drag

LOL are holding workshops for creative ladies and you’re all invited

A chat with founder Sally Tabart

In these trying times, it’s communities like Ladies Of Leisure that make us feel like shit is going to be OK. The LOL collective is made up of a group of passionate, driven young women who are on a mission to inspire you to get creative and dream big. Aside from creating zines, hosting parties, creating films, and making merchandise to rival Glossier’s line-up, LOL also hosts workshops. These intimate classes provide the opportunity to learn from real-life boss ladies in a v. chilled setting. On November 22, the second series of LOL workshops kicks off,. We sat down with LOL co-founder Sally Tabart to chat about what we can expect.  

Hi Sally! Can you tell us a bit about how LOL came about? 

Hi Annie! I miss having almond croissants and coffees with you at uni <3 

A few years ago LOLs creative director Sav had an idea to create a tangible way to showcase the work of up-and-coming creative women. At the time a lot of creative outputs felt very Internet heavy, but she didn’t want the work she was doing in her textiles course just to live in folders on her desktop forever, and thought that others would feel the same. 

Sav approached me to help her with the editorial direction, and we did a zine-making workshop at IPF (which we were both notably bad at.) We’ve been building the LOL community together, along with a bunch of other talented ladies ever since!  

There’s definitely an inclusive, community vibe that Ladies Of Leisure gives off. In times like this, it seems we need that kind of energy more than ever. Can you tell us a bit more about what motivated you to put together these workshops?

That’s so nice to hear. So much of how we interact with our community exists within the online realm – but we think it’s really important to have opportunities to connect with our people (and for them to connect with each other!) IRL. We were frustrated by the lack of real life skills available to us through our traditional educations, and wanted to provide an accessible platform where our community can come together and learn in a safe, relaxed and non-judgemental environment from some of the people we admire.

It’s really important to us that we have a diverse range of perspectives and not only hear about success stories, but failures, processes and the importance of ongoing learning. The topics covered include philosophy, wellbeing, social justice and development of creativity in a real life context – see a full list of our workshops, descriptions and leaders here

Are the classes just for ladies?

These classes are for anyone who identifies in any way, shape or form as being a lady of leisure – whatever that means!

You’ve got some amazing speakers for your second series of these workshops. Any highlights that you’re particularly excited for?

How good are they? We’re so excited. I’m a big fan of moving my body, so I’m pretty stoked for the wonderful Amrita Hepi’s human movement class, Feeling Myself. It’s designed to get you out of your head and into your body – an anti-dance class of sorts. 

One of my good friends and life inspo ladies, Sarah Booth, is running a workshop called Jill of All Trades, which is all about how to pursue multiple, varying projects at once and forge your own career path. She’s the absolute best.

There’s also a panel on Sunday November 27th called Know Your Writes, which is going to be so helpful for both aspiring and established writers. It covers different facets of professional writing like news writing, editing and creative freelancing.

What do you hope some of the key takeaways will be for the audience members of the workshops? Emotional and otherwise!

My greatest joy is when people develop friendships and the sense of community and skill sharing is strong.

There were some really bloody heart-warming stories of this from last year – like a group of gals who got together after meeting at the LOL Workshops and made a publication of their own! LOLs creative director Sav met a girl called Emma at a networking session and they really hit it off, now they work together as styling partners. That’s the kind of stuff that motivates me to do what we do. I hope people come away from the LOL Workshops excited and inspired for their futures, with new tools they can put to action. I want people to know that they are capable of anything.

I’m a bit nervous when it comes to networking and speaking in front of a large group. Will the workshops require me to get my Justin Belfort on? Or can I hang back and just soak it all in?

Yeah, I totally understand that. I’m nervous too! It’s funny, people often think I’m really good at talking and ‘working the room’, but it’s a reaction to the social anxiety I experience. I want to be really honest about that kind of stuff, and for our workshops to be a place people can feel comfortable interacting however they want. If this means you’re the one asking all the questions – great! But if you just wanna chill and take it all in, that’s so fine too. We will have a little couch area with a library of some of our favourite local publications, so that’s probably where I would hang if I were feeling a bit uncomfy. 

Tell us about the first marketplace you’re putting on! What kind of treasures can we expect to find?

The market is going to be a serious treat yourself weekend! We’ve got some cute clothes from Abbey Rich, Caitlin She and Ken the Label, our friends from MLD, Building Two, Underground Sundae, Two Hills and Nylons will be selling their special treasure jewellery, and the wonderful Ashley Ronning will have some of her prints there as well. It will be happening on the evening of Friday December 2nd and during the days on the 3rd – 4th.

How can I buy tickets?

You can find out more information about all of our workshops and buy tickets via the Workshops tab on the LOL website!

 

 

Lazy Loading