How do we live as artists with chronic pain, illness and post-traumatic stress?  How can we be empowered to create our lives through sickness? “Creating through Sickness” will pair Theater of the Oppressed exercises and concrete skill-sharing to embody various aspects of ongoing healing and survival, while deepening a political lens on our day to day experience as sick people.

Participants will learn how to give and receive both 'aware' attention and active listening to assist them and others in striving to develop their full potential. This will consist of teaching non-judgemental and non-advice giving listening skills. It will also include practicing the skills with each other as each individual attempts a new or difficult skill set. 

Writing love letters to ourselves allows us to create safer spaces to be honest and vulnerable in our artistic practice - and to offer ourselves love, care and support. Artists will learn some of the science behind positive self-talk and gain skills for writing their love letters. The workshop will have space for self-reflection and boundaries sharing to help foster community care along with self-care. This workshop centers and uplifts LGBTQ Indigenous artists and artists of color - artists who are frequently marginalized and/or exoticized in their personal and artistic lives.

Engagement with youth is crucial to the continuation of radical arts programming, but artists often shy away from working with youth due to barriers they consider out of their control. Workshop participants will walk away with a deeper understanding of how to establish effective creative partnerships with youth across social and economic barriers. Through a combination of materials and philosophies, participants will be given tools for deep and effective engagement with youth artists and audiences.

Let's be real: Tax law is written, on the whole, to uphold the white patriarchy, and its benefits are overwhelmingly concentrated away from marginalized communities. Artists and other creative professionals, in particular, are underserved by this system. Until we can radically remake our economy, we've got to help each other navigate it.

Led by the cabaret's own Scott Artley and taught through the lens of queer politics, this workshop aims to introduce creative queers (& LGBTQ+ allies) to:

+ Filing taxes as a creative professional

What’s a zine? Learn about this popular format of self-published, easily reproduced, self-expression and how it can benefit your artistic practice, both personally and publicly. Your voice matters, and zines are a powerful way to communicate the ideas you’re passionate about, no permission needed. Discover bookmaking techniques and discuss ways to incorporate zines into your next exhibition or event. Get ready to make, print, and share!

How to Make a Living as a Freelancer or Solo Entreprenuer: Really for Real is a straight talking but compassionate guide to building a career out of freelance work or solo entrepreneurship. We'll go from the decision to create such a career to the steps you can take to get your practice on it's feet to how to actually run and maintain a busy, stressful, but incredibly fulfilling career.

When applying for grant funding, or even just trying to make a budget for an artistic project, how do you predict what you need? How much should you get paid? How much can you promise to collaborators? What about supplies and space and snacks and everything else? This workshop will help you better understand artistic dollars - what you need them for, what you may not realize you could use them for, and how to calculate and estimate and cover all the bases.