Donation-based classes provide a safe and welcoming space for creatives to take root in their artistic disciplines
Many classes are not accessible for those who are historically disenfranchised and eliminating the financial barrier of entry allows all to explore their craft
Four 8-sessions seasons per year of dance (with a rotating collective of teachers)
We will soon be expanding into group singing and scene study, as well as a seminar series focusing on financial literacy, self-promotion, self-care, and more.
We’ve held more than sixty weekly classes and served over one hundred local artists
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Take Root – People’s Self Defense Workshop invites you a pay-what-you-can self-defense class primarily for LGBTQ+ and BIPOC community members. Guided by artists and partners who care about real‑world safety, you’ll learn to protect yourself and your peers in a safe environment. Your participation supports Forager Theatre’s mission to create bold, community‑centered stories onstage and off.
Participants are invited to wear comfortable clothing that they can move in. There will be fighting gloves provided, but you are encouraged to bring your own materials if that is accessible to you.
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Learn more about People's Self Defense Program
People’s Self Defense Program offers pay-what-you-can self-defense classes primarily for LGBTQ+ and BIPOC community members. Learn to protect yourself and your peers in a safe environment every Thursday (Manhattan) and Sunday (Brooklyn). We are proud to have been running classes for our community for over a year and to now be extending our program through these collaborative workshops with Forager Theatre Company!
About us: your lead instructor is a martial artist and self-defense instructor with nearly 2 decades of training. He has trained and taught MMA, Muay Thai, various Kickboxing Styles, and Western Boxing, and holds a 2nd Dan in Tang Soo Do. He loves to engage and understand new systems and has spent most of his life cross-training in other systems, including Brazilian Jiujitsu, Historical German Martial Arts, and Filipino Martial Arts. He believes that self-defense and the learning of it is a right and wishes to provide the highest quality of training to those who may not feel safe in, or be able to afford, more traditional training settings.
Your assistant instructor is a Personal Trainer with nearly a decade’s experience in fitness, particularly working with those who require greater accessibility to exercise whether due to injury, disability or illness. They have been training primarily kickboxing for 2 years and share in the belief that fitness and self-defense are human rights and have goals to reshape the fitness industry through community action and free programs.
The safety of our community is of the utmost importance, hence we do not share personal details about our members, and we vet all interested participants and run communication through Signal. If you’d like to learn more or attend class, dm us @peoples_selfdefense
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May 9th, 3:30pm-5:30pm at Bechdel Project
May 29th, 6pm-7:30pm at Open Jar Studios