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.
Radical Residency
The Radical Imagination Residency is hosted in Ndakina the original land of the Abenaki People – 125 acres of Vermont field and forest in the summer months. In honor of our own wellbeing and that of our extended communities, we did not host residents during the Covid-19 pandemic and the residency is still currently on hold.
In the past we have operated the residency by opening up our studios and gardens to invite BIPOC artists from all over the world to come and share the bounty. We provide three vegetarian meals a day, special guest lectures, and two optional adventures.
Our facilities include a wood shop, ceramics shed, fiber barn and shared indoor and outdoor studio spaces. Hosting artists from various disciplines in our tiny corner of the world has inspired growth and awareness in our home and our community. We are so thankful to the artists that have shared their work and this space with us thus far.
Where: Corinth, VT
Who: We welcome all BIPOC artists who are working to re-imagine new ways of surviving in the future to apply.
When: currently on-hold
Three 2-week summer sessions
Exchange: Free
The Radical Imagination Residency replaces the Lazuli Residency in Corinth, Vermont.
If you have interest in becoming a Radical Resident. Please let us know your interest here. We look forward to getting in touch with you!
In the past we have operated the residency by opening up our studios and gardens to invite BIPOC artists from all over the world to come and share the bounty. We provide three vegetarian meals a day, special guest lectures, and two optional adventures.
Our facilities include a wood shop, ceramics shed, fiber barn and shared indoor and outdoor studio spaces. Hosting artists from various disciplines in our tiny corner of the world has inspired growth and awareness in our home and our community. We are so thankful to the artists that have shared their work and this space with us thus far.
Where: Corinth, VT
Who: We welcome all BIPOC artists who are working to re-imagine new ways of surviving in the future to apply.
When: currently on-hold
Three 2-week summer sessions
Exchange: Free
The Radical Imagination Residency replaces the Lazuli Residency in Corinth, Vermont.
If you have interest in becoming a Radical Resident. Please let us know your interest here. We look forward to getting in touch with you!
