Honeycomb 2021

Applicants do not need extensive art, activism, or advocacy experience. We are looking for folks who are passionate about anti-violence work, excited about using creative expression as a tool for social change, and interested in building new skills and relationships to better support and change the communities they live in and Virginia at large!

Applications will be open from April 19-May 23 and decisions will be sent out no later than June 4, 2021. There are 20 fellowships available; all fellows will receive a $400 stipend to honor their time and support their participation. 

We acknowledge that sexual violence disproportionately affects marginalized communities. We strongly encourage people of color, trans and non-binary people, and people who identify as queer, lesbian, gay, and/or bisexual to apply.

Application responses will be kept confidential and will be reviewed only by Action Alliance staff. 

Note: Participating Honeycomb Fellows will have the opportunity to apply to be a part of the 2021-2023 Youth Action Council (Y.A.C.). More about Y.A.C  can be found below. If you are interested in being a Y.A.C. member, we strongly encourage you to participate in the Honeycomb Retreat. 

To become a 2021 Honeycomb Fellow, complete the form at this link or at the bottom of the page.

The 2019-2021 Youth Action Council (Y.A.C.) was formed by 5 2019 Honeycomb fellows ages 18-24. The Y.A.C. met with Action Alliance staff regularly to learn new skills; dive deeper into violence prevention, anti-oppression, and creative expression as a tool for social change; and create their own resources, trainings, and workshops to share with their communities and Action Alliance members.

The 2019-2021 cohort co-created YOUTH ARE, a workshop curriculum that aims to support young people in seeing themselves as leaders and change makers in their community and encourages adult facilitators, preventionists, and advocates to value the strengths, knowledge, and creativity young people bring to movement to end violence.

“So cool! Love collaborating with these greats!” – 2019 Honeycomb Fellow

In 2019, 17 Honeycomb Fellows attended 7 workshops throughout the 5 days on topics including:

• Understanding the roots of sexual and intimate partner violence, and understanding the connections between interpersonal and systemic violence.
• Consent and building consensual communities.
• Zine building to envision what fully consensual, abundant, communicative, and radically interpersonal futures can look like.
• Writing with poetic forms that pay tribute to those who are living and those who are resting in power.
• Building the connection between pleasure and sexual health.
• Learning about the legacy of plant medicine we can call upon to find sexual healing for ourselves and our communities.
• Navigating boundaries, values, and movement-related needs when organizing, the incorporation of pertinent self-care strategies within community organizing spaces, and concrete tactics that can be used to sustain oneself in movement work.
• Collaboratively using sculpture to reflect on the topics discussed throughout the week.

The days also included longer, less structured art sessions, during which fellows worked with artists-in-residence to learn new creative skills that could support their organizing work and to respond to the content from the workshops. During the week fellows focused on block printing, banner making, creative writing, illustration, illustrative journaling, and collage.

When fellows were not in workshops or an art sessions, they were sharing meals (breakfast and lunch) with staff, artists, and workshop facilitators, taking a break in the dedicated self-care space, and/or participating in one of the retreat’s daily practices of building community and connection through the shout out wall (giving shout outs to other fellows, staff, artists, workshops, food, etc.) or one of the other interactive and creative practices where we explored where we’re from, who supports us and how, and why movements need art. The last day of the retreat included a Community BBQ where the larger Action Alliance staff joined the fellows, artists, and folks from allied organizations to be in community with each other!

Read more about the 2019 Retreat in the Honeycomb Reflection Zine!