Are you waiting for a sign to reclaim some of your agency and to put a metaphorical finger up to being told how to spend your time and what to value?
ACTionism is about creating the conditions to help people move from caring to action - this is the story of what that actually means! #CitizenFriday
This is that sign!
Citizen Friday is the day formerly known as Black Friday, reimagined as a ritual that celebrates connection, not consumption.
So, before we carry on - Happy #CitizenFriday. This might feel like an odd greeting, but it's become part of our ritual. It's a way of grounding ourselves, connecting with each other, and giving ourselves a nudge (most of us still need one) to spend part of each Friday in a way the system we're part of doesn't celebrate: in connection with others, with nature, and with what it means to be human.
New gatherings are appearing every day
So if you are waiting for a nudge to reclaim some of your agency and to put a metaphorical finger up to being told how to spend your time and what to value then consider us the nudgers!
It's been a busy week of plotting. Within seven days of putting out the invitation, Citizen Friday has crossed borders. Two new pins went on the map today: Dundee and Minsk, Belarus. They're two places with almost nothing in common, institutionally or politically. We haven't done any targeting. We simply invited people to take part, and they're coming, with all sorts of ideas.
Need a reminder of what #CitizenFriday is all about?
Speaking of putting ourselves out there, we've had a go at explaining Citizen Friday on camera (not my first love, as I'm better at telling other people how to do it!). But tbh, #CitizenFriday will mean something different to everyone who comes across it, so we'd rather hear it from you. What does #CitizenFriday mean to you? Send us your own videos and we'll mash them up into a collective call to action.
Remember, the prompt is to share, repair or get out into the fresh air, but there are no rules. Find the øthers, or just find a moment.
Repair instead of buying: mend something yourself, or even tend the soil.
> Share instead of scrolling: a tool, a skill, an hour, a lift or a meal.
> Get outside instead of getting a parcel: even a ten-minute walk with a friend counts.
How to get involved
Check the map for something happening near you.
If there's nothing nearby, get organising and add your own pin. it only takes two to citizen
You don't need to be a particular type of person to host a gathering. You don't need experience, a budget, a plan, or anyone's permission.
Fancy being a local host for 27th November? Add yourself to the map. We'll list your name, roughly where you are, and how people can find you.
Sign up to host a gathering - Here
If you're stuck for ideas: repair something, share something, get outside. That's the whole recipe. Everything else is up to you.
Where we need your help this week
Your "What #CitizenFriday means to me" clips. Send us a short video and we'll add it to the mash-up. Better still, if you're an Instagram native who loves hanging out there, you're very welcome to take over our account.
A UGC video guide one pager for hosts. We're looking for someone to help write a one-page guide for #CitizenFriday hosts, covering the best ways to capture video on the day and some questions they can ask people. We'd love hosts to share their footage on the day, and we hope to turn it into a mash-up film in future.
Educators Assemble call (date TBC) When we shared our plan to get more than 1,000 events pinned on the map, it turned out quite a few of you were keen to help bring #CitizenFriday into schools and other education settings. So we're getting on with planning an education sector call. Details to follow, but let us know if you'd like to be notified when we have a date.
And finally: a moment of pure joy
In the spirit of Citizen Friday, I also want to share a moment of pure joy from this week. There's something a few of us kept talking about (and dreaming of) for ages, and Olivia decided to stop waiting and just go for it. Her attitude was simple: what's the worst that can happen? Let's just try!
And it worked. One of mine and Olivia's favourite artists (details hush hush atm) has said they'll try to write a song about #CitizenFriday. You should have seen our faces!
As always, we're better when we work on these things together and tap into our collective intelligence, so please do drop me a message.
Tamasine (and Gav and Olivia)
