a new madventure

Hello readers! I have missed you, having been utterly absent from Substack for the past couple months. What started as a mere ebb in my writing practice congealed into a hiatus, as events overtook me. For the past few weeks I've been travelling in the USA, visiting family and friends, and prior to this I was ensconced in the setting up of a new organisation: the Centre for Mad Culture UK.

The what, now? Yes, that’s right: the Centre for Mad Culture UK. Following in the footsteps of Matt Bodett (creator of the Center for Mad Culture in Chicago) I have decided to establish a sister organisation here in Edinburgh. We're not technically or officially connected, but I have his blessing and his extensive wellspring of advice and experience from which to draw guidance.

CMC UK evolves from my work with the Mad Insight collective. Since we formed as a group, back in early 2023, we have been dreaming of and talking about setting up a hub: a mad café, a mad library, a place where the madfolk are welcome and where we may offer talks and workshops and activities about Mad Studies; a place where we might celebrate and advance the mad movement. When my sister-in-law forwarded an email newsletter about CMC, I saw someone doing what we want to do. I got in touch with Matt immediately, to connect and learn and to shape the Mad Insight vision into something we might realise.

I took the opportunity, while in the US, to travel to Chicago (my hometown) where I visited the Center for Mad Culture, met Matt in person and gave a talk about Mad Insight and Mad Studies.

photo by J. Frost-Hennagir

CMC resides in the beautiful Fine Arts Building at 410 Michigan Avenue, where it offers a library/archive and exhibition/workshop space. It is well worth a visit if you ever find yourself in Chicago.

At present, the Centre for Mad Culture UK exists on paper only. I have set up a community interest company to form the foundation of this project. One thing I gleaned appreciatively from Matt was to start small: it needn’t all happen at once. It can be created one step at a time, and within one’s capacity. Working fulltime, and with various other commitments and responsibilities, I begin this as a seed which I hope will take root and grow, eventually, into a thriving entity.

Please do watch this space for news and updates, and please do send me good vibes for the successful planting of this new madventure.