Joon Lynn is a cultural organiser & producer
Working across art and culture, migrant movements and community 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 community 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 culture workers organising towards open border futures. Since 2018 we have produced a national survey and report on the Impact of the Hostile Environment on the Culture Sector, hosted Migrants Make Culture: An Activation Day for migrant organisers, and advocated for a Culture Sector Recovery for migrants.
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. As part of this network, I am currently exploring the position of Asian diasporas in historic British social movements and co-editing Tools to Transform, a workbook for Asian diasporic organisers across Europe.
Together with Brian Lobel, I am developing Sex with Cancer, an arts and community enterprise and sex shop for people living with and beyond cancer.
I am a Civic Futures Fellow 2021 with the Greater London Authority; consult and work with cultural organisations and networks, and am currently maternity cover National Movement Lead for What Next?
Previously, I have 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 Art B&B CIC, 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, which continues to run till today. 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 Migrants Organise and UNHCR’s 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. I sit on the board of Mad Love, an art & mental health activist organisation led by James Leadbitter.