shades of honey
“the people’s mic”
Our PROGRAM AREAS
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OPEN MICS
Our open mics are what the community knows us for! These nights are filled with spoken word, dance, singing, music, heartfelt community building and of course call & response! We welcome all new bees to the mic and pride ourselves on being a safe space for baby poets and artists! We host these every other month and it is always a great turn out and opportunity to be welcomed into the beloved community.
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COMMUNITY EVENTS
Our community events happen every other month! We host these in an attempt to build out a space for folks to engage on a deeper level with one another so that our open mic spaces are a place where community actually lives. We have had a variety of events from film screenings, gallery walks, sculpting nights and workshops! Come through and hang with the hive!
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PLEASURE BEE TRAINING
COMING SOON!
Our nurse bees have been working so hard on this training where we are centering various aspects of pleasure, sexual fulfillment and more! Please stay in tune with the hive to sign up for your cohort!
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INTERLUDES.DENVER
For the music bees….
We are Interludes Denver. We are housed underneath Shades of Honey as a program area that curates a “sonic bookclub” where we focus on hip hop in all its unique fashion, culture and beauty. We are three young Black organizers and hip-hop heads here in Denver, Colorado. We host listening parties that include us sitting in our “cypher” (circle) listening through a whole album while creating art on vinyl records and then discussing at the end of the night with curated questions from our “spinners”.
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SIGNING BEE CLUB
COMING SOON!
We are so excited to begin bridging our accessibility out by informing our community members about our Signing Bee Basic club where folks can come practice their American Sign Language! We learn through videos of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Folks and then practice together through a variety of games and activities to appreciate and have reverence for the deaf and hard of hearing community!
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COMMUNITY POP UPS!
Sometimes, you might just catch the hive around town doing various speaking engagements and activities to strengthen our bond as a community! Last year we were invited to Margins Literary Conference where we spoke on the importance of creating space, place and voice in Denver Colorado. Keep an eye out! Our hive is growing!
OUR PAST EVENTS
2021
PALESTINE OPEN MIC 06.11.21
PRIDE MUTUAL AID FAIR 07.05.21
THEY RAGE 08.27.21
SHADES BIRTHDAY PARTY 10.01.21
SHADES ON WHEELS 10.29.21
STILLS OF HONEY 11.19.21
2019
SHADES DEBUT: 10.15.19
2020
SHADES COMEBACK 01.30.20
OPEN MIC 02.28.20
HIP HOP IN TIMES OF PANDEMIC AND PROTEST 03.10.20
STIGMA IN SHADES 04.24.20
2022
LOVE LETTERS TO LIBERATION 02.19.22
NAMING NEW WORLDS 03.27.22
BODY POETIC WORKSHOP W/ AERIK FRANCIS 04.16.22
PRIDE MUTUAL AID FAIR: NEIGHBORHOOD PRIDE 07.09.22
MARGINS LITERARY CONFERENCE & FESTIVAL 08.06.22
ODE TO THE EARTH 08.27.22
SCULPTURES OF HONEY 09.30.22
RAINBOW DOME & SHADES OF HONEY COLLABORATION 10.14.22
DINNER WITH THE SHADES OF HONEY HIVE 10.15.22
SHADES @ THE MOVIES 10.16.22
SHADES END OF THE YEAR CELEBRATION 12.08.22
2023
“HOME COMING” OPEN MIC | JANUARY 28, 2023
HIVE TALKS | FEBRUARY 19, 2023
SACRED RAGE OPEN MIC | MARCH 31, 2023
PLANTING SEEDS OPEN MIC | APRIL 28, 2023
MAY-JULY HIATUS
SHADES OF GRIEF | AUGUST 26, 2023
MAUI BENEFIT OPEN MIC | SEPTEMBER TBD
HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY, SHADES! | OCTOBER TBD
WE ARE STILL HERE OPEN MIC | NOVEMBER TBD
COMMUNITY CELEBRATION JOINT OPEN MIC | DECEMBER TBD
“Beloved community is formed not by the eradication of difference but by its affirmation, by each of us claiming the identities and cultural legacies that shape who we are and how we live in the world.”
LIBERATION
The Shades of Honey Team works to materially support the needs of various struggles of communities across Turtle Island and Globally through our open mic space that gives space, place to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.
As the Shades of Honey Community gathers in the sacred space of community through storytelling, art, healing, in so-called Denver, we honor and understand that we are on the traditional territories and ancestral homelands of the Cheyenne, Comanches, Arapaho, and Ute Nations alongside many other Native nations.
We acknowledge the Indigenous peoples as the original stewards of the land and honor that through their relationship of reciprocity to the earth, we are all sustained to this day. These words are commitments to action, as well as renewal and reaffirmation of the ties that these nations have to their traditional homelands. Let us also acknowledge the painful history of genocide and forced removal from this territory.; we futhermore, recognize, respect and deeply honor that Anti-colonial and decolonial practices are needed in whatever form they ma manifest. We respect the many diverse Indigenous peoples still connected to this land on which we gather. We pay our respect to them and give thanks to all Tribal Nations and the ancestors of this place. We recognize the privilege and the honor that is here in all of our ancestors being able to meet, congregate, grow and heal alongside each other as we continue the fight for liberation through storytelling. The Shades of Honey Team and Community extends our deepest solidarity, and further than that, movement to ensure the rematriation, reclamation, and renewal of the earth and all her teachings in and beyond this space.
Land Back, by any means necessary.
Ase.