Writing Together

A Creative Writing Facilitation Mini-Training for BIPOC youth aged 16-29
Hosted by Council Fire and Firefly Creative Writing

 
A top-down photo of three people reading and writing at a picnic table.

A top-down photo of three people reading and writing at a picnic table. Photo: Alexis Brown via Unsplash.

 

Love writing, community and ready to get facilitating?

In this collaboration between Council Fire Native Cultural Center and Firefly Creative Writing, a small group of youths aged 16-29 will participate in hands-on, practical training in how to facilitate creative writing workshops, and then be mentored as they run their first groups.

The training will focus on creating communities of care, built on safety and accessibility, where the youths can exercise their facilitation muscles and discover or strengthen their leadership styles.

There will be plenty of resources and exercises shared, but more importantly, participants will be supported in finding their own ways to create spaces, offer activities, give feedback, and come up with creative solutions to the questions and issues that can arise in workshop spaces.

This program will be run through Council Fire’s Youth Wellness Department, with Firefly joining as volunteer trainers. Created out of Firefly Creative Writing’s 17 years of workshops and community building with writers, and Farah Talaat’s skill and passion for organizing and youth programming, this program will be the first of its kind.

The nuts and bolts:

  • The bulk of the training will take place over 6 weekly sessions on Zoom, 90 minutes each.

  • The sessions will culminate with a gathering (ideally in person, though we’ll decide closer to the time) where the youths will facilitate in person together for the first time.

  • After the sessions, Council Fire will bring together participants for the youths to co-lead groups for. Participants will receive 3 months of mentorship from Firefly team members while they run their groups.

  • Each session will be facilitated by Farah Talaat from Council Fire and two facilitators from the Firefly team.

  • As per Council Fire’s youth programming mandate, this program is intended for youth aged 16-29 who identify as BIPOC or coming from marginalized communities.

  • There is a simple application process in order to assess fit for the program, and to create a balanced, diverse group.

This program is ideal for youth who:

  • Are passionate about writing and community-building.

  • Want to build or hone their leadership skills.

  • Are open to sharing their own writing in a safe, curated environment.

  • Want to co-create spaces with others.

  • Are curious about how to create safer spaces and anti-oppressive frameworks.

  • Are 16-29 an identify as BIPOC or coming from a marginalized community.

You can expect to leave this program with:

  • Skills, tools and ideas for how to run writing workshops.

  • Growing confidence in the role of facilitator or group leader.

  • A sense of your own leadership voice and your unique gifts as a writer and facilitator.

  • Lots of new writing.

  • Friends who are on the same path.

  • A group to co-lead over the fall, while being mentored.

Details:

Training Sessions:
6 Tuesday evenings (weekly), 5-6:30pm
September 13 – October 18
Via Zoom video conferencing

Final Gathering:
TBD

Fall Workshops:
Through the fall, youth will be paired to co-lead workshops with members of the Council Fire community, while receiving mentorship from Firefly. Dates TBD, dependent on youth availability.

Application deadline: Sept 6, all youth will be notified by Sept 10. Applications are closed.