CommuniTea Event at Baltic
As part of the exhibition at the Baltic, The Waiting Gardens of the North by renowned Iraqi-American artist Michael Rakowitz, the Comfrey Project hosted a CommuniTea event in collaboration with Baltic to bring the community together over a cup of tea.
‘CommuniTEA, a Comfrey Project initiative hosted at Baltic within The Waiting Gardens of the North, was a tea party with a difference, bringing people together through tea and encouraging conversation and community togetherness. It was driven by a core group of Comfrey Project Volunteers who delved into the many layers involved in selecting, brewing, pouring, sharing, and enjoying a cup of tea, with creative collaborators from disciplines as wide ranging as bakers, designers, ceramicists, musicians, and theatre practitioners.
On the run up to the event, the Afghan Women’s Group, who meet at Comfrey every Thursday, collaborated with Foundation Press and artist Megan Randall to design a set of bespoke decal transfers, which were fired onto the cups to create a beautiful tea service for CommuniTEA. During a visit to Big River Bakery, the volunteers collaborated with their bakers to bring together ingredients from across cultures and cuisines, combining to create a sweet and savoury cassava bread accompaniment. The Volunteers then took part in facilitation training with Curious Monkey, where we picked up tips and techniques for welcoming guests and inviting people to share their tea stories, memories, and traditions.’
Our volunteers worked so hard in the lead-up to the event. On the day they warmly welcomed visitors into the event and served them tea and refreshments. Shuhana of The Graze Newcastle provided a fantastic buffet for everyone to enjoy.
In addition to all of this, the event was set to the backdrop of live music from Carlos Delagdo and Ildo Correia from Guinea-Bissau.
The event was a fantastic culmination of our volunteers’ hard work, and set plans bubbling for other ways that we can bring Comfrey CommuniTea out into the community.
You can watch a video summary of the event here.
We hope you enjoy looking through our gallery of photographs from the event…
