BRICKS Community Agreement - Updated November 10th, 2024

  1. Show up with best intent and assume best intent from others

  2. We share values of collaboration and risk – We are all collaborators on creating a brave space. We will actively participate in creating spaces that support neurodiverse folks to experience a positive, affirming space where requests for barrier reduction are enthusiastically addressed.

  3. Be open to dialogue that might challenge your point of view – Engage Tension, Don’t Indulge Gossip and/or Put Downs

  4. Self care and community care—pay attention to your needs, both physical and emotional, pay attention to your neighbors. Make Space, Take Space.

  5. Listen from the inside out, or listen from the bottom up (a feeling in your gut matters!) — W.A.I.T.—Why Am I Talking? Let people finish their thoughts. It’s okay to get passionate, but make space for each other. 

  6. We acknowledge that the spaces we share can create conversations that go into deep territory, so we respect each person’s need to take care of themselves.

  7. Confidentiality — take the lessons, leave the details. We agree to treat the content of each other’s work, each other’s personal information, and the specifics of our shared dynamics with respect.

  8. We can respectfully and consensually communicate our needs and ideas to each other during the gathering verbally or in chat, or by email outside of those sessions. 

  9. We will call in rather than call out. We strive to share language that respects everyone. We will listen if someone has alternative language to share, and offer alternatives to ableist / sexist / homophobic / transphobic / xenophobic / racist / classist or othering language in a spirit of collaboration.

  10. We create safety from love and not violence. From an abundance of generosity and kindness. We know that safety cannot be created by building walls and cages, but rather by planting gardens, filling libraries, and creating spaces for healing. We have freed ourselves from the illusion that safety is about locking people away and are grounded in the truth that safety comes from giving people what they need.

  11. Safety as freedom – the freedom to be who we are and express our truths without the fear of being punished for it.

  12. Safety as care – knowing that we can turn to the people around us for help when we are hurt, harmed, or in need.

  13. Safety as solidarity – responding to fear and scarcity by banding together rather than turning against one another.

  14. Look around you. The future is here.

This community agreement has passed through many hands and many spaces - it belongs to us all. We honour the work of everyone that helped shape it: 

Hakim Therrien Boulos, dramaturg and director Jesse Del Fierro, Playwrights Theatre Centre’s MSG Lab, Adrienne Maree Brown’s “Emergent Strategy”, Kai Cheng-Thom’s “We Are Not Safe Till We Are Free”.

Trans Awareness Week & Trans Day of Remembrance 2024

Dear Community Members, 

As we move into our very first public gathering we are asking everyone to come together in accepting the collective responsibility of space making. If you are attending one of our Trans Awareness Week events (Nov. 15th & 16th), or the Trans Day of Remembrance Candlelight Vigil (Nov. 20th), we ask that you please read our community agreement. We will be operating under the expectation that everyone entering the space consents to following it. 

This is a collaborative document made by the community, as such if you have feedback, comments, or suggestions for how it can be improved please reach out at any time by emailing us at: bricksyukon@tuta.io

What happens when the community agreement is ignored?

Should any conflict arise during one of our events we ask that you seek the immediate assistance of one of the event organizers so that we can investigate the issue.

If we find that the community agreement is not being followed by another community member we will first seek to inform them of this and ask that they follow the agreement in good faith. Should the agreement continue to not be followed then we will ask the individual(s) to leave until such a time that they can.

While the agreement can change we won’t be updating it during an event so that everyone present is showing up with the same understanding.

With Love and in Solidarity, 

BRICKS 🧱