About the event

A spore leaves where it began. Carried by wind, water, animals or chance, it lands somewhere unfamiliar. It cannot simply recreate the world it came from. It must encounter what is already there, adapt, form relationships and find a way to thrive.

What if our own stories of migration, diaspora and belonging are not so different?

Join Forij for a special edition in the Flight Club series exploring fungi as a lens for thinking about displacement, ancestry, cultural memory and the networks that help us make a home. This is a participatory tasting practice, using botanical teas as a portal for exploring different themes. For this flight, five culturally rooted hot drinks become points of departure, taking us through dispersal, ancestry, adaptation, connection and belonging.

As we travel through the flight, we'll ask:

• What do we carry when we leave?

• What connects us to the places and people we come from?

• What happens to culture when it travels?

• What helps us take root somewhere new?

• And what networks of care allow us - and others - to thrive?

Created as a dedicated space for people of the Global Majority from African, Caribbean, Asian, Latin American, Indigenous and other diasporic communities, this Flight Club celebrates the many different ways people relate to land, ancestry, culture and belonging.

Bring something from your own network- you're invited to bring a photograph, family recipe, object, poem, song, story or other small offering connected to a place, person, tradition or memory you carry with you. You don't have to share it if you don't want to. These personal fragments will become part of our collective conversation about the things we carry, transform and pass on.

No prior knowledge of fungi is needed. Come curious, bring a story, and take a flight through the mycelial imagination.

This event is taking place upstairs at Highbury Hall - please follow signs or ask a member of staff. We apologize for any barriers this may cause for attendees.

This event is taking place as part of the first Birmingham Fungi Festival. Click here to find details of what else is going on, including talks and workshops!

We look forward to seeing you there.