Dear ILSSA,
On Saturday July 7, 2018, ILSSA will observe the 10th Annual Festival to Plead
for Skills!
We hope you will join us in practicing.
As you may recall: each year on the seventh day of the seventh month, ILSSA
celebrates its own version of the Festival to Plead for Skills. The festival is
derived from the Chinese holiday of Qi Xi and the Japanese festival of
Tanabata, in which celebrants wish for the betterment of their own
craftsmanship. Instead of wishing, the ILSSA festival is a holiday of
PRACTICING. Every year on July 7, ILSSA members observe this holiday by
practicing a skill: using a tool, trying a method, honing a technique. You may
discover some of the many ways ILSSA members have observed the Festival in
previous years over here <http://impractical-labor.org/markdown/>, or read an
article about ILSSA’s holiday over at At Length Magazine
<http://atlengthmag.com/art/a-festival-to-plead-for-skills/>.
This summer, we invite ILSSA members, wherever they may be, to observe the
Festival in two ways:
1) IRL (in real life)
ILSSA members everywhere are invited to hold space where you are, and invite
others (whether grown-ups or children!) to practice along with you. Maybe you
exchange skillshares, maybe you try something new, maybe you teach something to
someone, maybe you finish an old project. This could be in your home, your
studio, at a picnic, a coffee shop, a community center, a park, the beach, a
field, a boat, the top of a mountain (lucky), inside the stomach of a whale.
Invite a few friends to work alongside you, or please consider posting to the
ILSSA listserv and inviting local ILSSA members to your event. (To post to the
listserv, simply email ilssa@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:ilssa@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> from
the email address you used to subscribe to the list).
2) On Instagram!
Whether you practice together or with others, please share with us
documentation of your practice! For those of you on Instagram: please post a
picture of your practice (and your shared event, if applicable) with a short
caption. Please remember to tag us @impracticallabor and to tag
#festivaltopleadforskills2018, and we will repost on the ILSSA account. Follow
along @impracticallabor to see all the Festival posts from the day.
For those of you not on Instagram: please email operator@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:operator@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> a square photo of your practice, along
with a short caption, and we will happily post to the ILSSA Instagram for you.
You will be able to see everyone’s participation by visiting the ILSSA page on
the Instagram website <https://www.instagram.com/impracticallabor> from your
phone, tablet, or computer.
. . .
Will you be nearby Bridgeport, CT on Saturday July 7th?
You are most cordially invited to the ILSSA Bpt HQ to practice along with
Co-Operator Emily Larned at her studio.
There will be potluck drinks + snacks.
Email operator@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:operator@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
for details and to RSVP!
. . .
We look forward to seeing what you’ll be up to.
In community,
Your ILSSA Co-Operators
Local 917 Shop RC Emily Larned (Bridgeport, CT)
Local 347 Shop FS Bridget Elmer (St. Petersburg, FL)
….
ILSSA Operator
http://impractical-labor.org/
