Workshops
Every workshop that we offer is an experiment in otherwise: a place to test-drive the liberated futures we’re fighting for. These sessions foster communal learning, political education and practical skill-building across communities, movements and sectors.
Led by our global network of artists, activists and organisers, our workshops are rooted in the belief that gatherings of exchange are vital to building a liberated media ecosystem. We need more spaces where knowledge flows freely, skills are democratised and people feel empowered to participate in - and shape - movements, now and in the future.
Rooted in our commitment to movement support, each workshop responds to the diverse needs and tactics of the intersecting struggles we engage with. They equip participants with tools, frameworks and real-world case studies to navigate changing times, while breaking down silos and dismantling gatekeeping in media production. Every session is developed in collaboration with our contributors and communities, ensuring they are responsive, grounded and impactful.
These offerings work in tandem with our mentorship scheme, forming part of shado’s wider commitment to skills-sharing, career development and political education. We see workshops as living experiments - building blocks for longer-term, collectivist infrastructures that intentionally redistribute power and resources within the movement landscape, making our collective work more sustainable, more connected and more visionary.
Lived experience storytelling and grassroots journalism
This workshop explores lived experience storytelling as a tool for system change, equipping participants with the confidence, skills and political grounding to tell their own stories on their own terms. Through a mix of individual and group exercises, we help people find their narrative voice, identify stories they feel are under- or misrepresented in the mainstream, and develop the practical know-how to pitch, craft and share them.
We dive into lived experience storytelling as a counter-narrative to dominant media frames, drawing on case studies and unpacking questions of identity, representation, co-optation and the ethics of storytelling. Participants will also gain industry tips for navigating media spaces and using social media as a tool for truth-telling and radical journalism. This workshop is part of our wider commitment to democratise the media landscape - resourcing marginalised people, challenging gatekeeping and building a more accountable and transformative media ecosystem.
A guide to media literacy
In a world of information and disinformation overload, media literacy is a survival skill. This workshop equips participants with tools to critically analyse, question and engage with the different forms and sources of media they consume every day. Through practical exercises, case studies, and discussion, we help sharpen participants’ ability to spot misinformation, recognise bias and understand the forces that shape how stories are told.
Participants will develop the confidence and critical thinking skills to navigate today’s fast-moving media landscape with intention and clarity. More than just decoding headlines, this workshop is about building mass political consciousness - so we can collectively resist manipulation, demand accountability and shape a liberated media landscape that serves the many, not the few.
Climate justice & creative resistance
Arts and culture have always played a role in stewarding society through moments of rupture, mourning and transformation. This workshop is an introduction to the intersection of climate justice and forms of creative action across the world essential in resisting our extractive economic system and building alternatives.
Through mapping your networks, messaging, and skills, this workshop will support you to build authentic climate justice action, strategies, and messaging into your existing work. Together, we’ll move beyond one-size-fits-all narratives towards community-specific approaches rooted in material struggle and mutual trust. Whether you are an organiser, artist, academic or part of a creative collective, this workshop is a space to imagine and enact creative interventions that strengthen the wider climate justice ecosystem while building connections across movements.
‘Being in but not of the institution’
How do you work within institutions without compromising your values or becoming co-opted? This workshop offers practical strategies for navigating institutional spaces, building solidarity networks, and maintaining your autonomy as an activist or cultural worker.
Through discussions, exercises and case studies, participants will learn how to resist bureaucratic pressures. Designed for students, staff, activists, artists and cultural workers, this session emphasises staying rooted in your commitments while finding ways to influence and reshape spaces from within.
Intersectionality 101
Intersectionality is more than a buzzword – it’s a framework for understanding and addressing overlapping systems of oppression. This workshop demystifies intersectionality as a concept and breaks it down into accessible, actionable practices.
Participants will learn how to analyse how power operates across race, gender, class, disability, sexuality and other axes of identity. The session provides practical tools and resources to incorporate intersectionality meaningfully in advocacy, organising, or teaching contexts.
Arts for Action: advocacy through creative practice
This workshop invites artists, designers and creatives to explore how their work can powerfully amplify social justice movements. Collectively, we examine the ways that creative practices can support advocacy, build visibility and contribute to systems change.
We offer people practical strategies for collaborating with social justice movements. From poster campaigns to digital storytelling, learn how to align your creative practice with the needs and goals of movements you care about.
How to set up your own social enterprise
This session is a hands-on guide, taking aspiring organisers and founders through the journey of how to bring a mission-driven idea to life. This workshop walks you through the process of setting up a social enterprise, from defining your vision to navigating legal structures to securing sustainable funding.
This session offers practical tools and real-world examples to help you design an enterprise that resists extractive models and redistributes power. Leave with a roadmap to create impact through your work, a clearer sense of your role in the wider movement ecosystem, and the confidence to launch projects that are both impactful and sustainable.
Book clubs and political education spaces
Every revolution begins with a conversation. From kitchen tables to crowded community halls, book clubs and political education spaces have always been spaces where ideas can sharpen, solidarity can deepen, and action can take root.
When curated and facilitated with intention, they become powerful tools for collective learning and movement building. This workshop explores their history and transformative potential, offering case studies, strategies, and tools for creating or strengthening spaces that inspire critical thought, nurture political consciousness and inform collective action.
Ethical interviewing
This workshop explores ethical, non-extractive interviewing practices, equipping you with the tools to honour lived experience and ensure that conversations are mutually respectful. Trust is something to be earned, rather than expected, and this workshop creates a framework for meaningful relationship-building.
How to pitch
So much of the media and journalism industry is gatekept, with information hard to access and opportunities reserved to privileged few. In this workshop, we offer step by step advice and tailored mentorship on how to pitch, how to find your unique voice and offer guidance on navigating the journalism industry.
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Testimonials
"From planning to delivery, it's been smooth and enjoyable to work with the team at shado. The team had a clear vision and hosted a really insightful workshop that our visitors evidently gained a lot from. There was real care taken to make participants feel taken care of which helped the workshop feel accessible." - The Migration Museum