Joon Lynn is a cultural organiser, producer and facilitator.
Working across art and culture, migrant movements, popular education and diverse 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 diverse economies that enrich rather than extract from our relationships.
I see the work of organising as science-fiction; work that enables us to shape the future
we long for. 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 wider 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, who in one strand of research, are exploring the position of Asian diasporas in historic and current British social movements.
Together with Brian Lobel we are establishing Sex With Cancer, a cancer patient-led and owned educational resource and sex shop that aims to demystify and support people navigating illness and intimacy. 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 12 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.
In 2017, I received a Diverse Actions Leadership Bursary from Live Art UK.
In 2019, I declined an MBE for Services to Equality in Bristol for these reasons.