School's Out! #35 with Betsy Greer

GRAFTIVSM

For the 35th edition of School's Out! we had invited the godmother of Graftivsm Betsy Greer.

In a world dominated by globalisation, automation and consumption, there is real need for authenticity. Making something yourself, alone or as part of a community of makers even feels like an act of resistance. Knitting, crocheting, pottery or needlepoint becomes a willful retreat from the destructive and alienating forces of capitalist economy. Activism becomes craftivism. Betsy Greer is a maker, a speaker, a teacher and an activist who is the most eloquent representative of this movement and she will take us on her journey from the world to knitting needle and back again.

Prior to the School's Out! lecture we organised a workshop with Betsy Greer. In this workshop, the participants were challenged to discover their mantra for making, to use as a touchstone and reminder for the message your creative work has for both you and the world. We also learned to embroider as well, as we stitched our mantras onto vintage pieces of fabric.

Programme

Friday 29 September 2023
18:00 - 19:00 Doors open, drinks, bites and tunes
19:00 - 20:00 Talk by Betsy Greer + Q&A
20:00 - 20:30 Short film, selected by Jord den Hollander
20:30 - 22:00 Drinks, bites and tunes

Workshop - Friday 29 September 2023
13:00 - 13:30 Introduction round
13:30 - 14:00 Presentation by Betsy Greer
14:00 - 14:45 Conversation about craftivism and personal meaning
14:45 - 15:00 Break
15:00 - 17:00 Developing a mantra and embroidering it

About Betsy Greer
Since 2003, Betsy Greer has been writing and speaking about how craft, connection and personal agency are intertwined, specifically when related to activism, healing and finding meaning. Because she believes that what you make with your hands makes you, which transforms making into both a fulcrum and a crucible with which to create change on a variety of scales. With a background in DIY punk culture and sociology, she loves and is forever curious by how something so seemingly simple as creating from a place of connection can better connect people with themselves and the world around them.