collective presence.
Summer Ceilidh, Songs & Daal
“Cèilidh (/ˈKAY-lee’, Scottish Gaelic: [ˈkʲʰeːlɪ]) or céilí : a traditional Scottish and Irish social gathering. Social visit or party involving the vigorous dancing of jigs and/or sharing of song to lively music.”
A spirited intergenerational celebration - hello Summer!
Join us for a vivid, colourful and masterfully silly gathering hosted by multi-disciplinary artist, singer and ceilidh caller Kevin Campbell Davidson in the beautiful St Werburgh’s CC hall.
Much loved in his Monsieur Le Bon Bon incarnation, Kevin is a generous space holder who weaves little anecdotes and hilarious social commentary around traditional dance cues in a way that’s pretty much a joy to behold. We’ll dance, play games, learn some circle songs from various traditions and flop down to enjoy a hot daal dinner cooked up by CP’s in house chef Joey in between the music.
Collective Presence: Spring
Collective Presence: Spring.
foraging walk x teas & tinctures/natural medicine workshop x Spring pizzas
Tone. Bird song, buds, emerald. Unfurling, planting, planning. Idea, poem, light.
Artists: Maria Fernandez: Healing Weeds X Kiarash Darafshi
Cross time and culture, through the ages plants have long been our allies in healing and sustenance. Our coexistence together is a richly complex dance of mutual support and inspiration; one Philip Shepherd reflects on as,‘Consider breathing, you are breathing in the exhalations of forests.’
As the daffodils barge their trumpeted golden way through Winter’s density, Spring is the time to re-ignite our connection to this natural world and the plants which populate it. A collective time to stretch out our limbs and reach for inspiration and new things to roll on in to the rest of the year with.
So for CP: Spring we offer you a curious & earthy afternoon exploring our symbiotic relationship with native plants; how they might support immunity and conscious transition to the season of new beginnings. And ways we can build skills, knowledge, everyday rituals with them in teas and tinctures.
Winter's End
Collective Presence: Winter.
Immersive soundbath x Winter feast x independent film night
Tone. Smokey wood, dawn mist, ruby. Nesting, crafting, sleeping. Bonfires, stargazing, song.
Artists: Isolde Freeth Hale X Kiarash Darafshi X Duncan Parker
We are beyond thrilled to invite you to Winter, the second Collective Presence seasonal gathering. For our Winter edition we welcome Isolde Freeth-Hale, Kiarash Darafshi and Duncan Parker.
This is a sleepy feast celebration, following a journey of creative enquiry into the nature of being. As we bid goodbye to the inky darkness of Winter, curl up for an independent film night looking at the ritual of crafting, savour an Iranian feast and open to presence through a meltingly immersive soundbath.
Collective Presence: Autumn
Collective Presence: Autumn.
Reishi tea ceremony x Autumn feast x live kora concert
Tone. Damp earth, dark rose, amber. Shedding, contemplating, dreaming. Candle, storytelling, song.
Artists: Bristol Fungarium & Heather Chan X Kiarash X Josh Doughty
This is a cosy ritual gathering to entertain all the senses, including the felt one. An intuitive gravitation towards earth after the buzz of Summer with time to dream to music, devour a Mediterranean feast and learn the healing capabilities of Reishi.
What if an event were an ongoing conversation?
One to ignite new friendships & alchemise creative collaboration?
A big bookmark of a thing honouring a season of the year in a profoundly poetic way?
Story.
Inspired by the spirit of exchange and connection at the centre of village celebration, the warmth of late night dinners with old mates and the cultural richness travelling often inspires in us, the desire behind Collective Presence was to offer a curatorial space where the transformational effects of creative practice & wellbeing could be shared in a deeply celebratory and inclusive way. Where a shared-journey-feel to an event could give a little more space & time for integrating the art it shares. And where the idiosyncratic voices of makers, movers, healers, teachers, artists, & guides might be heard.
Form.
Offered in the form of x4 seasonal, lovingly- curated gatherings a year, each CP journey event is an opportunity to share in collective presence through an artistic spectrum ranging from music to embodied philosophy, creative process to regenerative cultures. Coloured with the unique tones of that particular season, and unfolding over the course of half a day. Various locations, intersectional artists, inspiringly educational subjects.
Values.
Creating a nurturing space where artists might thrive in sharing their art in authentic ways, true to them.
Disentangling from spiritual bypass by supporting genuine conversations and advocating for kind exchanges within the community.
Curating spaces where people are welcomed as they are; where race, beliefs, gender orientation, size, shape & sexual preference are safely acknowledged and held.
Championing joy, learning and artistic celebration as forms of sacred activism.
