We will keep this brief as there is a lot of important conversation going on that is deserving of your attention. In preparing for our next doodle session for Tuesday, June 9th we felt the theme we had previously chosen didn’t feel right. We want to use this time to talk about racial justice and challenge our lettering community to use their lettering talents to help educate and inspire people to take necessary action.
So we’ve decided to make a shift and change the theme for June to Fighting for Racial Justice. We are compiling information about ways to vote for candidates committed to change, donate to causes doing the hard work, and support local black-owned businesses so that letterers can join us in taking these messages and making them visually impactful. Please email us at sshandlettering@gmail.com if you have resources you want to add to the list. Some of our members are already doing this kind of work and we want to help amplify their efforts.
In addition, we are collecting Black Lives Matters artwork to offer as printable posters on our site, will be featuring more black lettering artists on our social media pages, and will be donating to Black Lives Matter DC from our club funds.
We want everyone to feel like they have something to offer in this fight while also challenging you to think about how you can do more. Please join us on Tuesday in committing to the fight for racial justice.
Credit goes to SSL co-founder @aminanotameena for this theme's promo doodle!
REGISTRATION GUIDELINES
Thanks to overwhelming support for SSLetters, we've outlined some new guidelines for attending our events to ensure we are able to accommodate as many folks as want to join us, as well as ensuring we are doing right by our host venues every month! SSLetters is free to attend each month, but please make sure that you're abiding by our guidelines so we can continue to be a place for people to letter in community.
Please RSVP before events. Often we are able to accommodate anyone who wants to join in the spur of the moment, but because of space limitations, we do need people to RSVP in advance so we know how many people to expect, and so that we do not overwhelm the spaces we are meeting.
If you are unable to attend and already RSVP'd, please cancel your ticket through Eventbrite. This will open space up to the next person in line on our waitlist.
If tickets are sold out, join the waitlist. If tickets open up, you will be notified on a first come, first serve basis.
Although our meetings are free, please make sure to spend some money at our host venues. We meet at locally owned and operated restaurants and coffee shops around town that generously allow us to take over much of their space, so please make sure to make it worth their while and spend some dollars with them. We only meet at local businesses so your support of them makes a difference in supporting the local economy and allows us to continue meeting at these locations!
Please let us know if you have questions about our new guidelines. Also, in an effort to keep things fair, tickets for each meeting will go live two weeks before the meeting date, so everyone has a chance to jump on them as soon as they are available. We will send out a notice before the event, and at the time tickets go live through our mailing list, so please subscribe here if you are not already on the list.
F.A.Q.:
WHAT SHOULD I BRING? Bring your favorite doodle supplies [paper + pens + paints + etc]. We will also have some paper on hand as well as our PEN SWAP BOX for you to test out different style pens for your drawings.
WHAT IS THIS? The Unofficial Hand Lettering Society of Silver Spring is a free monthly gathering for hand lettering enthusiasts to letter in community. Every month has a theme to jog the creative juices, but we would never dare limit your creativity to the theme! Come make new friends, swap pen and paper secrets, and meet other creatives in your community. Please note this is not a directed workshop but a space to explore together. People are always happy to give pointers and share tips, but this is not a hand lettering workshop.
HOW CAN I GIVE BACK? Support the society by getting more involved! Join our mailing list for updates. Follow @SSLetters on Twitter + Instagram, and don't forget to use #SSLETTERS to share your lettering even between meetings & brag on your letters! We'll repost your work on our channels, too. You can also help keep our hand lettering community alive with a donation today! Funds go towards putting on our community projects and providing materials at meetings. The Unofficial Hand Lettering Society is a completely volunteer based organization because we love our community, and we are so grateful for your support!