About Queer Spa Network
Queer Spa Network (QSN) is a group of autonomous Queer artists and healers invested in rest, healing, and pleasure for our communities. We are brought together to exchange knowledge and collaborate on projects that build empathetic communal relationships with our body, the land and waters, and one another. Queer Spa Network meets on a monthly basis to: discuss topics centered around care, disability, bathing; organize regular bathing outings; and discuss potential public projects.
PROJECTS
PROJECTS
Spa Residencies for Frontline Workers (2021)
The years 2020 and 2021 have been incredibly grueling for people working on the frontlines—nurses, grocery workers, food service workers, delivery drivers, and more. As our society emerges into a new phase of pandemic response, we believe that it is vital to care for people who cared for us during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Because we know that trauma lives in the body, we want to connect the unsung heroes of COVID-19—food service workers and delivery drivers—to bodily healing such as reiki sessions, acupuncture, massages, spa time, and more.
Spa Embassy and the Queer Spa Network held a raffle featuring items from Bulan Apothecary, Earthy Corazon, Moon Jar Design, Belly’s Bath, and Visitor Welcome Center. The seed money for the raffle came from Civic Wellbeing Partners. Raffle results supported 5 frontline workers from food service industries in receiving wellness services. We worked with the Black Trans and Queer Collective and Bob’s Market to identify frontline workers that received a spa service valued up to $150, as well as $100 to offset transportation, food, and childcare.
The Every Body Spa (2021)
SPA EMBASSY X LEO ALAS
Thanks to funding from the Department of Mental Health, Leo Alas and Spa Embassy (Carol Zou and Carrie Schneider) collaborated on "The Every Body Spa" during the month of May 2021.This project approaches healing from the perspective that traditional forms of healing, like psychiatry and gender-segregated spas, have been inaccessible and violent to queer and BIPOC bodies, and that art and somatic methods can provide a way of refashioning queer modes of healing. The project is open to queer-identified individuals and centers trans and BIPOC individuals in the co-creation of new rituals for grief, care, and healing. The project consists of three parts:
Locally sourced care packages distributed to queer and trans BIPOC individuals across LA County as selected through coordination with community partners
Online focus group with queer identified individuals to discuss healing rituals, healing methods, and to solicit input for care packages.
Online workshop with queer identified individuals to collectively build a vision of a genderqueer spa/healing space by using the digital platform gather.town.
Gather.town courtesy of Carrie Marie Schneider and participants of the Design Your Dream Gender Queer Spa event on May 29, 2021
Spa kit contents