What does community mean to you?
Community has to do with the people you feel you can connect with on common ground. We are all different, and we always find something in between when we are in relation with others – we are always affecting each other and being affected. But in community, that becomes intentional. It’s the people I want to consciously affect and be affected by.

How do you find your community?
Some things come naturally through shared interests – culture, language, food, queerness, humour. But I think to really create community, you have to initiate small things that you care about, and that will attract people who also care about them. Then you enjoy being together and supporting each other around what you’ve built. So for me it’s about proactively starting things, seeking what I like, and trusting that others will gravitate towards it. And also giving space to people who need to take up more space.

How do you celebrate yourself and your community?
It’s really the small things. Friends are the people you’re most familiar with, but community is broader – there’s always someone new, someone you don’t yet know but want to. The more time you spend together, the more memories you create, the more trust you build. Celebrating that is really about small gestures and showing up for each other. Making space for voices that aren’t always heard. Cooking together, doing activities together – these things make community pleasurable and celebratory, even on a small scale.

What do you think makes this project unique?
What I find unique – thinking particularly about Stretch – is the intensity, but it’s a different kind of intensity than we’re used to elsewhere. It puts human connection, vulnerability, and the shared challenges of being who we are right at the centre. That’s a lot to take in, especially compressed into three days with so many people. So it’s high intensity, but it’s soft and vulnerable at the same time. That combination is really something.

Can you share a moment at we are village or Stretch that felt meaningful or stayed with you?
I’ve had many workshops I really enjoyed, and I’ve also met people between workshops who were perhaps even more inspiring or touching than the workshops themselves. I’m also starting to connect to Village in new ways – through my work, through getting to know people outside of Stretch. I can’t choose one single moment, but what I keep coming back to is the feeling I get when I sense that because of a moment we’re sharing, someone is going through a joyful or transformative or revelatory experience – and they express it. It feels almost euphoric. Whether it’s a connection with someone in a workshop, someone coming to me after I’ve facilitated and sharing what it meant to them, or an audience member after a showing telling me something resonated deeply. Those are the moments that feel most meaningful.

Is there anything you want to add for the 10-year anniversary?
Congratulations. I knew Stretch a couple of times before COVID, then didn’t come for a few years, and when I joined again a couple of years ago I could see a big difference in how the project had evolved and transformed – how much more mindful and considered it had become. That’s a really great evolution.