Arts in Action—Saturday, June 7

Join us this Saturday, June 7th, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at The Birdhouse Knoxville for a half-day creative incubator exploring the intersection of imagination, art, and justice.

We’ll begin with breakfast and community conversation, grounding ourselves in connection and purpose. From there, participants will choose from three breakout sessions—graffiti, MC/spoken word, or theater—where small groups will co-create and reflect on how stories, symbols, and expression shape our understanding of bias, power, and belonging.

This event is rooted in the idea that creative incubators are vital tools in social justice work. They’re not just places to make art. They’re spaces to dream collectively, experiment freely, and generate ideas that challenge the status quo. Through dialogue and collaboration, participants explore personal and systemic “cages” - internalized limitations, structural barriers, inherited fears - and imagine what it looks like to live within them as well as without.

We’ll close the day with a panel discussion on the topic, featuring organizers and system-impacted voices. Panelists will reflect on both the visible and invisible cages that constrain our lives, and how creative work can help us name, resist, and reimagine those boundaries.

Creative incubators offer a model for how movements can build power: not just through protest, but through practice—through dreaming together, making meaning, and sustaining each other in the work. This gathering is an opportunity to slow down, show up, and co-create a more liberated community.

Come curious. Leave connected. Let’s build something bold—together.