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Why Sima?
Why Sima?
Through yearly OAC activities, we have observed winter getting shorter and warmer. Coming from a desire to challenge the image of environmental activism and move away from eco-anxious narratives, Sima’s objective is to offer tangible ways to cultivate love and respect for this disappearing season, motivating the need for social changes to promote and honor it. Winter is a moment many people from around the world experience regardless of age, culture, history, skin colour, gender or social background. Reconnecting with the season as a time to slow-down and reflect, gather and partake, cozy-up and create, we believe a winter celebration is a relevant starting point to enter in conversation with the environment.
We focus on the vital role of creativity to empower individuals & communities to :
• Share, imagine, explore & value old & new ways of being with oneself, each other and the environment ;
• Build personal & collective memories, anchors connecting us intimately to the land
Our vision
Our vision
To strengthen community bonds, encouraging reflection and action for meaningful and long-term social and environmental change.
Our mission
Our mission
We do so by reconnecting to our winters as spaces that foster introspection and creative diversity.
Our values
Our values
Accessibility
Accessibility
Accessibility is central to Sima, fostering spaces where diverse lived experiences can intersect, grow, and expand in an open, safe and sober environment.
Play
Play
Sima Festival values play as a powerful force for overcoming ecoanxiety, believing that joy, pleasure, and love bring more effective and lasting change than fear, transforming seriousness into lightness and action.
Mobilization
Mobilization
Our activities redefine mobilization by shifting from urgency to a heartfelt call to action, inspiring individuals to honour their unique gifts and empowering communities to unite in collective action rooted in deep connectivity.
Transformation
Transformation
We value transformation as a process that requires commitment, time and depth, driving meaningful social and environmental change through learning and collaborative dialogue.
Reckoning
Reckoning
The festival fosters a sense of humility, inviting participants to engage in a collective reckoning with past and present challenges to create a more just future.
What does Sima even mean?
What does Sima even mean?
Sima is a contraction of the words soul and anima.
Whilst the organizers thought they were inventing a word, they realized Sima was already a word which represent the lowest layer of the Earth's crust, which connects oceanic floors to land.
Read more here.
photo by Yan Kaczynski, 2019
The organizers
The organizers
Sima is organized by the Outdoor Artist Collective (OAC), a non-profit organization working to promote the vital role of art in redefining our relationship to the environment. We nurture a worldwide community of artists inspiring & empowering long standing collective action through their practice. Our activities gather, connect & empower artists & communities from around the world, building a growing repertory of strong artist-leaders practicing at the intersection of art & socio-environmental engagement.
Anne Isabelle Leonard & Taylor Dilley, founders of OAC, have been organizing & operating successful satellite events since 2017.
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