A night for Palestine
Overview:
This event will feature activist and famous mixologist LP O’Brien for an evening of cocktails, conversation, and community to support the people of Palestine.
This event is designed to facilitate an experience of embodied solidarity. We will engage all of the senses in storytelling, conversation, and collective action, and will raise money for The Rammun Foundation.
The venue will be spotlighted as a value-aligned third space, bringing New Yorkers together to practice bridging compassion and creativity.
We are asking for the space for 2 hours (7:00 pm to 9:00 pm) on Friday, 11/20 for this event. In return, the venue will:
Be spotlighted in all marketing materials and featured on partner pages
Retain all beverage sales
Stand out as a value-aligned venue with an audience that prefers to spend money at venues which champion the causes they care about
Event Vision:
An immersive gathering about memory, culture, solidarity, grief, creativity and joy. We gather not only to raise money, but to practice solidarity together. Through drinks, storytelling, art, conversation, and remembrance, guests experience how culture and community can sustain people through grief and turn care into material action.
The Proposal:
On November 20, Party For Change, The Free Collective and award-winning beverage storyteller LP O'Brien are coming together to produce an evening of drinks, art, conversation, remembrance and creation in solidarity with Palestine.
The night begins around the table with a guided cocktail and zero-proof drink-making experience led by LP O'Brien, using flavor and storytelling to explore memory, place and connection.
Note: LP will be making the drinks and explaining their creative process while participants taste them at tables with recipe cards. The materials for the drinks have been donated, so the drinks can be batch-made before the event and served at arrival to reduce the amount of work needed to serve them.
From there, we'll gather in conversation, create together, honor the people and places we carry with us, and eventually move from reflection into a conversation about what continued action looks like.
Throughout the evening, guests will encounter Palestinian culture through art, food, music and storytelling shaped in collaboration with Palestinian artists and community members.Most importantly, our gathering will turn solidarity into material support. Proceeds from the evening will benefit Rammun Foundation's humanitarian work supporting Palestinian families.
Event Outline:
7:00–7:30 PM: EXPERIENCE 01 — THE THRESHOLD
7:40–8:00: EXPERIENCE 02 — THE DRINK
8:00–8:20: EXPERIENCE 03 — THE TABLE
8:20–8:40: EXPERIENCE 04 — THE STORIES
8:40- 9:00: EXPERIENCE 05 — COMMITTED SOLIDARITY
01:
Check in, welcome, introductions
Party For Change x The Free Collective: Why we're here and the idea behind the evening and the value of gathering, mutual aid and collective care
Palestinian/Rammun voice: A message about what solidarity means to them and their work
Breathwork: Our breathwork coach helps people connect to their bodies and the intention of the evening and opens the floor for what comes next.
Logistics: Explain the plan for the evening, the fundraising goal, how additional donations can be made, and any other important details/ guidelines.
02:
LP O'Brien's Workshop: WHAT WE CARRY: A COCKTAIL STORYTELLING EXPERIENCE
LP showcases drinks as a vehicle for culture, identity and connection and teaches hands-on beverage experiences across cocktails and zero-proof drinks. LP explains their craft, the intentionality of everything they create, their mission, and what their intention is for the evening
LP will show guests how to create the featured drinks while the guests sample the drinks at their tables.
03:
Now guests turn to 3–5 people near them. Cards on the tables guide them through three rounds of conversation.
ROUND ONE — MEMORY: What taste, smell, song or tradition immediately takes you home?
ROUND TWO — PRESERVATION: What's something from your family, culture or community you hope never disappears?
ROUND THREE — SOLIDARITY: What does showing up for people outside our immediate community actually look like?
04:
Now that we’ve put ourselves in the mindset of connecting deeply to all the things that ground us in home, culture, and identity, we turn our attention to speakers from The Palestinian Poet Society.
We are grounded physically, and able to really hear and feel what’s being shared. Those of us who have not lost our homes do not know what it feels like, but we are practicing the process of really trying to understand
05
From 8:40- 9:00 we come back together and the event hosts, together with the Rammun foundation, help us translate the feelings that have come up into a commitment to keeping Palestine at the front of our minds and collective action.
We have a quiet moment to write reflections and promises to ourselves. Then, our breathwork coach closes the evening with a guided moment of connection.
At 9:00 formal programming ends, the bar opens fully, music comes up, and guests are encouraged to stay. We invite people to remember that we can hold both grief and joy, and that connecting with each other to talk and dance is a part of this work, rather than counter to it.
Now that we’ve put ourselves in the mindset of connecting deeply to all the things that ground us in home, culture, and identity, we turn our attention to speakers from The Palestinian Poet Society.
We are grounded physically, and able to really hear and feel what’s being shared. Those of us who have not lost our homes do not know what it feels like, but we are practicing the process of really trying to understand how we can stand in solidarity in a meaningful way.