Virtual Fair Experi-meant ~ Oregon Country Fair ~ Still Here!

The Oregon Country Fair has committed to making our Fair a more welcoming, inclusive, and equitable organization and community for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. From 12pm-4:30pm on Sunday, this stream will host a panel discussion and series of workshops intended to start the conversation of doing that work. Additional content will be available throughout the weekend of this Fair in the Clouds. Please join us as we look within and prioritize the uncomfortable work of challenging the deeply entrenched personal and organizational assumptions and biases that have hindered progress in making the Fair welcoming and inclusive. Black Lives Matter, and that means all Black Lives. When Black Lives truly matter, then all marginalized groups will be free to live creative lives of dignity, respect, and meaning.

SCHEDULE:

“CONSENT, SEXUAL VIOLANCE PREVENTION, AND GENERDER INCLUSION AT THE FAIR” WORKSHOP - 1:00 PM ON SATURDAY: The Directors of local nonprofit, Respect(Ed), will be presenting a workshop titled: Consent, Sexual Violence Prevention, and Gender Inclusion at the Fair. The workshop will walk participants through consent, staying safe, dealing with sexual assault, gender expression, and respecting gender diversity at the Country Fair and other festivals. We’ll have interactive, nuanced discussions about the fair’s policies and how to cover these topics with your kids so that in future years we can have the best fair yet! Respect(Ed) Peer Education Program is run by and for young people providing educational resources around sexual assault prevention and inclusion.

KIYOSHI - 9:10 PM ON SATURDAY: The musician and artist Kyoshi will perform a set as the Oregon Country Fair’s Featured Thing during the Community Village day of the Fair. A world premier visionary-inspirational vocalist, musician, and songwriter, Kiyoshi, has a deep passion for empowering humanity. He is a purpose driven wordsman whose fusion of upbeat hip-hop and soulful sounds sends lightning bolts of conscious energy and thought into audiences around the globe. His rhythms and rhymes are rooted in social, spiritual, and political awareness to provoke the world to listen and feel what is true. Kiyoshi and his band engage audiences worldwide with a highly interactive and authentic stage performance, getting the crowd dancing and moving like no other.

A WORKSHOP WITH DR. JOHNNY LAKE – 12:00 PM ON SUNDAY: Join Dr. Johnny Lake for an interactive session on ways that we can support each other and share knowledge on key ways we can support diversity, inclusion, equitable, and respectful treatment of all living things. We want to create a community of safety and inclusion for all of us. That’s why we do this work and learn together. We do not want problem-oriented responses – we all need positive learning opportunities to effectively work with cultures, races, and communities different from our own. The discussion will be grounded in the ideals and values of the Country Fair community and supported by a shared vision and commitment to a safe, inclusive, and accepting community. This session, while short, will help us to recognize and begin to address important needs and interests related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

“WHITE CULTURE AND CLIMATE CHANGE” WORKSHOP - 1:00 PM ON SUNDAY, On Sunday at 1:00pm, Robin Quirke will lead a workshop titled: "White Culture and Climate Change." The premise of the workshop focuses on the question, “how does dominant white culture limit the progress of climate change mitigation?” This workshop includes research results, hypotheses, and a group discussion on the importance of investigating internalized white supremacy as a necessary step towards climate change mitigation, focusing on the responsibility of white-bodied folks to do this work. This workshop will be led by Robin Quirke, a local white-bodied researcher, and will take place on the OCF Diversity Stream Sunday at 1:00pm.

PANEL DISCUSSION – 2:00 PM ON SUNDAY: We are very excited for the panel discussion that Dr. Johnny Lake will moderate on Sunday at 2pm. The panel will feature Ayisha Elliot, one of the children of the original Merry Band of Pranksters, who does anti-racism work in Eugene and is a member of the Oregon Country Fair’s Diversity Committee. The panel will include Iona Matthews-Harris, from Spoken Word Stage, who is also a member of OCF’s Diversity Committee. Emz Alvarez, another panelist, is one of the coordinators of Rainbow Village in the Community Village as well as a member of the Village's Diversity Committee. Our final panelist, Mark Harris, first participated in OCF in 1978 as a musician, then as a crisis worker for Whitebird in 84 - 85, a stagehand and performer, and lastly as a spoken word artist.

HOLISTIC RESISTANCE WORKSHOP - 3:30 PM ON SUNDAY: We are delighted to highlight a workshop from Holistic Resistance at 3:30pm on Sunday. Please plan to attend early if you would like to join in the conversation. This workshop is for people who are new to social justice and feel they’ve been harmed by social justice circles. Holistic Resistance is led by Porsha Beed and Aaron Johnson and is based in the Seattle area. They offer workshops and programs on deep mentoring, disrupting whiteness, parenting, and facilitating.

Porsha is an intimate activist and mentor who specializes in teaching young people and adults about the importance of deep human connection, holistic resistance, and the importance of self-love and resiliency. She is passionate about dismantling racism and oppression. As an earth builder and integrator of race, she strives to build a lifelong community to end racism. Her love for the Earth and for intentional community is the nest in which Porsha has chosen to fight systems of oppression.

Aaron Johnson is an earth builder, teacher of closeness, and activist. He graduated from the California Institute of the Arts in 2007 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. He has made a lifelong commitment to use the skills he possesses to end racism. In addition to using intimacy and closeness to blackness as a primary means to that end, the tools he frequently uses are speaking, teaching, singing, photography, filmmaking, and minimalism. Aaron leads a mentoring program called Turn It Up Now that focuses on elevating the power, talent, love, and work ethic of youth. He believes that deep connection is one of the most powerful tools one can use in dismantling racism. We look forward to their workshop on Sunday at 3:30.

ACTION STEPS:

1. Sign petitions

2. Send Emails

Follow the links below to send an auto-populated email to officials. Make sure to write something unique in the subject line so it does not get filtered into spam folders:

3. Donate

Please re-allocate money that would have been spent on attending the Fair to one or more of these organizations:

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES:

Learn about the organizations

These organizations represent a variety of platforms:

Campaign Zero

Movement For Black Lives

Anti-racism education

White Awake

Lace on Race

Johnathan S. Perkins

Catrice Jackson

Books:

How to Be An Antiracist, Ibram X. Kendi
Me and White Supremacy: How to Recognize Your Privilege, Combat Racism and Change the World, Layla F. Saad