing through the levity and gravity of longing, when I am dreaming,
I am bending worlds while remembering we actually need each other and we can’t do all of this alone, when I am dreaming, I am still the child carried by inherent creativity and a grandmother’s care, when I am dreaming, I am not dreaming of labor or full-time work weeks, when I am dreaming, I am dreaming of entire calendars made of ceremonies, when I am dreaming, possibility is always a promise, when I am dreaming, I am with kin and folk rehearsing liberatory ways of being, when I am dreaming, the creative act of dreaming is communal, shared, and feels something like a sanctuary.
denise shanté brown
MULTIDIMENSIONAL DESIGNER
CREATIVE CO-CONSPIRATOR
INTUITIVE WRITER
are you a dreamer too?
Frequently Asked Questions
What access supports will be available?
Every gathering will have scheduled breaks, auto-captioning via Zoom, co-generated “gestures of care,” and you’re welcome to have camera on/off as desired. Creative exchange is at the center, requiring engagement. This can happen through voice and/or chatbox.
Are sessions recorded?
With the intimacy of creative dreams and ideas being shared, sessions will not be recorded for the group experiences. The 1:1 experiences include recordings of our private sessions.
How do I pay?
After completing the registration form, you will be emailed a payment link to save your seat and pay via Venmo, CashApp (these two preferred) or Stripe.
Do you offer refunds?
There are no refunds for this experience.
What’s your rescheduling policy?
For the 1:1 experience, when life and body disruptions happen, you can reschedule within the same week. I’m not available on weekends and dates will be chosen based on availability.
What if I still have clarifying questions?
I’d love to hear from you! Send me an email at design@deniseshantebrown.com
what visions will you voluntarily indulge?
notes
¹ In a conversation with deem journal on “creating the future” adrienne maree brown describes “imagination collaboration” as inviting someone to be part of an idea or to create an idea with you.
² In the piece on Communal Dreaming, Annika Hansteen-Izora expands upon their learnings from Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha about the vulnerabilities and fears related to communal care and dream-sharing.
³ Tricia Hersey names the importance of citing our inspirations and influences within the substack publication Intellectual citation as care.