[16 March] Writing With Friends by in-tangible institute, Lee Weng Choy

Writing With Friends is a professional development art writing workshop hosted by in-tangible institute to benefit the community of emerging and established arts writers in Chiang Mai and Thailand. The two-day writing intensive brings together 12 select participants, including published arts writers and emerging curatorial and writing talent seeking to publish. This English-language workshop will focus on developing an ethos around writing about art: writing as a collaborative endeavour in research and feedback, honing editorial skills, and imparting learnings relevant across languages.

The program will be facilitated by in-tangible in collaboration with art critic Lee Weng-Choy, who has facilitated writing workshops globally, including in Brisbane, Hong Kong, London, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Saigon, and Singapore. Weng advocates for the framework of friendship (with both sustained empathy and space for criticality) as essential to art practice in the region.

Before the in-person workshop, participants convene online to share writing samples and their responses to writing prompts curated by Weng and in-tangible. They offer guided feedback on their small group writing samples and prepare for small and large group discussions during the March workshop. The workshop offers novel methods for approaching arts writing and challenges writers to improve on their extant bodies of work.

Writing With Friends offers participants an opportunity to hone a more precise and individualized ethic of writing, as well as practical takeaways and strategies for writing, editing, and publishing captivating texts about art. Participants gain an invaluable opportunity for individualized feedback from Weng on a text with the aim of publishing. In addition to professional development, the workshop offers participants an intimate community of peers, mentors, and friends who share interests and expertise in art writing.