The Bureau of Friendship is one of the pilot HUB Collaborative Seed Grant projects launched earlier this year. Chicago-based artist Dennissa Young is collaborating with Oasis Church Chicago to bring together five monochromatic public performances about connection, intimacy and relationships. These performances externalize the internal emotions of what it means to be a friend. The Bureau of Friendship functions as a container to feel, experience and immerse oneself in radical softness.
The goal of this piece is to create time, space and energy to honor and define friendships. In accompaniment to this artist approach to friendship, Dennissa is partnering with her church to create a Formation Group around biblical friendship. The hope is to engage the congregation in the concepts of what it means to live in the world and be a Christ-like friend. The Formation Group will challenge and encourage people from Oasis to invite people to the Bureau of Friendship weekend.
As of fall 2023, Dennissa has broadened the project team and brought on a co-collaborator. They project for the popup weekend to happen in March/April of 2024. The Formation Group will lead up to the weekend-long performance.