UNION 23 Weekend 3 in Sunderland and Newcastle

For our third UNION 23 weekend we headed to the North East, where we were based in Sunderland but also working in Newcastle. Reflecting on the theme from the second weekend in Hull – DIY Activism: From Anger into Action the NE-based participants Corinne Kilvington, Sue Loughlin, John McMahon and Pauline Heath along with the UNION team co-created a weekend based on Sustainability for our projects and ourselves.

Day 1

We landed in Sunderland with tea from Angelo’s Ristorante at Theatre Space North East before heading out to the Late Shows in the Ouseburn area of Newcastle.

Great Food, Art, Creativity, Music, Dancing and more! An exciting first evening!

Day 2

Saturday was spent at Newbridge Project in Newcastle.

We began with a check in (in the sun!) – What’s still alive for you from the last weekend? exploring ‘From Anger to Action‘ to ‘Sustainability for our projects and ourselves’ and asking ‘Where is your balance between protest and prefiguration?’

 

The second part of the morning looked into ‘Building Sustainable Projects’

• Thinking back to your Hull visits & New Bridge – what did you learn about sustainability?
• Story telling: thinking of robust on-going projects you’ve come into contact with. Tell a story about the life of the project as you know it. 
• Harvesting: 
  • Identify a metaphor for sustainability
  • What helps projects thrive?

For our afternoon activities, the team did a fab job of connecting the group with 4 amazing speakers for a panel session.

This featured:

• Susanne Burns
• Dan Russell 
• Julie Ward 
• Adam Cooper

Splitting off into groups we discussed ‘How to integrate this into your own practice and projects?’

Heading back to Sunderland in the evening, we had a lovely tea at Yuvraaj Restaurant

Day 3

A full and reflective day at Theatre Space North East.

We began by looking into the coaching aspect of UNION 23 with some exercises (Spatial Goals NLP exercise) and discussed our Coaching Agreement.

Before heading to Pop Recs for lunch we spend some time planning for our summer break, asking ourselves what we would like to play/experiment/learn? And looking into mutual support and possible collaborative projects during this time.

After lunch was a time to focus on our Health & Wellbeing. Anisa and Sara led activities in:

• Strategies for Self-care
  • Mindfulness 
  • Yoga
  • Qi gong
  • Mindful movement
• Five ways to wellbeing: connect, notice & focus down, be active, give, keep learning
• Collective self-care

Another busy and reflective weekend!

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Also, we met this kitten…