We’re a queer chosen family who’ve been living and working collectively since 2017 when we moved in to a falling-apart mansion with a dream to transform it into something beautiful and lasting.
In the intervening years we’ve been rehabilitating the buildings and land through fundraising, selling art, working extra jobs, and committing countless hours to meetings and work parties.
We each share in the responsibility of stewarding the land and buildings through managing a different aspect of what’s needed—such as finances, construction, communication, housekeeping, or groundskeeping—and we meet up twice a week to update, support, and coordinate with each other around our shared lives.
Over the years a community of people and projects have grown around Lupinewood, including free childcare, solidarity work with incarcerated queer immigrants and Indigenous land defenders, artist residencies, crises housing, free English classes, and conflict mediation support.
In 2023 these initiatives came together to form Lupinewood Institute: a nonprofit that facilitates the use of Lupinewood’s buildings and land by community initiatives. Since launch, the Institute has added a community print shop and a recording studio to its list of developing projects.