A Gathering for and by brown artists to hang out, claim space, and kiki.
Brown Cats started as a collaboration between myself and artist Jaouad Alloul. The project emerged from a desire to recreate a special feedback moment after our performances at the Kaai Studios, part of the Aids Archives and Arts Assemblies in Belgium, in December of 2024.
We want to create an informal space or platform for and by brown queer arts workers, something queer and brown folks lack. A space away from night life, somewhere to hangout and meet other brown folks.
We are organizing gatherings of queer people of color with different creative outlets. At these gatherings we connect through music, reading together, sharing our stories, ideas and drinking tea.
- An open space to simply share and discuss art, music, ideas, collective intelligence
- a place of reference
- a space dedicated to rest, production is not welcome here
- a space to complain about the world we live in, a space to blow off steam; a space to breathe and disconnect
- a space where you can hide and at the same time be surrounded by like-minded individuals
- a space for connection and community
- a space for spilling tea while drinking it
Our monthly meetings are shaping up to be more organic. To help organize ourselves, we have our very own version of the Fat Grimmoire!
This is a super useful community tool borrowed from FATSABBATS!
The Brown Cats Codex helps us map our audience, know their needs, and gather contacts — so we can build a network to share our work and connect people.
Click on the tab on the right of the screen to fill in the Codex!>>>
Poetry Workshop
January 21, 2026
Poetry writing workshop with Fedup Mama. We gathered around the topic of grief and resistance. Three writing activities/prompts were exp^lored with the group and we also wrote a collective poem in the style of an "Exquisite Corpse" where we wrote a sentence, hid most of it except one word, then passed the sheet of paper, the next person would then start their sentence and hide everything but one word and pass it on etc.
Film Night
December 10, 2025
This gathering's focus came from a brown cat who wanted us to watch a film together and discuss. The initiative was born from our intention to let this space become whatever is needed. In this moment, coming together around a strong film, was necessary.
Body Focus
November 19, 2025
On this freezing evening we focused on our bodies. What does it mean to be a brown body in a predominantly white city? How does this affect how we move? Where in our bodies do we feel?
This evening was a much needed moment for us. During the workshop we explored movement as a creative catalyst. Discussions led us to plan our next meetings with film screenings and poetry workshops in view.
KITTY SANCTUARY at Les Halles de Schaerbeek
June 28-29, 2025
We built a kitty sanctuary with different stations including a pole from jezebel studios, a punching bag, a stage, cuddle puddle and chill zone for all brown kitties to play in.
We did a writing and performance workshop where we explored writing techniques for performance.
First Gathering
April 27, 2025
Six of us came together at Artist Commons. Discussed our hopes and dreams for the project. We hung out, shared our stories and left with hope to repeat.