Joon Lynn is a cultural organiser, producer and instigator.
Working across art and culture, migrant movements, popular education and solidarity economies, I am interested in how we can creatively shift from extractive to regenerative ways of living.
In organising, I am inspired by communities of colour and diaspora as protagonists of social change; experiment-orientated art practices that create the conditions for collective research
and rehearsal; and solidarity economies that enrich rather than extract from our relationships.
I embrace the work of organising as science-fiction; work that enables us to shape the future.
I organise to build community infrastructure including skills, networks and assets
that enable communities to self-determine and resource their futures.
I am founding organiser of Migrants in Culture, a network of migrant cultural workers organising to transform the cultural sector into a Solidarity Environment for migrants and people of colour,
as part of a national migrant movement against the British government’s Hostile Environment Policy. With Annie Kwan, I am co-founder of Asia Art Activism, a network of South East/East Asian diasporic artists, educators and organisers in the UK, and am currently exploring the position of Asian diasporas in historic and current British social movements, and co-producing a workbook for Asian diasporic organisers across Europe.
Together with Brian Lobel, we are developing Sex With Cancer, a patient-led and owned educational resource and sex shop for people living with and beyond cancer. Recently, I acted as Art Commissioner for Art B&B, a community-interest company hotel and art centre in Blackpool that is modelled on circulating its profits back into the town’s creative communities.
I consult and work with cultural organisations and networks, and am currently maternity cover National Movement Lead for What Next?
I am inspired by and part of an ecology of artists, activists, educators and change-makers, including Migrants in Culture, Asia Art Activism, Feral Business Research Network, NEON Movement Builders, ReShape European Network, the collective residents at Raven Row, and
the Global Municipalities Movement.
I previously acted as Senior Producer for In Between Time and co-curated Bristol International Festival from 2012-2017. Over the last 15 years, I have curated, produced and consulted for live and visual arts organisations including Arnolfini, Situations, Battersea Arts Centre, Punchdrunk, London International Festival of Theatre and Arts Council England.
From 2014-2017, I acted as a lead organiser with Loubaba Mamluk for Citizens UK Bristol and established a Syrian refugee resettlement programme in partnership with Bristol City Council. I sat on Bristol City Council's Refugee Resettlement Board and Citizens UK National Refugee Welcome Board from 2016-17.
I am co-recipient of Champion of the Year, Women on the Move Award 2016, received a Diverse Actions Leadership Bursary from Live Art UK in 2017, and declined an MBE for Services to Equality in Bristol in 2019 for these reasons.