Organising ABUELOS
2024

Organising ABUELOS

How do we prepare for a community space in which culture, radical hospitality and architecture are crafted to meet the moment?

In 2024, the MAIA team are making a fundamental shift to step into the next stages of making transformative cultural infrastructure tangible. We’re working on a spatial justice proposal to move land from a private commodity into a community entity, held in perpetuity for Black thrivance.

Through this platform, we will create ABUELOS, a cultural centre with accommodation, as a site of radical hospitality and artistry. This is not speculative. Working closely with visionary and brilliant collaborators, from our community, to the design team, to artists-in-residence, to legal, finance and governance partners, we are excitedly embarking on the next phase of the journey to materialise this space and are looking for co-conspirators to organise with.

Organising ABUELOS is a programme running 23-26 October 2024, in which we invite our community, peers and those we have yet to meet, into a collective enquiry that informs how ABUELOS becomes real.

If you want to read more about some of ABUELOS' structural layers, what we're organising around and what is shaping the curation of this programme, please check out our Medium.

YARD will be open 11am - 8pm, every day 23rd - 25th October. And on Sat 26th, we’ll gather at Signing Tree Venue to organise ABUELOS.

So, who’s ready to build?

BROWSE THE PROGRAMME

Questions about Access?

Click here to find accessibility information about our venue - Yard

Saturday's Programme is happening at The Signing Tree.

The Signing Tree Venue has step-free access throughout

The venue has accessible bathrooms including grab rails (but not hoists)

We will have a dedicated quiet space and ear defenders

All workshops & talks will be BSL interpreted, as will all of our weekday evening events. Unfortunately we haven't been able to offer BSL at Art School this time - but we have plans to run one in the near future.

Most events will be hybrid (See programme for details). All hybrid events will have live captioning.

Please do not attend if you have any cold/flu like symptoms. We encourage you to engage virtually.

Masks & LFT tests will be provided at the entrance.

We recognise and extend gratitude that this work is being generously uplifted by folks in so many ways, including by people unable to attend these events. If you are looking to support the project with skills, resources or advocacy, please email Amahra Spence at as@maiagroup.co. If you are curious and want to know more about ABUELOS, please email Mariam Aslam at ma@maiagroup.co.