Collective care and solidarity prices
From the very beginning of launching my formats, I have aimed to include a community aspect and give back. Today, I want to update you on my latest attempts to give back to my communities and which approaches worked, and which of those miserably failed, lol.
What I started with
When I launched my scent workshops, I already worked with a sliding scale. The Scent101 workshops are spanning between 55€ - 111€, depending on some factors like location costs, size of the group, and whether it is booked by a corporate team privately.
Why do a sliding price scale?
A sliding scale system allows me to support myself and my business while making sessions available to more individuals who (currently) do not have the financial freedom of purchasing a regular ticket. By allowing members with more cash flow to pay a bit more, they sort of subsidize the participation for a lower price. Here is how a sliding scale for a workshop can be clustered:
Reduced ticket: For students, trainees, and people with lower income or financial constraints.
Regular: For all who can/want to pay for a regular ticket.
Solidarity ticket: For all who can and want to give more. This allows me to offer reduced tickets and helps balance the cost.
This system relies on honest estimates of people purchasing a ticket and I build on this genuine trust in those who attend my sessions. I believe you make the right choice and purchased in solidarity with others around you.
I of course would wish to lower prices to make all of my offers even more accessible for all, but I also have to meet a certain bottom line. Especially the scent-based sessions are more pricey, simply due to the higher material costs. For my breath-based events, there are two scenarios: I am booked by a studio for a fixed hourly rate and their members pay a regular membership fee (or drop in with Urban Sports Club). Or I book a venue myself for which I need to pay location costs, besides my overhead and labor costs. In the second instance, teaching at a studio, I sadly can’t influence the price scheme. For the second, where I hold the power (muahahaha) to organize my own event, I have the freedom to decide on prices and much more.
Why sliding scales are an act of solidarity is really well-explained in this article. Especially marginalized communities who struggle to be seen and validated through the systems we’re working in, don’t have the same financial means as others. Many wellness and healing communities have an inclusivity issue. Most curated studios are overwhelmingly white; from teachers to practitioners. This is a result of both financial barriers and exclusionary biases that make BIPOC feel unwelcome and unseen in these spaces. But access to health and wellness resources is even more critical to those affected by ongoing discrimination. Rase-based stressors can accumulate over time, keeping the individuals’ nervous systems dysfunctional in the long run.
Golden nugget getting lost
What I aimed for with my breathwork sessions were my so-called Golden Tickets. I thought of it as easy: These “wandering” tickets are basically a discount code that allows you to attend a session of mine for free. Once you’ve attended one, you pass it on. I made a total of five tickets available to individuals anchored in marginalized groups. The responsibility was on them to, once they attended my session, pass the free ticket to a member of their communities. What seemed like a nice way of letting a free ticket wander around, was simply too much effort. Four or five golden tickets were used only once and haven’t been passed around. The idea of passing on some good woowoo failed. I wonder if I could have supported the process better or if it’s simply our overly busy lives, holding us back from things like this.
It nevertheless was clear to me that I still want to reach communities and empower them for radical self-care at zero costs.
Pass it on differently
In the new year, 2023, I will try out a pass-it-on ticket. With every purchase, there will be a new ticket option, where you can purchase an additional ticket which will be passed onto a member of a marginalized community. The individuals can apply for a passed-on slot. If the slots accumulate or no one has applied, I can actively reach out to communities and invite their members to join a session of mine.
So far I have identified the following communities I want to support:
For in-person sessions in Berlin:
For virtual session:
How I define marginalized community:
Individuals who experience systemic oppression because of one or multiple of the following: sexism, heterosexism, ableism, classism, ageism, and anti-Semitism, religious oppression, discrimination against their physical appearance.
Will it work? Is it right?
I’m welcoming feedback on this. Who have I not included? Which communities can I pass it on to? Where am I acting from a place of privilege and have a blind spot?
