The Motifs of Kinship Plot
Kinship Plot is an intentional, place‑based community in Charlotte that weaves together urban gardening, collective learning, contemplative action, the arts, and radical hospitality to build “resonant relationships” between people and the land. Rooted in five guiding motifs—collaborative learning, slow cultivation, formative artistry, contemplative action, and liberatory welcome—we are actively developing emplaced, affordable housing and communal spaces that embody our mission as a living experiment in belonging and mutual care .
Collaborative Learning
We invite others to read, reflect, and discuss both in dedicated learning cohorts and as an ongoing practice woven through our other activities of cultivation, artistry, and hospitality. The root of learning, like the root of love, is paying attention. Our learning cohorts explore topics related to connecting to each other and the natural world.
Slow Cultivation
Through our urban gardening and cultivation program, we invite others to build and prepare gardens, grow and cook food and medicine, attend to nature, explore permaculture, and learn about the local ecosystem as a way of embodying resonant relationships with the earth and each other. We do this through open garden days, produce distribution, apprenticeships, and special projects in partnership with local organizations.
Formative Artistry
We invite others to create and enjoy art that helps us grapple with the problem of alienated relationships and imagine possibilities for resonance. We will never practice what we fail to imagine, which is why the arts are so central to our mission.
Contemplative Action
Given that much alienation and division in modern life stems from systemic oppression and environmental destruction, we believe in the importance of moving upstream to the sources. The most healthy and effective forms of activism, however, flow from a place of peace and joy, so we offer the community opportunities to engage in contemplative practices that lead to action. While the leaders of Kinship Plot are located within the Christian tradition, we welcome, serve, and collaborate with people with any (or no) faith traditions.
Liberatory Welcome
Whether we are gardening, creating, learning, or gathering, we believe in open doors and liberatory spaces where all are wildly welcome. This offer of liberatory welcome is often the first step toward recovering resonant relationships, and this includes welcoming all members of the more-than-human world who are entangled with and enhance our lives.