The Cost of Building Alone – Why ACTionism Needs You

This weekend, I attended my first Ecstatic Dance evening in a disused church. A room full of people. Two and a half hours of dancing as I've never danced before – fully aware of those around me, but not looking at them. Just being held in community with them, sensing their presence as we moved through the space, each on our own journey. Very different journeys. I allowed my body to guide my moves. I came out of my head and felt my way through the evening with my feet, my heart, and the vibrations in my soul.

In our opening circle, I set an intention: creative clarity and freedom. And in that room, surrounded by strangers moving together and yet alone, I felt something shift.

You can be in a room full of strangers and still have a profound experience without saying a word. There's something so powerful about the presence of others – even when we don't know them. We know that we share the same desire for change, for connection, for a better world. That's enough.

I came out of that church realising something I needed to admit: I've been trying to build ACTionism alone. And you can't build community on individual effort. You need to dance in the presence of others. My dance experience might have felt individual – each of us on our own journey – but I am sure if you looked at the group as a whole, you could see the patterns. The weaving. The interconnectedness of the minds, bodies, and moves that took place. Creating a bigger ripple across the room.

That's collective action.

ACTionism is built on a simple truth – collective action creates change. Yet I've been holding something close for weeks now. Right now, I'm trying to nurture this movement alone. My Ecstatic Dance experience revealed the cost of that.

Here's what happened:

For now, over the last few months, much pf our small team has shifted its energy elsewhere. Gav and Heather are both refocusing their amazing energies on ReAction Collective. Heather said:

Olivia has found a fantastic role that utilises her passion and expertise with the intersection of citizen participation and technology. I understand completely. This work matters. And so does everyone being able to pay rent and feed their kids.

We'd had several funding bids in. None came through. Without funding to sustain this work, people need to put their energy where they can have both impact and joy – where they can survive.

I'm still here, feeling a little lost and quite lonely. And that's the irony: I'm becoming disconnected from the very thing we've been trying to build – connection.

This is the hard reality of grassroots work without resources.

Passionate people scatter because they need to eat.

Important projects pause because there's no funding.

Movements that create individual burnout will always collapse.

Help ACTionism start fresh in 2026

So, having taken a deep breath, I'm relaunching our Connection Calls on January 15th to rebuild this together. It's time to start 2026 as we mean to go on - in community and connection with each other.

If you believe ACTionism needs to exist right now and you have skills or ideas you'd like to share, please join this call: 12.30 - 1.30 on Jan 15th.

If you believe in the power of collective action, please join this connection call to help us practise it – contribute skills, ideas, funding, whatever you can offer.

Come because you've felt lost too.
Come because we share a desire for change and connection.
Come because ACTionism can only work if it's built by a collective of people.

Or just come to say hi, and tell me you'd like to fund our work! It's also a chance to meet others, also finding this both a challenging and rewarding space to exist in!