The world we want is Closer Than You Think
After working closely together for most of the last few years, the emergence of Covid forced the three of us (Swatee, Devi and Ruby) into an unnatural separation.
Sure, we were already familiar with creating and collaborating across borders and time zones - that’s what you do when building feminist transnational advocacy networks - but this time it was different.
We had all recently left our positions running young feminist focused funds and each were entering phase of personal and professional transition. At a time of disconnection, we wanted to stay connected. Amidst a harsh reality, we wanted to hold each other and dream of new futures together.
That’s why, over Zoom calls, Whatsapps chats, Instagram inspiration and Miro boards, we wove a new universe for ourselves. We built a new home for our energy and ideas, and an inviting place for the people we admire and want to learn from.
The result of that collaboration is Closer Than You Think.
Closer Than You Think is a hybrid ideas studio and consultancy collective operating at the intersection of activism, philanthropy and art.
Working with the principles of feminism, friendship, creativity, beauty and abundance, we are framing this endeavour as a new way to engage in the work of ‘changemaking’. It is a space for possibilities, and a platform for our individual and collective projects that seek to bring the world we all want a little closer.
What does that world look like?
Well, it’s a world that lets us get closer to who we are - allowing the three of us to embrace our full selves and pursue projects that animate our expertise, but also speak to our passions and hopes, too.
It’s a world that bridges divides (like space, time, resources, disciplines and nature vs humanity) and breaks down unnatural binaries - using the arts as a reason to gather and reconnect, building meaningful relationships that allow for exploration, creativity and new discoveries.
And it’s a world that brings joy to the practice of transformation. We know that social movements everywhere are doing the work, building a world of justice and liberation for all people. That work is often described as a ‘struggle’ - because it is. But we want to bring sustaining energy to our movements and leaders, and to make the process of struggle joyful as well as necessary. Revolution is all about creating something new and beautiful. In that space, we want to dance, sing, paint and recite poetry. Closer Than You Think is our humble contribution to that happy revolution.
You’re probably wondering what we’re actually going to do - and how we’re going to fund this work.
It’s pretty simple: Closer Than You Think functions in a similar way to any other creative studio.
Our studio projects each create, embrace and explore possibilities for progress in the areas where we have expertise and want to channel our efforts.
Completed studio projects include Remember Who Made Them, the six-part podcast series, digital campaign and fundraiser that aims to help energise a new solidarity economy in fashion.
Other in-progress studio work includes Music of our movements (a project to document and celebrate songs of resistance), Co-leadership (designing creative and practical tools to support the practice of co-leadership in feminist organisations and beyond), Transitions (a ‘brave space’ for feminist transition guidance and mutual support) and Children’s books (introducing to young people the power, joy and possibilities in solidarity).
But Closer Than You Think is about more than our own studio projects. We also work with others, helping you navigate and realise new possibilities with strategic planning and facilitation services (At the delta), fiscal sponsorship and idea incubation (In the chrysalis) and philanthropic advisory services (Under the moonbow), too.
No matter the way you engage with us, Closer Than You Think is moving beyond transactional consultancy work, cultivating new paths for shared progress.
Those paths will lead us all to new realms, which is why the website and branding of Closer Than You Think - created by artist Shreya Gupta - is intentionally otherworldly. She’s created a beautiful dreamscape where worlds can collide and otherworlds can manifest.
The last two years have been a time of enormous challenge and change. But humanity has done what it always finds ways to do: connect, support, build community and express solidarity.
There are so many fantastic examples of people prying open the space for possibility in this time of loss, fear and contraction. People everywhere are refusing to return to the way things were - they’re reimagining new worlds and new futures that will be better for all of us.
We’ve been deeply inspired by that work. And Closer Than You Think is our own radical reimagining - of work, of relationships, of transformation. We see the possibilities that lie ahead and can’t wait to bring them all a little closer.
We hope you’ll join us on the journey ahead.
Devi, Ruby and Swatee
We give thanks to Shreya Gupta, Ashley Johnson and others for helping us bring Closer Than You Think to life through their enchanting artistry and beautiful words.