Camp Boom is back for 2022!
It’s Fat Camp, but not as you know it.
Happening on 26 & 27 November, Camp Boom is a weekend of fun with fat babes. Find community, camaraderie and joy spending time with people with bodies like yours who’ve had similar experiences.
Learn to take up space without apologising, develop new skills and make new friends too.
“We’re going to have talks, workshops, yoga, arts & crafts, clothes swaps and wine tastings,” says founder Joanna McLeod. “It’s a mix of focusing on fat issues, like systemic discrimination and media representation, but also hearing from people doing super cool things, like running small businesses, medieval fighting or doing drag who also happen to be fat”.
The first Camp Boom was held in 2020 at Silverstream Retreat.
“We had around 30 people at that one, and some of the attendees still refer to it as life-changing,” says Joanna. A second Camp was planned for Taupō in 2021, but Auckland’s COVID lockdown forced that to be postponed and then ultimately canceled.
“This time Camp doesn’t involve accommodation so it can be more affordable for participants (especially if they already live in Wellington), and less risky and financially terrifying for me to produce,” says Joanna. “I’m lucky that a range of small businesses and individuals see the value in what we’re doing and have offered discounts, products or scholarships to support the Camp”.
Tickets to Camp for the two days, including meals, are $350. We know that statistically, fat people make less money than non-fat people, so a range of scholarships are key to making the experience more accessible and equitable. Currently, there are seven scholarships open for application, and we’re taking donations to increase that number.
“New this year, thanks to funding from one of the Boomettes, we are also offering a scholarship for media to attend Camp Boom. We all benefit from fat liberation and it’s important that message gets out there”.
Some speakers are still to be confirmed, and there are still spots open if you’ve got a talk or a workshop bubbling inside you that’d work as part of the programme.
Find out more at http://campboomNZ.wordpress.com
About the media scholarship
We need more fat stories in the media (stories about actual people, not just headless fatties and scaremongering about the “ob*sity epidemic”) and more positive representation because fat issues are important and fat liberation helps liberate everyone. So this scholarship is for one journalist to attend Camp, learn from it, and then spread the kaupapa further.
You can be freelance or working for a news organisation (traditional or otherwise), and deal with print or podcasts – your platform isn’t important. What we want to see is that you’re using it wisely.
Apply for the scholarship by October 13 here: https://forms.gle/inDBZpSM9inP986B7
For more information, interviews or images:
Joanna McLeod
021 212 7920
Notes for editors:
Fat is a neutral term, like being tall or being brunette.
Boomettes are the incredible babes who model for House of Boom, who are pillars of the Boom community.
House of Boom (http://houseofboom.co.nz) is good clothes sizes 16-30, made ethically in Wellington. It was founded by Joanna McLeod in 2018 out of frustration at a lack of ethical colourful options for fat people. Camp is an extension of the Boom kaupapa of fat liberation and contributing to joy & community for fat people.
ENDS
Camp Boom 