RADICAL IMAGINATION
Radical Imagination was established in 2020 to make space for Black, Indigenous and artists of color to commune with one another and the land. Our past and current projects consist of an artist residency, land trust, series of events and an artistic research project. We are led by a trio of international Black and Brown women artists. Meet our co-founders and welcome to our collective future. Joy is our path and we would love to meet you on the journey.
OUR MANIFESTO
There is no shame in purely wanting to be alive above all else. To establish and affirm a true life here – to not merely survive but to radically imagine a new way to live. To shed all that which does harm to the truth within you. To travel far throughout and within to establish a world within a world.
To seek beauty, comfort, tenderness, and safety. To be stewards of the land that we spent years tending and were owed. To grant those whose vision for the future is a place where their true selves can be nourished and supported.
OUR ORGANIZATION
Founded in 2020, Radical Imagination envisions alternative futures where people and land thrive through conversation, art, connection to nature, collaboration, and world-building. As a small non-profit based in the hills of Vermont, we’ve spent five years hosting artist retreats and offering wilderness skills, herbal first aid, and plant-based art classes for People of the Global Majority. Our biggest project yet is an artistic research initiative on amplifying The Landback Movement, centered on conversations, activism, art, film, information accessibility, inclusion, environmental justice, and ecologically sound solutions for the planet.
2020
Founded the Every Town project which is committed to securing land access and sovereignty for Black and Indigenous folks in every town in the state of Vermont through local and regional partnerships.2021
Funded and distributed grants to Black and Brown healers to support them offering their services for free to other folks of Color in their communities.2021-2022
Raised funds for and partnered with a group of volunteer carpenters to build infrastructure for Black and Indigenous land based projects throughout Vermont.2023-2024
Hosted diverse groups on the Radical Imagination land including foraging, overnight camping, herbal first aid, wilderness skills and carpentry basicsFOUNDERS
Kyana Gordon is an artist, writer, and researcher whose work centers liberation, everday people, community care, and history.
Kyana Gordon leads research and strategy at a major tech company. Prior to this, she was a global ethnographer, sailor, Caribbean island farmer, tea blender, and radio host of the ‘Out Here’ folklore series recording the lived experiences of our country’s most marginalized and under documented people.
Kenya Lazuli (she/her) is the co-founder of Lazuli Residency and has hosted artists from around the world in a tiny corner of Vermont.
Kenya Lazuli works with NEFOC and Every Town. She is the key land steward of the Radical Imagination land in Corinth.
Cori Ready is a hospitality activist, conceptual event director, artist, designer and artist advocate working in the field of radical hospitality.
Cori Ready, is currently Chief Operations Officer of Marea, a marine restoration and environmental education nonprofit actively working toward facilitating sustainable ecosystem-based management of the Oslofjord in Norway. Cori also has 20+ years of experience in as an event designer and in community organizing.
Some Updates
︎︎ Spring 2025
We are launching our latest initiative, “Amplifying Landback”, while we would never claim ownership of this revolutionary concept, we want to promote the idea. Amplifying communities, groups, projects, conversations and individuals doing landback work is critical to the health of our environment, our wellbeing and our futures as people on earth. If this is you, we can’t wait to connect.
︎︎ Winter 2025
Check out this article about our work with NEFOC and NEW SUNS COMMUNITY CENTER!!! https://www.vnews.com/Community-Center-Creates-Space-for-BIPOC-Vermonters-58253607
︎︎ Summer 2023
In Vermont, we are working tirelessly to stock the tool share at our community space. We are also building out the radical Liberation Library on location. Want to get involved! Give us a shout.
In Oslo, let us know if you want to meet at the Oslo Badstuforening for a sauna and cold plunge experience.
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Though the Covid 19 Global Pandemic upended our ability to offer in-person residency in Vermont, we have spearheaded additional Radical Imagination Projects. We have been incredibly busy during the pandemic, working remotely from our three homebases in NYC, Vermont and Norway. See this space for our latest updates.
︎︎Autumn
1. We continue our deep collaboration with the Northeast Farmer’s of Color Landtrust on the Every Town Project. The primary goal of this project is to place at least one parcel of land in every town in Vermont permanently in trust for stewardship and access for Black, Indigenous, and all People of Color (BIPOC).
2. We have held a weeklong strategic planning meeting in Oslo, Norway to plan future quarters of work. Please reach out if you’re interested in a collaboration.
3. Our first Every Town / Radical Imagination Land Aquistion will close on December 1st, 2022. The land we are acquiring houses a space that we shall use as a community center. The building will serve as a community center and gathering space for events and activities including skill shares, youth programming, concerts and performances.
We intend to have the lower level kitchen certified for commercial use so that local farmers and food businesses can use the space to create value added products. Additionally, the space can function as a classroom for teaching fermentation, food preservation, youth empowerment through cooking and food sovereignty programming.
In collaboration with Just Construction -- a group of volunteer carpenters that offer their time to build infrastructure for BIPOC land projects -- we will host building workshops and trainings for all skill levels with a focus on groups traditionally left out of building and construction spaces.
Through the creation of the Liberation Library within the building we will serve community members through book, tool and art supply loans centered around the uniting theme of anti-oppression. The Library will offer space for book groups with the aim of supporting the Every Town Neighbors Network, a statewide mutual aid group of allied community members focused on creating safe space and anti-racist communities.