Build a Better Future: Action Points with Girl Gang
Carmel Smickersgill, Tours & Activities Editor
Female creative collective Girl Gang Manchester has been encouraging people to share ideas, passions and skills for years and recently they’ve created a new space to continue this great tradition. Action Points is described as the “cool sibling” of the collective’s book club. It’s a self-led co-learning space where anyone and everyone is invited to explore some of the themes and issues raised in the previous month’s book club text. Are welcome, whether you’ve read the book or not.
The sessions take place either in person on the last Thursday of the month at the Working Class Movement Library or online. What separates the session from the book club is that this is an unfacilitated space for people to gather and explore themes within a friendly and non judgemental community, with the aim being to take thoughts that you may have around the topic of discussion and turn them into actions.
Maybe it could inspire you to sign a petition, read a new book or listen to a discussed podcast. Maybe you’ll start researching community groups to get involved with or find an outlet for your activist ambitions. Action Points is intended to be a space where mutual encouragement helps people make the next step, taking their reading further than the page. There’s no right way to do it. Everyone’s actions are as big or as small as they need to be for that individual.
It’s worth emphasising that although these sessions are linked to Girl Gang’s book club there is no requirement to have been to a book club session or to have read the book in focus beforehand. You may just want to turn up open to learning about the topic in focus. Girl Gang wants to make this space a consistent source of communal accountability, allyship and reflection whilst always being open to new members.
Whilst each session will have a different focus, some may have a more specific format or activity. So turn up open minded and ready to learn, share or listen.
