A collage features a man playing a trumpet in front of large yellow and purple flowers, a building, and a banner that reads "HERMAN WALLCE" in the foreground, with a smiling woman and plants in the background.

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Freedom To Grow

LXCL:Freedom to Grow is an abolitionist-driven initiative at the intersection of art, land-based healing justice, community empowerment and archival practices. The three-year vision for Freedom to Grow is to establish a permanent Legacy Center and Archive in New Orleans dedicated to documenting the lives and contributions of leaders who began their organizing journeys while incarcerated.

Join us on 6/25 for a screening of Seeds (@seedsthedoc) the award-winning documentary by Brittany Shyne. Filmed over seven years, Seeds offers a powerful and intimate look at Black farmers in the American South, their resilience, their relationship to the land, and the fight to preserve generations of legacy and stewardship. 🌱 <a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L8h9IDsfXc&t=2s" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: currentcolor; user-select: auto; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">Check out the trailer here!</a> This event is presented in partnership with Antenna (@antenna.works) a multidisciplinary cultural institution presenting exhibitions, public programs, publishing, and regranting &nbsp;in New Orleans.

Seeds Film Screening

Plants and Abolition is our monthly workshop series for herbalists, the apothecary and abolitionist-curious, and all plant lovers, regardless of experience. 🌱 Together, participants work with the plants currently growing in our gardens to make medicines that reflect the healing visions of our solitary gardeners. 🌷 This month we&#39;ll be exploring mint, our Plant of the Month. ❤️&zwj;🔥

Plants and Abolition

Explore narratives of resistance and resilience at Angola Prison 🌱🗂️

Planting the Black Panther Garden

You&#39;re invited to join Liz Solms and <a fr-original-style="" href="http://freedomtogrow.org" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: initial; user-select: auto; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">Freedom to Grow</a>, a New Orleans-based arts organization supporting communities to imagine and build a landscape without prisons, for an interactive herbal workshop. Together, we&rsquo;ll craft an herbal salve to soothe the skin through the coming heat from the plants grown at Solitary Gardens. &nbsp;Freedom to Grow designs gardens in collaboration with currently-incarcerated people, who share their stories through plants, flowers, and herbs. Through working with the plants, we&#39;ll explore the lessons they hold about how we treat ourselves and each other. Light refreshments, including herbal mocktails, will be provided and you&#39;ll leave with your own handmade lotion.&nbsp; Bring a swimsuit if you&#39;d like to hang in the pool after the workshop!&nbsp;

Freedom to Grow Herbal Workshop

Hey 7th Ward neighbors! Have you wanted to start a garden but don&rsquo;t know where to begin? 🌱 💚 On April 30, Freedom to Grow is hosting a gardening workshop for our neighbors &mdash; we&rsquo;ll go over basics of starting and tending to flowers, herbs, and veggies in your backyard, front yard, windowsill, or wherever you wanna grow. And we&rsquo;ll be giving away plant starts to get you on your way to gardening 💚🌱&nbsp;

Seventh Ward Gardening Workshop

Plants and Abolition is our monthly workshop series for herbalists, the apothecary and abolitionist-curious, and all plant lovers, regardless of experience. 🌱 This month, we&#39;ll dive into the wonder and calming magic of yarrow, which is incredibly powerful for wound care &amp; bleeding, antimicrobial properties, and anti-inflammatory properties. We&rsquo;ll be making some yarrow medicine and discussing what we can learn about community care from the plant. ❤️&zwj;🔥

Plants and Abolition: Yarrow

Resurrection Archives Workshop

Join us for an evening of nature poetry by systems-impacted writers, reflecting on how our shared kinship with the living earth persists despite the isolation of carceral systems. Featured poets include Cefus Jenkins, Gerard Lawless, Robert &ldquo;Yogi&rdquo; McKee, James Washington, Obie Weathers, Tim Young, and Black the Creator. Poets who are interested in sharing their work can reach out to <a fr-original-style="" href="mailto:info@freedomtogrow.org" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: initial; user-select: auto; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">info@freedomtogrow.org</a> for more information

Ecopoetry from the Inside Out

An invitation to explore curiosity, absence, and unresolved questions in the archives of Zulu Whitmore and John Thompson, two visionaries whose organizing journeys began while incarcerated. 🌱🗂️

Complexity and Curiosity in the Archives

Welcome to our online shop 🛍️ Every purchase you make directly supports our mission. Browse our selection and find the perfect items for you. By shopping with us, you help us achieve our goals and positively impact our community. Thank you for supporting our mission &mdash; your contribution is invaluable. Happy shopping! 🌟 Freedom To Grow

Welcome to our online shop 🛍️Every purchase you make directly supports our mission. Browse our selection and find the perfect items for you.By shopping with us, you help us achieve our goals and positively impact our community. Thank you for supporting our mission — your contribution is invaluable.Happy shopping! 🌟Freedom To Grow

Freedom To Grow's Shop

Join us on the pitch! Celebrate our favorite ex-jock abolitionist jackie sumell with a birthday donation to Freedom to Grow.&nbsp; Nothing grows alone. Plants need water, soil and sunlight. The soil depends on fungi. Pollinators rely on flowers. Seeds count on those willing to carry them.&nbsp; Growth is collective.&nbsp; Freedom to Grow is an outgrowth of decades of work, an archive, a garden network, a social practice project, or an exploration of abolition through plants. It is all of those things. But beneath each of those efforts is a simple question: What becomes possible when we organize ourselves around our interdependence rather than separation? Thank you for contributing to the growth of Freedom to Grow!&nbsp;

Join us on the pitch! Celebrate our favorite ex-jock abolitionist jackie sumell with a birthday donation to Freedom to Grow. Nothing grows alone. Plants need water, soil and sunlight. The soil depends on fungi. Pollinators rely on flowers. Seeds count on those willing to carry them. Growth is collective. Freedom to Grow is an outgrowth of decades of work, an archive, a garden network, a social practice project, or an exploration of abolition through plants. It is all of those things. But beneath each of those efforts is a simple question: What becomes possible when we organize ourselves around our interdependence rather than separation?Thank you for contributing to the growth of Freedom to Grow!

jackie's Birthday Fundraiser

Freedom to Grow is an abolitionist-driven initiative at the intersection of art, land-based healing justice, community power, and archival practices in New Orleans, LA.&nbsp; Our three-year vision is to establish the Museum for Abolition and Beyond at the John Thompson Legacy Center to chart the under-told history of resistance in Louisiana that connects abolitionist struggles across time, from enslavement to mass incarceration.&nbsp; By engaging artists, archivists, organizers, plant lovers, community herbalists and dreamers, Freedom to Grow serves as a space for visioning a new world, responsive to our ever-changing landscape, and as an incubator for growing our imagined future.

Freedom to Grow is an abolitionist-driven initiative at the intersection of art, land-based healing justice, community power, and archival practices in New Orleans, LA. Our three-year vision is to establish the Museum for Abolition and Beyond at the John Thompson Legacy Center to chart the under-told history of resistance in Louisiana that connects abolitionist struggles across time, from enslavement to mass incarceration. By engaging artists, archivists, organizers, plant lovers, community herbalists and dreamers, Freedom to Grow serves as a space for visioning a new world, responsive to our ever-changing landscape, and as an incubator for growing our imagined future.

Join us outside, in the dirt, at our satellite garden spaces: 2600 Andry / 1653 N Robertson St. 🌷🪏🪴 (Exact location will be sent in advance of the volunteer day! Follow @freedomtogrownola for updates.)

Solitary Gardens Community Hours

Help craft medicines out of plants grown in collaboration with incarcerated folks, bringing their visions of healing justice to life. 🫚🩷 Drop-ins welcome; no herbalism experience required!

Abolitionist's Apothecary Open Hours

Transformative Approaches to Conflict,&nbsp;hosted by Spring Up Seeding Transformation &nbsp;🌱&nbsp;is a workshop series co-hosted by Freedom to Grow, building our collective capacity for restorative and transformative approaches to harm. Over 3 courses of 2 workshops each, we will learn and practice ways of responding to harm and conflict that center healing, accountability, and community care over punishment and isolation.&nbsp; Conflict Transformation and Accountability (Oct 1 &amp; 15): What if conflict could be a generative life force that helps us stay connected and in right relationship? Transformative Conflict + Accountability invites participants to explore why conflict can feel scary, identify patterns where people get stuck, and practice tools for moving toward more generative conflict. The second session turns toward accountability, exploring how we can understand accountability as a relational practice rather than punishment and what we need from one another to make accountability possible. Restorative Approaches to Intimate Violence (Nov 5 &amp; 19): How can communities respond to intimate partner abuse in ways that center safety, accountability, and healing? Restorative Approaches to Intimate Partner Violence is a two-part interactive workshop that invites participants to examine common myths about domestic violence, distinguish relationship conflict from intimate partner abuse, and explore the possibilities and limits of restorative responses. Through scenarios, discussion, safety-planning activities, and role plays, participants will consider how friends, family, and community members can respond thoughtfully and supportively. Resolving Conflict the Ubuntu Way (Dec 3 &amp; 17): What if conflict could be an opportunity to understand one another more deeply, repair harm, and strengthen our relationships? Resolving Conflict the Ubuntu Way is a two-part interactive workshop that equips community members with practical tools for navigating conflict with empathy, accountability, and compassion. Participants will explore the principles of the Ubuntu Way, practice empathetic listening and restorative questions, and consider how communities can build collective efficacy and respond to conflict together.

Freedom To Grow

Freedom To Grow

Events

Events

Solitary Gardens Community Hours

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Abolitionist's Apothecary Open Hours

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Seeding Transformation

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jackie's Birthday Fundraiser

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Build a Base of Support for Freedom to Grow

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