microTAIGA - a online version of TAIGA
TAIGA is a Transformational Leadership Program for women and queer folks working in arts and culture in Eastern Europe and Baltics; a holistic education and empowerment program rooted in deep longing for a safe space for learning transformational and non-patriarchal ways of working, leading and being together.
The first pilot microTAIGA gathered eight kickass female cultural practitioners from Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.
microTAIGA cycle consists of 6 workshops (Opening, Willow, Moss, Elm, Maple, Closing) bringing participants together every second week; individual learning between the workshops; peer-to-peer sessions, mentoring sessions, two Fireside Chats with women working in the sector, and an evolving toolkit of transformational leadership practices in the cultural sector co-created with the participants of the program.
During the program, participants have space to practice new approaches - develop small change initiatives in their organisations, start new projects that are centered on earth-care, human-care, and fair share of resources, get support and guidance from one another and the program facilitators.
microTAIGA was possible thanks to the generous support of Echoing Green and Guerilla Foundation.
microTAIGA Participants
Testimonials
“MicroTAIGA is very inspiring and safe space pushing me to develop and expand myself. Exchanging experience in an original way, using female ways of expression makes me reflect my way of thinking. Those meetings make me to trust more in my instinct and beliefs!”
“The spaces they have facilitated have been created and planned very thoroughly from the beginning to the end, creating a safe container and holding space for deeper sharing and experiences to surface up. The workshops welcome true selves of the participants. Here, it is okay to feel and be the way I am at that moment. I have received a versatile set of tools and methods, as well as sharp insights and lessons to share an array of topics. It’s touching delicate subjects in a very supportive way, gently guiding to empowering. The workshops gave me a sense of sisterhood. I finally connected with, and felt belonging in my community. The workshops therefore gave me a sense of peace, and opened me for showing more sides of my authentic self. The process of collective self-care helped me realize that I’m stronger than I thought. It Is safe to be vulnerable here, and I felt a huge power in it. ”
The four core areas and learning modules are:
Self- and community care
Focused on exploring interdependence with others (humans and more-than-humans); reflecting on what care means and looks like; acquire tools for self- and community care.
Activism
Focused on exploring social power structures with an intersectional lens; reflecting on how we are all part of the problem and part of the solution; and acquiring tools and practices for being proactive and reactive in face of injustices.
Human and Planet-Centred
Entrepreneurship
Focused on exploring different systems of economic organisation; reflecting on how all our practices are connected with other areas of work and the world; acquiring tools and ideas for creating organisational structures that challenge capitalism and ideate new ways and experiments.
Leadership
Focused on exploring different approaches in self- and community leadership; empowering oneself and one another; acquiring tools and strategies for inclusive leadership, and leadership that drives positive change.