Keep Trans Fem Social (TFS) running!

TFS has provided, for years now, an opportunity for trans women of various ages, gender expressions and backgrounds to build connections, socialise and support one another through shared experiences of violence, oppression and systemic discrimination. We run a welcoming environment for disabled, neurodiverse and sober transfems - this includes a quiet arts and crafts room and access to a public cafe - in summer, our events are held in the community garden (with access to the rest of the farm and animal stables). We’ve been able, through our last fundraiser, to also run POC-only events, forest walks and land-work sessions, clothes swaps, and a yearly Christmas pot-luck.

TFS is a community space that’s been running in-person since August 2021. We’ve been held at Hackney City Farm since July 2022. Magda and Joni want to convey the importance of sober and intergenerational spaces for trans women in our community. Likewise, the access to healthcare knowledge and experiences shared by meeting other women is genuinely lifesaving. Our attendance over the last year has, at peak times, gone up to around 50 people per month.

Magda has been running this for free, sometimes out of pocket, monthly since February 2021; Joni has been doing the same with her since July 2022.

We’ve never been attached to external funding, as to not have any direction from, or reliance on, any top-down or charitable structures. We have been funded by our community for our community, in keeping with anti-capitalist and anarchist principles. Our funds for the last year or so have been covered from a fundraiser held in July 2022 (big shoutout to Amy at Get Loose for all her support on this); however for a little while now we have had to fund the social out-of-pocket as organisers.

WHAT WE WANT TO AFFORD:

COVID safety equipment: COVID is a risk to our community at present. Many people in our community have been affected or disabled by this virus. We want to make our spaces COVID-safe, as a way to look out for each other and the most vulnerable in our spaces. We’ve bought a HEPA filter for the indoor space and have a mandatory masking policy for indoors, which we’ll be extending to the out-doors. We have been purchasing FFP2’s, KN95’s and medical masks and encourage participants to bring their own. We have also provided tests for participants to do if they wish. This has cost money. We want to be able to resource the space going into the future, as COVID continues to put people at risk.

Food: For the previous two years, we’ve been able to hold a Christmas potluck. This has involved groups of girls cooking up large batches of food for each-other and participants. We want to be able to afford this again this year.

Artist’s fees: We’ve always offered fees for our beautiful posters, and often artists have donated this fee back into the pot out of good will. We want to increase our artist’s fees to better remunerate their labour, and continue to platform transfem artists for a transfem audience.

Organisers' fees: The work organisers do (and have done so far on a volunteer basis) doesn’t just extend to setting up and packing down the space, and organising use of the space every month. It also includes welfare interventions, conflict interventions and trying our best to sustainably manage the wellbeing of the people, while they attend our event. This is skilled emotional work and the responsibilities that come with it deserve remuneration. This, along with administrating the event, organising the posters, and newsletter making is sometimes 20+ hours per month.

Printing costs: We want to be able to afford printing costs for our new monthly newsletter showcasing events for trans women and transfem people in London. This will also allow us to print and distribute our posters on the cover.

Paying back organisers for out-of-pocket costs already spent on COVID safety, food and artists fees, since running out of funding.

BUDGET:

£1350 (the next 9 Months of organisers' fees and artists’ fees, £50 Organiser, £50 Organiser, £50 Artist)

£150 to partially pay back organisers for out-of-pocket costs

£100 for Christmas potluck food 2024

£135 COVID masks, tests and other supplies over the next 9 months

£165 for 9 months printing costs for newsletter (per month: paper cost £5.88 + studio £7.50 + £2.52 printing per layer + £1.50 master cost)

£100 emergency funds

Total £2000

This will cover us for 9 months until we intend to run a group exhibition/fundraiser in 2025.

If you’ve ever benefited from this space, or, especially, if you love people who have, please donate. If you're transfem please only donate if you have the means to. We'd really like to encourage cis, non-binary and transmasculine allies to donate to what we believe to be a vital space for transwomen at a time of heightened transmisogynist violence in the U.K. It's really wonderful to give each-other joy and to enjoy outdoor and garden spaces together. We want to try and maintain how organic this group is, as much as possible: it doesn’t exist without all the people we’ve met, who have attended, and from all the help we have received. Together we’ve been able to look after each other as best as we can.

We love you lots,

Magda and Joni <3